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Saturday, February 01, 2014

Mild politics at play, at Residual Forces, on the guv race, for Thompson.

Of the batch, Thompson seems most backward to me, least gifted, and highly rated by the wrong associations. Bad for the environment. 100% Taxpayer League, 0% NARAL. 100% by Minnesota Family Council. A real butt.

Residual Forces, here. The claim there:

January 30th, 2014

Media outlets are reporting that Dave Thompson will announce Sen. Michelle Bensonof Ham Lake as his Lt. Governor candidate this morning.

[...] I was already leaning Thompson since he is the most consistent conservative in the race, but the addition of Benson makes this a dream ticket.

"Dream ticket," he says. Benson is no great shakes, in terms of policy positions with the same endorsement pattern Thompson shows, but in terms of apparent talent if that is the ticket, it would be better reversed. However, a clear nightmare ticket, that level of "dream," for those who think progressively. For those who think.

Bad Koolaid. Bad medicine.

It likely will be a hit in Anoka County's GOP caucusing.

____________UPDATE____________
On the national level, likemindedness, N.Y. Times with a report worth reading, with this mid-item excerpt:

The Senate Conservatives Fund has feuded bitterly with party organizations, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and has financed challenges to incumbent senators who it does not believe adhere sufficiently to conservative orthodoxy.

In Kentucky, the fund is backing Matt Bevin, a businessman, in his bid to unseat Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s Republican leader.

“If Mitch McConnell wins, the party will continue to drift away from its conservative principles and become increasingly hostile to the grass-roots,” the Senate Conservatives Fund states on its website. “But if Matt Bevin wins, the establishment’s stranglehold over the party will be broken and power will be restored to the people who elect these politicians.”

McConnell out of the Senate would not be a bad thing, but the worry is who is the other guy, Matt Bevin? Tea Party? What? And of course, the Times article would be incomplete without mention of the arch villain of our times, David Koch. He who is mentioned, time and again. Do you suppose David Koch likes David Thompson, and vice versa?

More on Thompson. Paid by his party to run for office, or for "consulting?" Here and here.

Pure wasting of time grandstanding, here. Fiddling while there was real work to be done.

Big on Right to Work [for Less] anti-unionism, here. Moreover, a Crooks and Liars item, here, this quote:

Thompson's arguments in favor of the right-to-work legislation echo those seen in other states and the law mimics proposals put forth by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is pushing corporate-sponsored bills in numerous states in recent years.

As noted, a butt.

___________FURTHER UPDATE_____________
As to David Thompson's view on taxation, hint, it is not "Tax the Rich." It is grease the skids for them. Big time. Stick it to the little guy, buying an auto, medicine, family necessities:

I support a flat personal income tax and elimination of the corporate income tax. Also, we must simplify the property tax system. There should be more reliance on consumption (sales) taxes and less reliance on income and property taxes.

As noted, a butt.

___________FURTHER UPDATE____________
Here, we learn:

Prior to my election to represent SD 58 in the Senate, I spent 7 and 1/2 years hosting, "The Dave Thompson Show" on AM 1500 KSTP, in addition to providing conservative commentary on the Emmy Award winning news program, "At Issue with Tom Hauser." I am currently employed as in-house counsel for Twin Cities Power, LLC, a business located in my district.

Like Emmer, a right-wing-nut talk show jockey; so is that what makes him employable by "Twin Cities Power, LLC," that background, or is there something else, some other quality he offers for the paycheck?

He proselytizes, here, at great length [compare decidedly more terse issue statements, here].

One could fill an entire half-hour of talk radio, just reading that energy policy thing, its convolutions, involutions, advocacy, and such.

He shills proselytizes with disclosure, but on a wholly separate webpage, and not on the campaign site's "Meet Dave." [His legislative page cryptically lists only "Attorney, consultant" for Thompson's day-job info under "Biographical information."]

Hopefully such a detail can be fixed in upcoming months, as the campaign website gets revised and extended.

FURTHER UPDATE: He sponsors bills, business friendly, union unfriendly.