In retrospect, it should have been clear that Sutton was being worn down by harping among the very activists he did so much to cultivate.
In recent months, the normally ebullient Sutton was subdued.
Criticism within party was mounting
Presumably most of that criticism surrounded the party's $500,000 debt and Sutton's decision earlier in the year to take a salary for a job that he'd once done as a volunteer. (Sutton's DFL counterpart, Ken Martin, also works for a salary.)
All of that criticism was about to erupt in a Saturday meeting of the Central Committee where the party's financial status was to be discussed.
Sutton, 44, avoided the firing line by stepping down as chairman. It's unclear whether he was encouraged by party insiders to come to his decision to resign.
There were signs of bitterness in Sutton's farewell, understandable given the fact that it came just 13 months after the party's historic success in state legislative races.
In a long letter to members of the party issued Friday, Sutton made reference to the "Monday quarterbacks who always have the right answers in hindsight."
The man who has spent most of his adult life as a party activist also had this to say: "We all make sacrifices for the Party — however, I feel I have made more than my fair share."
[...]Sutton letter details 'regrets'
For example, in his letter, Sutton referred to several "regrets," including the impact of the "loss" of the state's PCR program (political contribution refund) had "a devastating impact on our small dollar fundraising."
Under that program, small donors received a dollar-for-dollar refund from the state for contributions of no more than $50 per individual.
Although Republicans often complained about the program, the GOP traditionally benefited more than the DFL. The program was "unallotted" by former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
But small donors weren't the only folks who stopped digging deep. For all the cultivating of business, Sutton said in his letter that the party's bottom line also was hurt by the lack of excitement "the business community" showed for the governor's race.
On the plus side, he said he's had record success in attracting major donors to the party at a time when political parties are competing with political action groups of all shapes and philosophies for dollars.
Another regret, he said, was taking part in the recount in the governor's race between DFLer Mark Dayton and the GOP's Tom Emmer: "I was approached the morning after the election by the campaign manager and campaign chairman for the Emmer campaign and asked if the Party would take on the recount because they could not. With the advantage of hindsight I should have said no and endured the political heat. However, I thought at the time it was the right thing to do."
Again, on the outside looking in I can only speculate on dynamics beyond what's in Sutton's letter and Grow's reporting. The Emmer recount did strike me as a circus stunt, with thousands of votes separating Dayton's victory from Emmer's defeat; but given Franken-Coleman, I guess many Republicans viewed recounting as red meat on the floor that had to be dog-fought to a bitter end. Yet it seemed at the time a half-hearted recount chest-pounding with the thing folded up quickly enough, looking at it from the outside and not as an insider. Any blame cast toward Emmer has to be viewed as cast by the Sutton-Brodkorb pair against those who broke ranks and gave the endorsement to Emmer while leadership had a different legislator in mind as the one to run.
Grow gets into "Quislings" contention, and such, so have a look, again, here.
Grow does not specifically mention this from the Sutton letter - the ambush of Oberstar:
Once the money did begin to come later in the summer, rather than pay old bills I decided to push money towards the elections. I could have easily spent less on independent expenditures for the legislative elections or the governor’s race. For example, we spent $80K on television ads for Chip Cravaack – we could have just not have done that and nobody would have known. In short, we could have done less and had fewer bills (or perhaps no bills at all); however, I thought it was critical to win elections.
Looking forward, Grow arguably editorializes a bit, but how can you not opine:
For the moment, Kelly Fenton, who succeeded controversial Michael Brodkorb as the party's deputy chair by winning election for that position on Saturday, will lead the party in the interim. Under the party's rules, the Central Committee will elect a new party chair within 30 days.
disembodied head - Kelly Fenton
MinnPost captions as
"Photo: Fenton Campaign"
Can anyone can [sic] lead the party at least a few steps back to the middle? Does anyone want to?
Many old moderates — Dave Durenberger and Arne Carlson being two prime examples — no longer feel welcome in today's GOP.
Recall that in one of his more colorful outbursts, Sutton blasted Republicans who endorsed Independence Party candidate Tom Horner, instead of embracing the GOP's Tom Emmer.
"There's a special place in hell for those quislings," Sutton said of those Republicans who opted to work for Horner.
But it wasn't just old-timers who bristled under the Sutton-Brodkorb version of Republicanism.
There are current GOP legislators who found Sutton, and especially Brodkorb, out of line in their efforts to control every action of every GOP legislator.
If a legislator dared stray from the party line on policy issues, there was a threat that the legislator could be stripped of endorsement by the activists back home.
Not surprisingly, in accepting her new role, Fenton tried to appeal to everybody.
She acknowledged the activists, those purists who once cheered Sutton.
"We have the strength of faith and conviction and dedicated grassroots activists that understand what is at stake in 2012," she said in a statement Saturday.
But she also made reference to "building coalitions and reaching out to new voters."
That may be hard to do in a year in which there will be so much passion around the marriage amendment, which will be on the 2012 ballot because of the work of the so-called moral conservatives and the Republican majorities in the House and Senate. That amendment would restrict marriage to a man and a woman. It is the sort of policy work that has led many moderates to flee the party.
The party also faces the huge task of finding a credible candidate to run against U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Wrapping up - again for me, Schadenfreude, absolutely. Divisiveness could not happen to a more deserving bunch.
However, the Dominionists are a nationwide threat and peril, one needing to be quelled, absolutely and permanently, the sooner the better. Hence, I truly hope the GOP resolves things sanely, purging those deserving a purge. Stalin used to put on a show like this one, and wherever it ends, if Republicans do get elected to the legislature the best we - the rest of us - can hope for is that they be sane ones.
We can oppose those who look too much to be Dominionists at the Ward level, the precinct level, and upwards to the highest federal office. Strongly, consistently, and without deminishing the effort over time. It is necessary to keep our nation from great decline and mischief. It is something that must be done.
Try this mental experiment: Are the Dominionists the actual RINOs, and not those they demonize?
Any thoughts.
____________UPDATE____________
MinnPost reprinted the Deets on the Tweets. Here. It appears Kelly Fenton is more igniter than uniter. But that's the post Brodkorb held. Enough said. The top post is the vacancy, and so --- we wait, we see.