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Doug Wardlow for Minnesota Attorney General
September 26 at 10:43 AM ·
BREAKING: The Wardlow for Attorney General campaign is proud to announce a record-breaking fundraising haul. Doug Wardlow is raising a record amount of money for a GOP candidate for Attorney General, and is in a strong position to win the general election. We’re seeing strong support from Minnesotans, and Americans around the country, who are ready to retire Keith Ellison from politics.
Important Facts to Note:
Wardlow has raised $ 425,671 to date
Wardlow has already raised more than Attorney General Swanson raised for her campaign in 2014 and 2010
Wardlow has more spending flexibility heading into the final stretch
So flush with cash, and why? Because the man did his damndest to kill "Tax the Rich" back in 2011, and to do so he had to shovel a load onto the rest of us, and an apology is due Crabgrass readers that at the time of the 2011 Minnesota government shutdown this site was preocupied with local issues, myopically so, and it took reading Timmer posting and reaching back in time to come to the conclusion that aside from Catch the Fire, Wardlow is about Catch the Money.
Politico, back then:
On parade route, 2 sides of shutdown - By JAMES HOHMANN -- 07/04/2011 03:28 PM EDT [Updated 07/05/2011 03:29 PM EDT]
[...] “The time for compromise is over,” Wardlow said. “We tried compromise. It didn’t work. So there’s no compromise between right and wrong.”
He explained that the shutdown was avoidable and unnecessary, adding that the “silver lining” could be a serious debate about the proper size and role of government. Wardlow sees himself on the front lines of a national proxy war over the future of government. He says he’s not prepared to back down.
“Minnesota has a unique tradition of being able to bring people of different political ideologies together and have civil discourse,” he said.
“When that breaks down here in Minnesota, that means we have a national crisis of sorts on our hands. A battle of ideas as between people that believe in free enterprise and believe in the power of earned success to bring prosperity and happiness and people that think income inequality is the problem.”
The polarization of the crowd reflects just how much the state’s old political consensus has fractured. Ascendant conservatives say they are challenging old premises of government’s role in attracting businesses to the state, as Pawlenty did during his two terms in office. Democrats say the GOP is trying to cut services for the neediest to protect the wealthiest from paying higher taxes.
At least a dozen people told Wardlow that he should be working. In turn, Wardlow told each of them that he would be happy to, but that the governor is refusing to talk with them until Tuesday.
Wardlow said that they were 80 percent of the way to an agreement late last week before the deadline at midnight Thursday.
[...] “Time to tax millionaires,” a man yelled at him.
“I don’t believe in redistributing wealth,” Wardlow shouted back.
Wardlow was one of three Republican freshmen to walk in the parade. The state has 67 state Senate districts, and each of them is divided into two state house districts. Republicans picked up the Senate seat and both House seats in District 38 last year.
Rank-and-file Republicans, mindful that it is their members who will be on the ballot next year — as opposed to the governor, who won’t be on the ballot until 2014 — have been more aggressive about making their case in the media and to voters than Democrats, who, with some exceptions, went dark over the weekend.
Deputy House Minority Leader Debra Hilstrom, who represents the north Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, said she got a great reception at her parade, before the shutdown.
She blames Republicans for trying to inject social issues into a budget debate and says the debate is not about the size and scope of government but whether expenses will be deferred and costs shifted to the future — or whether structural problems will be addressed now.
“I’m hoping that we’re going to come to agreement very soon,” Hilstrom said Monday afternoon by phone. “You saw that there’s been some agreement that there needs to be additional revenue now. The question is what kind of revenue and who’s going to pay it … Minnesotans are tired of shifts and gimmicks. They want a balanced budget.”
[...] Deb Hagen, 45, a single mom from Eagan who works as a chemical dependency officer in the state women’s prison, approached freshman Republican state Sen. Ted Daley before the parade to push him to get government functioning again.
She said her co-workers are frustrated that she’s listed as critical and they’re not. She didn’t know until Thursday afternoon that she would be listed as a critical employee. She said Friday was the most stressful day of her 11 years working for the state.
She’s a registered Republican, but she split her ticket last year — voting for Dayton and the Republican legislators. If the election were today, she said she’d turn out to vote for the Democratic candidate.
“If it was me not doing my job, I’d be fired,” she said.
[italics added] If you have any belief at all in fairly taxing the rich and fixing the income disparity the nation faces which is grinding on us all, do not let Doug Wardlow anywhere near the Attorney General's Office. It would be toxic.
The little creep will stop at nothing to try getting there, including using Karen Monahan's disproportionate anguish as a springboard tool - his former law firm boss having been installed as Monahan's lawyer, arguably an abuse of trust.
Should you want proof of that tie-in, consider:
FIRST: S.C.Times [bolding added]:
Prosecutor will review Ellison case only after police probe - ASSOCIATED PRESS Published 4:09 p.m. CT Oct. 2, 2018
[...] An ex-girlfriend of Ellison [Karen Monahan] alleged in August that the Democratic congressman dragged her off a bed by her feet in 2016. On Monday, a draft report by an attorney with links to the Democratic party found that Karen Monahan's claims were unsubstantiated.
In a letter dated Tuesday, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said the Minneapolis City Attorney asked him to review the case, citing a conflict of interest. Ellison's son is on the Minneapolis City Council.
Backstrom said he would, but only if a complaint is filed with law enforcement.
Monahan's attorney, Andrew Parker, says his client welcomes a fair investigation. He hasn't talked to Monahan about filing a criminal complaint.
Things stand in a curious posture. Why has no complaint been forthcoming? What fear is there in complaining? It seems counterintuitive that one who "welcomes a fair investigation" and wanting to be believed is surprisingly looking as if dragging her feet, for what, the eve of the November election?
SECOND: Published days before the S.C. Times item, Strib [bolding added]:
Doug Wardlow says he'll set aside partisan past if elected attorney general - The Republican candidate's staunchly conservative past has some doubting campaign promise. By Jessie Van Berkel Star Tribune - September 29, 2018 — 9:06pm
[...] But a deeply partisan past has left some questioning whether he would live up to that vow. From his recent work at the Christian nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom to his term in the Legislature, Wardlow’s staunch conservative values have guided his work, his opponents say. But Wardlow said he would leave behind policy advocacy if he gets the job.
[...] Wardlow said the trend of state attorneys general using the court system to push policies is troubling and often their legal standing is “tenuous.”
Wardlow, a 40-year-old Eagan resident, has a broad legal background. He worked on constitutional law cases, international trade law and other practice areas since graduating from Georgetown University Law Center in 2004. He spent nearly half of his law career at the private firm Parker Rosen LLC, where he litigated everything from eminent domain to employment and labor cases.
His boss there, Andrew Parker, described Wardlow as a prolific writer with an “outstanding analytical ability” who was good at thinking outside the box. Wardlow worked at the firm when he ran for the Legislature. Parker said his politics didn’t creep into his private work, and he’s confident Wardlow could separate the two if elected attorney general.
“At least when he was at our office, that never interfered at all with any of the work he did,” Parker said.
So, there you have it. This Andrew Parker is wearing two curious hats - representing Monahan in a very publicly staged attack upon the DFL's AG candidate, tied by a co-practice bond to the Republican AG candidate, so what is to be inferred? Or asked?
Asked by the press, by the opposition party, by blogs with attitude; surely - by someone.
The Pawlenty deficit Dayton inherited was at issue when Dayton, Zellers, and Koch, cooler heads wanting to end shutdown irresponsibility hammered out a settlement while Wardlow was not a part of leadership negotiations - seeming willing to allow an indefinite shutdown, the state of the State left twisting in the wind. Killing "Tax the Rich" trumping orderly government.
On July 19, 2011, Paul Thissen released a statement:
Republicans poised to impose beg, borrow, and steal budget on people of MN: Statement from Minority Leader Thissen on today’s impending special session
Today, the Republicans will impose their beg-borrow-and-steal budget on the people of Minnesota.
Republicans had not 1, not 2, but 7 opportunities to agree to a better budget – a budget that actually solves the state deficit now, has the support of a vast majority of Minnesotans, and defends middle class families. Republicans could have supported the Governor’s plan that cut $2 billion from state government and asked millionaires to pay their fair share.
However, the Republicans refused every single attempt at a fair budget, forcing this borrow-and-spend non-solution on the people of Minnesota in order to end a painful government shutdown.
The lengths to which this Republican majority will go to protect corporate special interests and the richest of the rich are astounding. Their budget forces the state to beg from seniors and the disabled with draconian budget cuts, borrow money to temporarily fill the deficit with one-time funds, and steal from our children’s future by expanding the K12 school shift.
Minnesota loses with this budget. In 2 years, we will face another massive deficit while in the meantime middle class families will pay more and get less. The only winners today are the defenders of the unworkable status quo. The winners are the millionaires and special interests who are given yet another Republican break.
On July 21, 2011, Thissen was interviewed [links omitted]:
Richfield Patch: Now that negotiations are over and the state is getting back to work, what are your thoughts about the final budget for the next two years?
Rep. Paul Thissen: The bottom line is the governor agreed to accept a Republican budget plan by accepting this idea of borrowing money to balance the budget. After Republican legislators were given seven options to do it in a permanent and more responsible way, he agreed. That's why DFL legislators were told to leave the room. We didn't have any part in the final negotiation of bills.
The ultimate resolution is really bad for the state of Minnesota. It's leaving the legislature with a $4 billion deficit in the next biennium. Republicans admitted we need between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in new revenue so that we don't fundamentally undermine the state's prospects. Democrats said we'd do serious cuts but asked Republicans to agree to revenue increases on the richest Minnesotans. [Democrats' plan] was much more sustainable, much more responsible. It's tough for the people of Minnesota that Republicans decided to act the way they did.
Richfield Patch: Who were the winners and losers in this budget deal?
Thissen: I think it's clear that the people who win are the people the Republicans are trying to protect. Corporate special interests and people making more than $1 million a year. The people that lose are average, middle class Minnesota families who are again going to see higher tuition, see health insurance premiums go up, see their property taxes go up. The winners and losers are pretty clear.
Richfield Patch: Some Minnesotans were dissatisfied that the budget negotiations were going on behind closed doors, with some public advocates even suggesting some of the state's open meeting laws were being violated. Was it necessary to conduct the negotiations that way?
Thissen: I do think there needs to be some [closed] negotiations so people can have frank conversations, but also think it's important that those conversations be brought into the open so people understand what's in the bills and what's being passed.
The challenge was that so many deadlines were missed and so there was desperation. It was a very imperfect world largely because Republicans took advantage of the 20 days of the government shutdown.
Richfield Patch: Is there a part of the process at the legislature you feel needs to change in order to avert something like the shutdown from happening again?
Thissen: I think at the end of the day we have to be in a situation where there's a willingness to compromise. The striking thing about the shutdown was that during 20 days, Republicans didn't offer a single new idea to balance the budget. Our political system, our democracy, just doesn't work then. I look forward to a time where there's more willingness to compromise—that's where we need to get.
So an unprecedented shutdown was instigated and dragged on until there was a capitulation by Democrats, and what resulted? Besides the Thissen interview statements proving true?
On the eve of the 2012 election MPR reported:
[... U]nder the radar is another fierce battle, one for control of the Minnesota Legislature. With all 201 legislative seats in play, the candidates and independent groups that support and oppose them are spending millions of dollars to try to sway voters.
Among the most competitive contests is the one occurring in Eagan, where Republican state Rep. Doug Wardlow is taking fire from unions, and Democratic-leaning groups who support his opponent, Democrat Laurie Halverson.
As he knocks on voters' doors in his district, Wardlow, who is in his first term, has been touting his record as a conservative on fiscal matters. The Republican-controlled Legislature, he tells them, balanced the state budget without raising taxes.
Wardlow also tells voters that he wants to make additional spending cuts and cut business taxes, proposals he believes would encourage businesses to hire more people. He said that message resonates with people in the district.
[...] Wardlow said his solid principles include opposition to tax hikes and a state-based health insurance exchange. But Halverson, his DFL opponent, said Wardlow is one of the causes of gridlock at the Capitol.
"All of the extremism, all it is, is good for the extremist," Halverson said. "It's good for the parties. And the people get left behind because their voice isn't being heard."
Halverson blames Wardlow and other Republicans for the state government shutdown in 2011 and for patching together a budget fix that relies on spending one-time money and delaying payments to schools.
To balance the budget over the long-term, Halverson said, the Legislature must raise some taxes and cut some spending.
"Legislative budgets have come out with deficit spending for the last 10 years," she said. "And it's kept the Legislature from asking the really hard questions, which are where do we find revenue enhancements and where do we make cuts?"
Halverson won the election, Wardlow was a one term wonder flaming out by his unbridled embrace of intransigent brinkmanship. It is who he is and who he would see as fit to be an Attorney General for all in the state, including the most needy and not only the most wealthy. How do you think a Wardlow stint in the AG office would shake out, given leopards not changing spots?
That is why, as I have learned to comprehend, Timmer posted video, segment and complete version, displaying who Wardlow is.
If you follow the money, Wardlow, (per the opening screen capture), is boasting about raking it in in record campaign war chest amounts beyond what Swanson, who is sensible and responsible, attained. If you understand who he is, you will understand reciprocity. And in seeing that, in your heart you should feel that a who pays the piper calls the tune trainwreck can be avoided by an Ellison victory.
And, if you follow the money, hopefully you will find Doug Wardlow on election day deadended at the end of the line, hopefully then understanding exactly the how and why of his getting there by being slavish to wealth as he's been, and that he might become enlightened to a better way while the AG office stays in better hands.
READER'S BONUS: At about the time the shutdown standoff was being ended by not taxing the rich but by lesser policy, good was being done - a spnding progrom no less - as was then reported by Sorensen at Bluestem Prairie. No millionaire or billionaire perks and promises, but just one step movement to advance the public good.
Some are several cuts better than Wardlow. Even if it entails a bit of redistribution.