And among so many others, all filing with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, and having PAC names beginning with "M" how was it smoked out into the sunshine?
Well, Andy is how. And he links to the PAC website - we can see the hangers-on that fit with Andy's orientation - but who is the true puppetmaster behind things? That, we find from the CFB page, this screen capture:
Yes, that power wizard behind the curtain, is Peter Hegseth.
The one who disingenuously put his name forward as if truly a challenger to Amy Klobuchar, and more than willingly stepped aside when Bills was endorsed so Bills could take the hit instead of Hegseth, i.e., no primary challenge from this PACman Pete. He's got his sights set on the next cycle, and a shot at Franken, and is building party gravitas by backing those who later can back him.
Pete scratches your back, you scratch his.
And Andy, why not identify this connection. Presumably you had a hand in it and know exactly who is who in the scheme of things, with the birthing of the thing days earlier to where there is no single financial disclosure document on file with the CFB. We don't know where the money to start this comes from, or who will show up as big-time donors. It is postured as if aiming at little people donors, twelve bucks to get onto Pete's mailing list for next cycle, but, in a spirit of bipartisanship, let's wish Andy and his puppeteer Pete, good luck.
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Now, if the substance of that post above seems to you to be a pile of rubbish, it is. It is mocking the garbage mongers who are trying to suggest Citizens for Responsible Government is not for responsible government, because it is not for them as candidates. And to mock the Watchdog with both eyes on one side of his face to only see things from one direction. This is not a serious post. I don't care a rat's anatomical part whether Hegseth and Aplikowski exercise a right to form a PAC and sprinkle good will among chosen Republican politicians. It's their right. The point, the entire point, is there's junk being propagandized around Ramsey, Harold Hamilton taking part, that some way the Erhart brothers or either of them, and/or Jim Deal, somehow poison the well for a bunch of fine people, running for office, who are lucky to have somebody organizing who cares about and wants responsible government of a higher degree and quality than incumbents represent; a responsible government surpassing the status quo in our town.
The point, again is to mock those propagandizing you as if there were evil afoot.
To donate to help good candidates send a check for whatever you can afford to:
Citizens for Responsible Government
1207 Constance Blvd. NE
Ham Lake, MN 55304
Phone (763) 434-5929
The nonpartisan candidates still in the running whom CRG has indicated in its county disclosure as those it favors are:
Dan Sanders, Allison Lister, Sarah Strommen, Mark Kuzma, Chris Riley, and John LeTourneau.
Excellent people.
Again, I applaud the CRG effort for not paying any person any part of CRG funds for management. I believe this is not the case with either of the PACs that pursued procuring an anti-sunshine judicial opinion.
I hope and expect that Peter Hegseth's "get on the mailing list for twelve bucks" PAC also does not eat up donor funds to pay "management." That the money goes wholly toward the election process and not for a major paid lobbyist, as Harold Hamilton's PAC spends.
No going negative: CRG reported expenditures, so far, have been in the very low four figures, not a big money thing as outlandishly falsified in the publications of others, with the money going so far primarily for signs touting candidate names and noting the office being sought.
This is giving voters notice of who seeks which office. There is nothing in that at all negative toward others, nor any advocacy about ballot issues; i.e., there have been no "negative ad blitzs" from CRG.
Who IS going negative: You receive community candidate lit drops.
Look at them.
See who says what.
You can recognize negativity when you read it.
And yes, this post is negative, in the sense it is critical of one thing, while making the major point that Peter Hegseth and Andy Aplikowski can form a committee to express political opinion, just as others can, and the negativity is aimed solely at those who wish to undermine specific lawful enterprise of that sort because it sits against their own incumbency and who will do "what it takes" to try to be reelected.
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Noteworthy, Andy's Minnesota PAC identifies specific candidates, via the menu bar at the top, "CANDIDATES" button, and it even links over to each candidate's website, via a "DONATE" link. This is going several steps further into the process of coordinating with specific candidate efforts than anything the Citizens for Responsible Government have done. I do not even know if CRG actively solicits donations for its own efforts. I encourage sending checks, as it is my First Amendment right as a citizen of the US of A to be doing that. I can encourage you giving money even to CAPE PAC, a story unto itself. Here. Here.