The latest word: Slater, Apr.18 writing at DNT:
On Wednesday, Phifer left the race altogether, saying she was only ever targeting party endorsement and that she wanted no part of a “divisive primary” she said would hurt the party.
“My goal, since first declaring my candidacy in October 2017, has always been to win the DFL endorsement, bring new voices to the table and strengthen the party,” Phifer said in a news release. “A divisive primary season would only serve to weaken the party and distract from the issues affecting the people of the 8th District.”
Phifer’s decision leaves four candidates vying for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor primary in August — Kirsten Kennedy, Michelle Lee, Jason Metsa and Joe Radinovich.
[...] Phifer said she will not endorse a candidate at this time.
That seems the present state of affairs.
So, this recent earlier Dev Crabgrass post is incorrect, there are four DFL primary entrants, unless and until news arises saying otherwise.
NOTE: This recent Dev Crabgrass remains true and correct today -- as true as it was years ago. The update in that 2009 post remains as true as the fact that the image in that update is a bald eagle.
____________UPDATE____________
The business in the latest DNT item cited above about the Latino Caucus does not ring true. This "researcher discovery" story is lame. Back when the Around the 8th in 80 days was first seen reported by Aaron Brown back then the sidebar item about Phifer was posted; including the link to an item Phifer wrote that was published online by MinnPost; for everyone to have seen before Phifer's formal entry into the race in opposition to Nolan - indeed before the summer district tour by motorcycle:
In defense of the executive branch
By Leah Phifer | 02/24/17
On Feb. 20, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security released a series of documents providing guidance on how the Trump administration plans to address its promises of increased immigration enforcement. Specifically, the documents detail expanded enforcement priorities for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), reinstating such policies as the 287(g) program, rolled back in 2014. Having worked for ICE for six years, I know what comes next. In the upcoming weeks and months, photos of ICE arrests will be front-page news, and individuals’ deportation stories will provoke strong emotions. Many people will see those photos and think, “Look at those jackbooted thugs, kicking in doors and rounding up families – who do they think they are?” Before this all begins, I’d like to take a moment to tell you a little about the people in the headlines.
[...] There are a lot of misconceptions about why people seek out careers in law enforcement. Many people think it’s because we all want to carry guns and kick in doors. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I started a career at ICE after having spent several years abroad. I wanted to use my foreign-language skills to help undocumented immigrants through the deportation process – a very confusing and stressful situation often compounded by a language barrier. During my time there, I met some “bad hombres” – pedophiles, rapists and violent felons. Sometimes I met single mothers trying to build a better life for their children. In the latter case, I would study their background, their family history, the story of how they arrived here. I would look for anything that would qualify a hardworking parent for legal status in the U.S. and then make a referral to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Sometimes I was able to help, and other times I wasn’t, but I never once forgot the delicate humanity of everyone I encountered.
Though I left ICE three years ago, I still work in national security and I’ve never once felt torn between a desire to help people and the pursuit of justice. We need to shed this idea that half the population chooses law enforcement over compassion, while the other half wants to let their bleeding hearts put our national security at risk. For the past 10 years, I’ve been both a proud bleeding heart and an ardent enforcer of the law. My friends represent a mix of brilliant immigration attorneys, as well as dedicated ICE officers. I support the ACLU. I’ve drafted Warrants of Deportation and shed tears of joy at a naturalization ceremony, often in the same day. No one side has the moral high ground here; we’re all devoted to upholding the law, even if we’re working on different sides of the issue.
ICE may be the first federal agency to provoke public ire as the new administration churns out executive orders, but it won’t be the last. During the next few years, I urge people on both sides of the aisle to remember that civil servants are trying to do the best we can with the orders we’re given. Like you, we want what is best for our country. Immigrants undoubtedly make our country better, but so do the individuals enforcing our immigration laws.
Leah Phifer, of Isanti, is a graduate of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She has been working for the federal government since 2008 and continues her national security career at the Department of Justice.
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Comments (15)
Tell me again . . . .
Submitted by Pat Berg on February 24, 2017 - 9:41am.
Tell me again how "sensitive" these ICE agents are:
"ICE Agents Take Undocumented Mom With Brain Tumor From Hospital To Detention Center"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/undocumented-woman-with-brain-tumor-...
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Spend a little...
Submitted by Edward Blaise on February 24, 2017 - 10:13am.
Time along our Northern border and see ICE in action. Or should I say inaction. Walk into the I Falls custom's house and see 10 plus Kevlar wearing, hand gun toting clerk typists busily pecking away with no time to disengage and greet the citizen waiting at the counter. Read the reports of regular citizens being followed from their workplace to their homes on a steady basis: When asked why the response was "just practicing our surveillance techniques". Personally, I had an ICE agent scream by me with lights flashing well over the speed limit. When I reached the next gas station he was filling up and calmly cleaning out his back seat. And, as soon as he got back on the road? Yes, the lights came back on and he sped off over the speed limit. After the ICE agent who killed a beloved Northshore Dr. while speeding in bad weather, one would think more universal caution would be applied. Our Northern border is grossly over staffed and over budgeted. Here are the entities one may encounter on a border waters lake:
1. ICE
2. US Border Patrol
3. MN County Sheriff
4. MN DNR Enforcement
5. US Park Rangers
6. US Coast Guard
7. Canadian Provincial Police
8. Canadian MNR
9. Canadian Immigration
10. Canadian Customs Enforcement
12. Royal Canadian Mounted Police
And that is just the folks in boats. Add in the helicopters, airplanes and drones for the full list.
The US folks should be lined up and told to count off by ten and then numbers one thru nine given their transfer orders to El Paso. And number ten? Use a little common sense and be safe out there.
[...]
Phifer got ambushed. Her ICE ties were clear public knowledge for over a year before the CD8 convention. Fifteen (15) comments were published by MinnPost from people who can read. And did.
A contention that the Latino Caucus missed this when published is stupendously mind-boggling.
Whether the Latino Caucus was complacent, or sandbagging to time an objection at the convention is less relevant with Phifer out; but are they really that incompetent? To have missed the MinnPost item until the eve of the endorsement convention?
Hopefully not. Competence is a virtue.
Sandbagging, however, is nobody's virtue.
..............................................
Phifer was wise in not advancing into a primary that might have degeneratee into an ICE opinion survey, which is not the key issue.
Michelle Lee, of the remaining four primary entrants, is the one who firmly opposes sulfide mining as more risk than benefit. Others should be judged on their position, however waffled or clearly stated it may be on that issue.
Lee also is anything but a single issue candidate.
Hopefully Our Revolution will weigh an endorsement among the four advancing into the CD8 primary. Readers are urged to be vigilant for any such decision by the organization. Ditto for the DFL Environmental Caucus. Those are important opinion outlets.
The Latino Caucus can have their pick of the four; I don't care. I only hope they endorse in a timely, noncomplacent fashion. Rick Nolan's opinion, in my view, is in the same category.
______________FURTHER UPDATE________________
A reader emailed of a shorter KSTP online item about the Phifer decision. As with the DNT report, it ended stating, "In a release, Phifer said she was not endorsing any of the remaining candidates at this time."
___________FURTHER UPDATE___________
As a person with a media background and hence attuned to video content, Michelle Lee has a YouTube channel. It is not known whether any of the others have taken such a step. Anybody willing to do a Rosie the Riveter pose for the "We Can Do It" fun of it deserves a nod of respect from CD8 district elders.
Youngsters, go google it.
It is shameful that this video got only three viewings. Justin Perpich probably was one of them or should have been. Sipress does not mince words. It is refreshing to see his early endorsement.
Her ActBlue donate page. Snail mail:
Michelle Lee for Congress, P.O. Box 566, Moose Lake MN 55767
Yes, Phifer's candidacy was unique and fresh in approach, the guess being neither Michelle Lee nor the others are motorcyclists.
But that was an introduction by Phifer, with the substance and appeal following. With her out and her not nodding toward others, it is time to look at the remaining hopeful foursome. Lee talks the progressive talk, and that is helpful. An interesting anecdote, Lee before the convention phoned the houshold, I was the one home, and after telling her I supported Phifer her response was, "Well at least you've chosen a Democrat."
Last, after Phifer support and now looking at Lee, please do not accuse me of gender bias. I liked Erdmann in CD2. Now I like Craig. Also, it is not gender bias, not a whit, to say Jason Lewis and Stauber are worrisome. It is because they are.
_____________FURTHER AND FINAL UPDATE____________
If you want waffle free environmental good sense, watch this candidate forum YouTube segment. That leaves few questions or room for differning interpretation. No weaseling about we just assure it is done safely, with an escrow, and hunkey dorey why are we waiting, sing with me, Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs.
None of that with Lee. Check out the others.