Most items are stand-alone reports, so Crabgrass readers can seek them out at the source.
There is this:
Boals announces run in 35A
By Community Contributor
March 22, 2014 at 11:00 am
Justin Boals has announced his candidacy for Minnesota House seat 35A in Anoka and Ramsey. Boals ran for the seat in 2012 as the endorsed candidate of the Independence Party of Minnesota, but this year he will run as a Republican.
“My principals, values and commitments are unchanged, however, my undying support and defense of our Constitution, our state’s rights and republic have steered my ship onto a new course,” Boals said.
He currently serves on Anoka’s Economic Development Commission where he is also a member of the riverboat study committee. He also serves on the State of Minnesota’s Drug Utilization Review Board, is president of Manorcrest Home Owner’s Association and is a registered pharmacy technician.
[...] A devout Jeffersonian, Boals believes that government should be run at the most local of levels possible and that concentrated power in a central government can only lead to oppression and corruption.
Boals is the second Republican candidate to surface, per earlier ABC reporting, here; this excerpt:
Whelan wins Republican endorsement
By Community Contributor
March 15, 2014 at 2:00 pm
Republicans of Senate District 35A March 1 endorsed Abigail Whelan for the Minnesota House seat currently held by Rep. Jim Abeler (R-Anoka), who is seeking his own nomination to the U.S. Senate. Whelan received the required 60 percent for endorsement after only one ballot.
Don Huizenga challenged Whelan for the endorsement.
Several legislators endorsed Whelan’s candidacy, including Mike Jungbauer, a previous senator to the district for 12 years, and Sen. John Pederson of St. Cloud. Whelan had previously worked as a campaign manager for Jungbauer and as a legislative assistant to Pederson.
[...] “I am humbled and I’m honored for this opportunity to represent my hometown,” Whelan said. “I believe that together we can return to the morals that founded this nation. We can remain one nation, under God.”
More bio on Whelan, ABC Newspapers again, here, this excerpt:
A life-long resident of Anoka, Whelan graduated from Anoka High School. She studied public policy, political science and economics at University of Minnesota, where she graduated with honors. Whelan also studied abroad in England.
Her parents instilled in her a love of policy and learning at the kitchen table that has served her well, for during her tenure at the University she was a presidential scholar, dean’s scholar and later received the dean’s tuition scholar to go to the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, according to Whelan.
Whelan’s work as a legislative assistant for Sen. John Pederson and as a campaign manager for Sen. Mike Jungbauer gave her real work experience in the legislative process and campaign management, she said.
[...] She is currently doing an internship with a Christian Campus Ministry that she helped lead as a student at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
[...] “My generation must take on the responsibility of providing a healthy, productive and safe Minnesota for our families, as our parents have provided for us. We should not be asking ‘how much can we get from government,’ but what can we do to build and maintain our own communities for the future.
“It is about creating a place where education thrives and jobs flourish. It is about local control. It is about getting the deficit under control while living within our constitutional obligations, which will be one of the largest problems for our generation.”
Well, Whelan with Jungbauer ties, and a "Christian Campus Ministry" day job. Not great shakes.
Her "resume" suggests lots of school, little real world experience, and caucus packing of the kind that launched Bachmann's political ambitions. Presuming Boals goes to a primary, which seems likely from timing, any DFL cross-over voters should see Boals as the better choice (the candidate most favorably disposed should the Republicans in November continue to hold the seat Abeler's sat in fourteen years).
Does any reader know Whalen's position on global warming; i.e., is she the extremist skeptic her mentor, Mike Jungbauer, has been? Any comment on her policy positions, (none of which were found online via cursory search), would be welcome.
Will Ms. Whelan be the McFadden enigma of legislative District 35A?
Is "Christian Campus Ministry" a clue to who, fundamentally, Whelan is?
The DFL last Friday, March 28, endorsed Peter Perovich as its candidate for Minnesota House District 35A.
http://peterperovich.org/
Andy Hillebregt, the other declared DFL candidate for the Dist. 35A seat promised at Senate District Caucus to abide by the endorsement process, so it appears the DFL, unlike Republicans, will not have a primary contest for the seat.
Whelan, so far, is running her campaign on Facebook. She has a LinkedIn page.
Perovich also has a LinkedIn page, and one wonders whether he will graduate to kissing babies during the campaign (this link for photo source).
Boals is on LinkedIn, and his campaign page is yet to be updated/changed.
Relevant Perovich online links, here, here, here, here, and here.
Relevant Boals online links, here, and here.
Republican house district activities should prove defining of who Ms. Whalen is, politically, so that we all may be better informed in November.
Whelan has neither a votesmart nor ballotpedia history, and beyond Jungbauer campaign management and Christian ties, she has yet to define a political persona.
Again, with Boals' ABC Newspapers' March 22 candidacy reporting, (i.e., following Whelan's endorsement earlier in March), it appears there will be a Republican primary we all should watch, as each of the two attempts to present himself/herself as the more traditional GOP person; (conservative to a fault, Christian to that bloc's litmis tests); while perhaps trying a fence straddle to not appear too extreme for the general election if prevailing in a primary vote.