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Thursday, February 22, 2018

Ian Todd appears to be unopposed in seeking DFL CD6 endorsement. At a guess, after having never met either, he has a better mind than Tom Emmer. Mixing thoughts in a post is a privilige of blog ownership.

First a cartoon worth a thousand words about the Republican tax thing they rammed through against the public interest, explaining a wordy intricate package well. I call the package Crony Christmas Cruelty, dumping a load on the 99% long term, and while unsure of whether any actual presently living person is depicted, I tend to view it as doing so (hat tip to Lukovich):


So, are there any questions? With that said, always remember Tom Emmer played his party-loyalty role in things, dancing just as wanted as Paul Ryan and Stanley Hubbard pulled on his strings.

Again, digressing momentarily from Ian Todd to honor those honored by Tom Emmer's tax policy servitude, his vote being their bond; this image at this link. Bringing to mind, "We nobles meet in secret in Sherwood Forrest with King John, to aim to track down and Kill this 'Robin Hood'" when that invitation said, "Time and location provided on RSVP." The linked image lists those for whom Emmer voted in casting his taxation vote. If not directly then by kindred spirit and generic GOP gratitude. Helping one another achieve goals; national will be damned. Stealth donor the headline says. This is the head honcho behind the hated west metro country club group calling itself "Freedom Club," which calls to mind a big gigantic gnarled ugly club which the perps gleefully use to pound against the populace. Feeling good about themselves that way. Pounding the populace which they from on high view as the peasantry.

Strib in 2014 reported about who runs both parties in Minnesota; if not directly, then well, I could be wrong but I quote anyway, since the suspicion is that the listed folks - going each way - were satisfied with the Republican 2017 Christmas gift:

More than $4 out of every $10 that individuals have contributed to state politics since 2013 comes from the deep pockets of those who gave $5,000 or more. While parties like to tout the number of small donors they have as testament to their broad appeal, a Star Tribune analysis shows that it’s the well-off on whom they depend.

At least 30 percent of all Democratic cash for the state party and its affiliates comes from people who give more than $5,000. For Republicans, the figure is even higher — 40 percent of their money has come from high-dollar donors since they started fundraising for 2014.

{...] “You are tilting the scales [to] fewer and fewer people having influence over the political process,” said DFL Party Chair Ken Martin.

But Martin and the DFL have benefited from those tipped scales.

Among Minnesota political heavyweights, one fundraiser stands out: Alida Messinger. A Rockefeller heir and Gov. Mark Dayton’s ex-wife, Messinger has already pumped nearly $1 million into the 2014 contest. That is nearly three times as much as any other individual political donor and keeps her on pace with her 2012 giving. In that election, she donated about $3 million.

[...] “I think we have effectively restructured and rebuilt confidence,” said Republican Party Chair Keith Downey.

The big 14

For the state Republican Party, nearly 60 percent of the $1.3 million it has reported raising since 2013 came from just 14 donors. The largest among them is Joan Cummins, wife of Plymouth-based Primera Technology founder Bob Cummins. Joan Cummins has given the party $185,000 since 2013, with the first check arriving days after Downey was elected. She and her husband have given an additional $166,000. That cash was spread among Republicans’ Senate campaign committees, the conservative Freedom Club and GOP candidates across the state.

Not far behind Cummins’ party giving are Bill and Tani Austin, longtime contributors to Republican politics. Together, they have supplied nearly $350,000 to GOP causes since 2013. Of that, the state party and the Freedom Club, an independent spending group largely funded by wealthy donors, each received about $150,000.

On the GOP list, Stanley Hubbard, the head of Hubbard Broadcasting, fills out the top three. He has given the state party $135,000 so far and contributed another $171,000 to other Minnesota political committees.

Fewer calls, bigger haul

In part because of Messinger’s big checks, Martin had to make fewer calls to cull his cash. For the DFL state committee, just 11 donors provided nearly $1 million, or 35 percent of the money the party has raised so far. Nearly $700,000 of that came from Messinger. She also gave $250,000 to the DFL House’s campaign arm to help keep the Legislature in DFL hands and ponied up $4,000 to her ex-husband, Dayton.

Second only to Messinger in the DFL-giving ranks was Vance Opperman, president of Key Investments and former president of Thompson Reuters. He has given the state party $85,000, according to public documents, but has been more generous with legislative campaigns. Of the nearly $400,000 he has given since last year, $160,000 has gone to the DFL House and Senate committees. The 2014 Fund and WIN Minnesota — independent committees that support Democrats — received another $100,000.

[bolding added]

Ian Todd has an issues page:

https://www.iantoddforcongress.com/theissues/

Strangely, the first issue he notes;

Get Money Out of Politics
Campaign finance needs reformation in order to quell the corrupting influence of money in politics.

It's abundantly clear that while the super rich are an extreme minority in our country, their voice is the most over represented in Congress.

In 2010 the Supreme Court made a bad call in their Citizens United decision. It is for these mistakes that we have checks and balances. Corporate money has no place in democratic elections, and the U.S. Constitution should reflect that. I support a constitutional amendment about campaign finance reform that overturns Citizens United, clarifies that corporations are not people and money is not speech.

Trouble maker. Tom Emmer asks Stanley Hubbard about such thinking, Hubbard replies, "Boat rocker." Yes, they are going to trickle down a rising tide, that is what Ryan and Emmer will tell us, and you know the cliche from there. Never worked, will not. End of story.

Certainly I might have said more about Ian Todd, but why steal his thunder. You have the link. Explore the website. I have to go now to write the guy a 2 x $27 snail-mail check, my little thing to give a kind of salute to Emmer and Hubbard.

One loose thread, the part of the headline "... better mind than Tom Emmer." Read the Ian Todd bio page, or the ECM report, the thought being acquiring expertise to be an Air Force geospacial analyst takes more horsepower between the ears than being a college hockey player in Alaska. Opinions can differ. Also; and opinions can differ here; serving the country in the Air Force is a higher reach than serving a coaching staff on an ice rink. Admittedly, I guess that having done neither.

UPDATE: Start with a theme, end with that theme. Dickens gets a Rand/Ryan.

FURTHER: Freedom Club brain trust; Brandon Sawalich, best and brightest, here and here. Smart money corrupting politics has been a long-standing theme. Freedom Club has a grasp of the other end of the money spectrum, if you believe court testimony.