Former Network TV News Executive and local TV News Producer. Now running my own company with the goal of democratizing broadcasting. The "Inside Minnesota Politics With Peter Idusogie" podcast is my first attempt at that.
Video-Congressman Pays "Volunteer" Who Disrupts Opponents' Campaigns
Remember the uproar over a supporter of Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton asking a question at the Republican Presidential debate? The problem was not that Retired Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr asked a question. It was that he and CNN didn't identify him as a co-chairman of Clinton's National Military Veterans Group.
A similar case of non-transparency happened recently involving a person with strong ties to Minnesota Congressman John Kline and his campaign. The UpTake investigated and found the lack of transparency was only the tip of the iceberg in this story. More in this video from Mike McIntee.
The UpTake has discovered something very disturbing in Texas. It appears the caucus system, which allocates about 1/3rd of Texas' delegates is lacking some very basic controls that could undermine the legitimacy of the caucuses, leaving it open to charges of fraud.
A day before the election, the Texas Democratic Party is unable to provide a list of where it has precinct chairs - the individuals who will run the Texas caucus - and where it doesn’t. This video raises issues of accountability, transparency and legitimacy of the election.
Citizens! The health of our democracy is on our hands, and we must pick up our cameras and find the truth(s) out there ourselves. That’s what The Uptakeis all about - but we need your help. Why? We want to train and equip a legion of citizen journalists to cover events happening in our communities, all leading up to the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention.
This video and text courtesy of Chuck Olsen and The UpTake.
Find out more about The UpTake after the jump.
I wasn't at YearlyKos, but my colleague and fellow video blogger Chuck Olsen made me feel like I was there with his video coverage on our new site TheUptake.org
One big roadblock to increased transportation funding in Minnesota has crumbled in the wake of the I-35W bridge collapse. On Tuesday voters in portions of Goodhue, Wabasha and Winona counties will have a chance to clear out another roadblock.
The biggest roadblock to increased transportation funding, Governor Tim Pawlenty, is finally open to increasing the gas tax after vetoing transportation bills two years in a row that contained a gas tax increase. Too bad it took an highway bridge falling down during rush hour to change his mind.
The question is: have the other roadblocks to safer roads and bridges changed their minds? If you remember, the last transportation bill passed with enough votes to overcome a Pawlenty veto. But when it was time to override that veto, several (mostly Republican) legislators bailed. Minnesota Democrats are still several votes short of a veto-proof majority in the House. On Tuesday voters in House District 28B will decide if they want a vote for or against future transportation funding bills.
VIDEO OF BRIDGE COLLAPSE EXISTS-READ AFTER THE JUMP
Rescue crews were still looking for the injured from the collapse of bridge 9340 in Minneapolis, Minnesota when the finger pointing of who might be to blame began. Former Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg, a Democrat, was on WCCO-AM saying that budget cuts had curtailed the DOT's ability to do complete bridge inspections. A few hours later Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who had vetoed the transportation bill two years in a row, was telling the media that the bridge had checked out just fine when inspected in 2005 and 2006.
A MN DOT document from March 2006 indicated that the bridge was scheduled for repairs in 2006, but it was removed from the schedule because it would be more efficient to do the work in 2007. One of the questions that needs to be answered is if budget constraints were the cause of delaying the repairs.
This Friday, Sargeant First Class Steve Sarvi of Watertown, MN will be reunited with his wife Barb, his daughter Mary-Kate and his sons Daniel and Nathan. It's been nearly 15 months since he last saw them.
He's coming home from Iraq a hero.
Just before he left Iraq, the Army presented him the Bronze Star which is given out for "heroic or meritorious achievement or service". Not only is the Bronze Star a capstone for a very distinguished 20-year military career, but the award recognizes a strength that could serve Sarvi and Minnesota well in the coming years.
Sarvi won the Bronze Star for his work in helping build local governments in Iraq. When you think about the chaos that shakes Iraq on a daily basis, creating a local government that people believe in, participate in and actually works is a huge achievement.
Congressman John Kline, R-MN likes to say he is a big supporters of military veterans. At a recent town meeting he avoided talking about specific votes a constituent asked about. He challenged everyone to check the Congressional Record. I like a good challenge, so I checked the record.
Now Congressman Kline may object to someone saying he doesn’t always support veterans... and he’ll point out that many of these votes were "procedural votes". Meaning they were votes to send a bill back to committee with instructions to make some changes in the bill. But in each case, the changes in the bill were for the benefit of military veterans. Kline could have sided with them, but he decided instead to side with whatever the Republican agenda was at that moment. Kline is correct that he supports veterans. They just come after the Republican agenda.
In response to a question from a University of Minnesota college student about tuition costs, Congressman John Kline (Republican MN02) said he was looking for ways to bring college costs down, but he didn't have any solutions and would welcome some. Be careful what you ask for, the student offered a solution
This is from a town hall meeting Kline reluctantly held this week. More background here and here.
Apparently the Bush administration has taken the Winston Churchill quote "History is written by the victors" into the video age. The official White House website is now sporting a very different version of President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech. In this exclusive video, Inside Minnesota Politics' Mike McIntee shows how the "Mission Accomplished" banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln has apparently been crudely cropped out of the White House website video.
FBI agent Coleen Rowley's race against Republican Congressman John Kline has picked up new steam thanks to some very strange incidents.
This weekend, Kline's District Director was caught on video tape screaming a racial slur at cars arriving for a Rowley campaign event.
A follow up story by the Star Tribune on the Director's weak apology revealed Kline's Congressional staff monitors what constituents post on various political blogs and then files that information under the constituent's name. Sort of an electronic Nixon-era "enemies list".
Not one, but two polls show that challenger Coleen Rowley has closed to almost "margin of error" distance of Congressman John Kline in Minnesota's 2nd District.
Kline: 48%
Rowley: 42%
Undecided: 13%
The above poll was done by statewide DFL candidates. The numbers here are from Senate District 38 (Eagan/Burnsville) but reportedly the numbers are similar in other SD's across Kline's district.
Another poll, done by the Rowley campaign, reportedly shows a slightly larger lead for Kline, but the difference is still in the single digits. Reportedly the poll shows that a significant number of Republicans who plan to go to the polls will not vote for Kline.
Kline is in trouble, which would explain the glossy attack ads he has been mailing and running in the local newspapers.
Sing along and follow the bouncing ball in this upbeat expression of frustration with our current Republican Congressmen sung by Rickie Lee Jones backed by the swinging beat of the Squirrel Nut Zippers. See it on YouTube.com Like it? Donate to Rowley's campaign.
The Squirrel Nut Zippers and Rickie Lee Jones have recorded a great little song that sums up everything we're trying to do here. Executive Producer Howie Klein was nice enough to let me add some video to it.
I invite you to follow the bouncing ball and sing along. This version is about the John Kline/Coleen Rowley Race in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District and was done independently of any campaign or party on my own equipment. If you know of a campaign that wants to use their own version of this video, please contact me.
Minnesota Congressman John Kline can't change his stripes. Once again his campaign is involved in dirty tricks.
Kline is using a staffer or volunteer to harass bloggers and anonymously attack his opponent Coleen Rowley. Fortunately the paid staffer or volunteer was stupid enough to do the work from John Kline's Campaign ip address and has now been unmasked.
Read more on how this is a pattern of dirty tricks.
Ford Bell, challenger for the DFL (Democratic party in Minnesota) primary for U.S. Senate has pulled out of the race conceding to Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar. Klobuchar won the endorsement by a large margin over Bell last month at the State DFL convention. Bell skipped the convention deciding to go right to the primary.
Klobuchar faces Republican U.S. Rep Mark Kennedy in the November general election in what many are rating as a toss-up. However Klobuchar has led in many recent polls.
It took seven ballots, but Patty Wetterling has won the DFL endorsement over Elwyn Tinklenberg for Congress in Minnesota's 6th District.
Minnesota's 6th has gone Republican in the past, but is a toss up this time around because it is an open seat.
Wetterling, a well-known child safety advocate, had run for the 6th District seat in 2004 and lost in the November election to Republican Rep. Mark Kennedy. Kennedy is running for U.S. Senate this year. Wetterling was originally planning for a rematch and was running for the U.S. Senate as well, but dropped out earlier this year.
In just a few days Minnesota CD 5 delegates will very likely decide who is their next US Representative. The Fifth has been described as the Democratic Party's "safest seat" in Congress. There are 11 Democratic Party(DFL) vying candidates to replace retiring Congressman Martin Sabo.
On this podcast we sort out the serious from the not-so-serious and marginal candidates, report on which candidates connected with the delegates and listen to reaction from the delegates.If you don't have time to listen to the entire forum, which we posted earlier, this will give you a quick overview of the various campaigns.
This Friday, Sargeant First Class Steve Sarvi of Watertown, MN will be reunited with his wife Barb, his daughter Mary-Kate and his sons Daniel and Nathan. It's been nearly 15 months since he last saw them.
