Gary Gross, at the Let Freedom Ring blog, was the Google Alert I got, and he links to the St. Cloud Times original.
Interestingly, in the August 18, 2008 item, Anderson says:
Elwyn did not mention hybrids. You can't even get a Toyota Prius for six months plus a five hundred dollar deposit. We need to encourage greater production of hybrids and show the world we are serious about making real changes.
We can bring down prices of oil by personal conservation, drilling responsibly wherever we can, and reforming the rules for speculators. If we show a real desire to change, prices will come down. You may have already noticed reduced prices at the gas station.
As far as Elwyn being a member on the house transportation committee with Rep. Jim Oberstar, I feel he has already been a little too cozy with Rep. Oberstar as a lobbyist in his Tinklenberg Group. That is not the way to deal with transportation issues.
Also in Google Alerts, this Ted Sher pic, from his Flickr photostream postings, showing l-to-r, Elwyn Tinklenberg, Al Franken, and Nancy Schumacher, (if I read the name tag correctly) at the Sunday, Aug. 17, Wellstone Dinner in St. Cloud.
It is an event which I did not attend. It is more for party regulars not independent voters. Yet, from the online pre-dinner notice, the dinner included a keynote speaker and two other brief commentators:
The theme for this year's dinner, reflecting the excitement and hope that is in evidence across the country, is "Ordinary People Remaking America."
US Senator Amy Klobuchar will be the keynote speaker. Additionally, brief remarks will be made by Al Franken, DFL endorsed candidate for the United States Senate, and El Tinklenberg, DFL and Independence Party endorsed candidate for the United States House of Representatives in Minnesota Congressional District 6.
I wish Tinkenberg would quit representing himself as if he is the IP candidate. He is not. Bob Anderson is. That "DFL and Independence Party endorsed candidate" might be technically true, but it has baggage, no surprise, given that Tinklenberg's ties run deep into Ventura-Barkley land.
My hope is that the weak, bipolar, and flawed Tinklenberg candidacy in the Sixth District does not harm Franken's chances, in the district, for votes enough to retire Norm Coleman. Anderson's editorial comment about the Tinklenberg lobbyist status and seeing a too-cozy thing Tinklenberg appears to have going with James Oberstar, those are things that have not gone unnoticed in the blogs. Indeed, the GOP leaning Let Freedom Ring blog hit on the same Anderson statement. Anderson's op-ed was a short item, and he left out the taconite tailings lobbying, but the gist of Anderson's comments did hit the nail on the head.
Franken is a good man, and has a true "Wellstone" position on key issues. Tinklenberg has that IP background, which is not by any measure what Paul Wellstone stood for or was about. I hope Franken does well in the Sixth.