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Sunday, May 28, 2023

Laying it on with a trowel, in a Strib op-ed. Jimbo, why? What is behind this?

Strib - under whatever reasoning - published a May 23, 2023, Jim Schultz self-tout, as an op-ed.  The view here is that Schultz might be stepping on some toes of established operation people, possibly sowing confusion with a venture that has built its own goodwill over decades, and doing this while his self-tout write-up in Strib uses over-embellished rhetoric, with his two ending paragraphs as an example:

Minnesota has much to be proud of in its history. We are the state of explorers who sought the Northwest Passage, of soldiers who fought at Gettysburg; of doctors who built the Mayo Clinic, of farmers who have fed the world and miners whose labor helped build it, of freedom fighters who led battles for civil rights for all, of innovators who created some of the world's most successful companies and of statesman who have shaped American history.

Inheriting a state with this exceptional past, we must ensure that it has an exceptional future. We can face down the adversities of this current moment and set the course for decades of prosperity. We at the MPBC will work with all people of good faith to ensure that we do.

Enshrine motherhood and Cherry Pie. What's up? 

Schultz wrote "We at the MPBC?" (MPBC is what he abbreviates his operation to), and the "We" would be Schultz and who else

That is not an insubstantial question. He writes as if it is an established going venture. With a membership.

Is it?

So far Crabgrass knows of Jim and his webmaster, each with a business. Schultz the business about which he writes? Who else?

His "MBPC" has a website. With a logo, text aligned.

From a whois of GROWTHMN.COM, (the Schultz website), we see the site was done by Dustin Grage, d/b/a Honeyhive Strategies, (with Grage an operative doing Republican website design, as well as serving other businesses).

 

VERY NEW VENTURE

Hot off the press. Grage registered the site with registrar http://www.wix.com only last month, April 24, 2023

So before that it did not exist as a going concern, doing business, with an online presence.

Again from the whois, Grage registered himself site Admin and site Tech resource person, using his Buffalo, MN business address, 

However, the whois noted: Admin Email: growthmn@wix-domains.com. 

CONFUSION

Whether Grage is a venture co-participant with Schultz is not known by Crabgrass.

Also, with such a young website it is a wonder if Schultz actually has yet generated any business whatsoever for the adventure

Nonetheless, Schultz on the https://www.growthmn.com/about page claims to the world:

Comprised of key leaders from a broad array of Minnesota's privately held businesses, the Council works with leaders in government, business, and communities to advocate for policies that will lead to job growth, new business creation and entrepreneurship, and broad-based well-being for Minnesota’s workers and their families.

[italics added] What Schultz means by "broad array" and by "privately held businesses" is never defined by Schultz, but even publicly traded firms are privately held, by the shareholders, so he confuses things unnecessarily.  

If he intends to limit things to closely held firms, he should say that, since as a business lawyer he knows proper terminology. Moreover, in the Strib tout-item, Schultz tells the world:

Minnesota can successfully meet its challenges, but it will take new ideas and a fresh vision. Today I am proud to announce the launch of the Minnesota Private Business Council. Composed of businesses from a broad array of Minnesota industries, the MPBC will fight for common-sense policies leading to job growth and higher wages, new business creation and entrepreneurship, responsible, accountable and transparent government, and broad-based well-being for Minnesota's workers and their families.

 [italics added] This is twice representing it as a going concern with actual relationships with "businesses from a broad array of Minnesota industries." 

If it is so, name one.

This is unclear, since Schultz also says "proud to announce" in his op-ed where the suggestion is prior to the May 23 op-ed the venture was unannounced. 

Very unclear.

MNBP

The Schultz website homepage uses a paled-down background video loop, from here with no indication the loop has anything at all to do with Schultz and his startup adventure, or with any possible client. 

It looks substantial, but so what?

Compare the Schultz "MPBC" look and feel with that of the Minnesota Business Partnership (MNBP) homepage, https://www.mnbp.com/, where repeatedly scrolled  short background videos are locked in sequence, with a darkened page format. Not paled. There are differences.

MNBP and the Schultz MPBC operation certainly are separate, but not clearly so. Some people might confuse things between the two, which is unfortunate, where naming the new venture differently might have better avoided confusion.

MNBP has been around for years. Since 1977. A half-century. 

It is a well established operation with indisputably established goodwill and respect built up since former legislator and Pawlenty law-school buddy Charlie Weaver incorporated it and registered it with the MN SoS decades ago, in 1977.  (The last of the two links in this paragraph notes Weaver retired from MNBP earlier this year).

click the image to see who filed and when

 The Schultz filing parallels that of Weaver, both incorporated as non-profits, but Schultz has only been filed with the MN SoS to do business since Valentines Day, this year. Before that, zippo.

click the image to read who filed/when

There is also a "Minnesota Business Partnership Education Foundation," which is an affiliate of the Weaver-launched MNBP which in turn was launched in 2003, Weaver as President. 

Thus, further confusion looms among the public, absent close attention to detail.

For MNBP, the half-century entity, Members and staff openly and willingly lend their names and blessings? People with undisputed business cred. Check it out.

For MPBC, who, if anyone, actually lends their name to establish gravitas? So far, nobody is so disclosed. Not even the webmaster, who had to be identified via whois search.

Mike McFadden? Look Signs? Mike Lindell (with Doug Wardlow in tow)?

Nobody? Who knows?

 Earlier in the Strib self-tout item, Schultz wrote - and Strib headlined "new voice." (Again - How new?) Isn't Schultz an office lawyer turned politician who ran already, last election cycle, 2022? Not that new a voice. (And unlike Schultz, Weaver won.)

In any event - tout-piece beginning:

 Minnesota needs a new voice

The Minnesota Private Business Council will lead our state forward. 

•••

As Minnesota enters the third decade of the 21st century, the state faces serious challenges: a shrinking labor force and limited economic growth and innovation, educational disparities and serious public health issues, and elevated rates of violent crime.

Alongside these are a state government that is increasingly animated by the far left and growing dramatically in size, cost and scope without commensurate benefits or appropriate accountability, and extraordinary political polarization and deep cultural differences dividing the metro and most of greater Minnesota.

Many, seeing these issues, believe stagnation is Minnesota's inevitable future. They are wrong.

Minnesota can successfully meet its challenges, but it will take new ideas and a fresh vision. Today I am proud to announce the launch of the Minnesota Private Business Council. Composed of businesses from a broad array of Minnesota industries, the MPBC will fight for common-sense policies leading to job growth and higher wages, new business creation and entrepreneurship, responsible, accountable and transparent government, and broad-based well-being for Minnesota's workers and their families.

[italics added] Announcing existence of the venture days ago, May 23, this year; allegedly fighting for four lines worth of rhetoric. Next two paragraphs:

Certainly the MPBC will advocate against many things. It will be no surprise that we will oppose historic spending hikes that fund the latest progressive fads and prop up political constituencies as Gov. Tim Walz has prioritized. We will oppose nutty energy mandates, like those passed this legislative session, that will leave Minnesotans broke and in the dark. We will oppose defund-the-police policies and other reckless efforts that have embarrassed Minnesota on the world stage, destroyed communities and small businesses, and taken so many lives.

But fundamentally the MPBC will be marked by what we advocate for. We will advocate for tax policy that supports the middle class, encourages investment and allows Minnesota's industries to thrive. We will advocate for energy, regulatory and spending policies that grow great jobs here in Minnesota instead of driving them out of state. We will advocate for sensible approaches to public safety that deal with violent and other serious crime. We will advocate for responsible government in a time of an extraordinary lack of accountability.

Did he mean "marked" or "marketed?" And clearly, the thing is political, not a think tank or such, and non-profit as a sought status might be stretching things a bit.

So, Minnesota is in trouble, that's the opening theme, but there is a white knight riding in on a white steed to save the day, me, Jim, and my new thing. 

He takes more words to say it, but that's the gist.

Can you say, wow, what rhetoric; or do you say what's up with this whole business; what is the guy up to when it looks as if he's incorporated a non-profit on Valentines Day 2014 possibly to lobby from, fully overlapping what the Chamber of Commerce already does, with the Chamber being experienced. Touting business lined up, whoever they may be, no sample client list yet. 

And while there seems an overlap with what the Chamber does, there is no conscious on unintentional parallelism between Chamber and MPBC, vs between MNBP and MPBC, where the older operation is entitled to its unimpeded earned goodwill and where there should be no confusion as to its intellectual property and that of a separate start-up, inopportunely named.

Moreover, Charlie Weaver's been doing this for years,  and it even looks as if Jim Schultz and his web administrator copied their SoS filing format from Charlie. 

What Schultz will discover, if not knowing it when seeking office, the Minnesota Attorney General has policing power over non-profits in the State. Someone - not Crabgrass but possibly a reader - might complain to Ellison's office suggesting an investigation.

That would be jurisdictionally proper. The AG is where questions about non-profits go.

 Schultz and his webmaster could be asked in to talk with a staff attorney about whether there was any intentional conscious parallelism in structuring things, to fuzz things about the MPBC and MNBP being, in fact, wholly separate. That and seeking word from MNBP if it senses an identity crisis or threat, or is happy with both ventures continuing as is. If MNBP has no objection to things, nobody else should. It would be end of story. Two instances of claimed relations, true or not, should not outlast a blessing of MNBP of what  MPBC is doing.

That caps the "what's up - what's he building in there question" as well as possible, given a status quo with Schultz declining to name any involved business, as he has twice publicly touted. Yes - That is also something an AG inquiry could discover. Is there reality backing assertions? We do not know. Schultz has not named a single business affiliate using his venture's services. But if MNBC says okay, let it be.

...........................................

On the positive side of things for Schultz, there is a potential opportunity he might pursue, and if successful he could close down the MPBC to do something substantially similar, but in an agency capacity instead of a first-person high risk adventurer.

There's a job open with Jim's Church where the job description looks as if it was written for him, proud St. Thomas alum and all. He'd fit that mission like a hand in a glove. And he'd be advocating for things he believes in, from a public service capacity, and with unquestioned institutional gravitas behind his efforts.

He should apply, and if he gets to fill the opening he should take hold of the opportunity and shut down this MPBC thing quicker than you can say "Jack Frost."

Good luck to the man if he chases the Roman Church job opening.

____________UPDATE___________

A curiosity lingers about Schultz having written in Strib:

Alongside these are a state government that is increasingly animated by the far left and growing dramatically in size, cost and scope without commensurate benefits or appropriate accountability, and extraordinary political polarization and deep cultural differences dividing the metro and most of greater Minnesota.

Many, seeing these issues, believe stagnation is Minnesota's inevitable future. They are wrong.

Minnesota can successfully meet its challenges, but it will take new ideas and a fresh vision.

Is he saying by implication the half-century big business representation of MNBP is stale and stagnant and in need of new blood, or new competition? If so, why then, with what purpose, imitate the look and feel of the public presentation of things that MNBP has used, and upon which NMBP has built up a part of its goodwill? 

What, if any, is the purposeful reason behind writing what was written, and then doing that "new thing" design so close to the old thing? Is it to criticize the decades-strong focus on big business to chip off Babbitt and Main Street little guys for a cash flow and advocacy base, while saying "new thing," but mimicking the look and feel and ways and means of "old thing," "stagnant thing?" Having cake and eating it too?

That has been the core wondering throughout the post. What's he building in there?

And why, that way? That look and feel. 

__________FURTHER UPDATE__________

 Schultz is partisan to a fault, not aiming at bipartisan compromise. On April 6, 2023, midway between his SoS Valentines Day filing of his new venture and his giving notice of it days ago in a Strib accorded feature view, on that intermediate date, without any public notice of his MPBC intentions and actions, Schultz wrote for Alpha News:

Jim Schultz: Republicans can and must win in Minnesota 

Minnesota is a state teetering on a knife’s edge. But with strong and bold leadership, good candidates, and a lot of hard work from everyone who wants change in our state, we could go a different direction and lead the state toward decades of prosperity.  

win
Former Republican attorney general nominee Jim Schultz participates in a primary debate. (Alpha News)

Republicans in Minnesota are understandably discouraged right now. The 2022 election in Minnesota and nationally was a disappointment, delivering the “trifecta” of the Minnesota House and Minnesota Senate to Democrats and decisively re-electing Tim Walz to the governor’s office.

Alongside that Democrats are leveraging their newfound power for the most extreme policies in Minnesota history. These include taxpayer-funded abortion on demand until birth, tax hikes despite a $19 billion surplus, and a 35% increase in spending meant to fund every far-left fad imaginable.

But those of us who are disturbed by the train wreck of our state’s current leadership have reason for hope: we can win in Minnesota and turn our state around.

Let’s look at the numbers. [...] In my race for Minnesota attorney general — historically the most difficult of the statewide offices to win — we obtained the largest number of votes for any Republican state candidate in Minnesota history. Despite many previously believing that no Republican could get over 47% of the vote in Minnesota, we got 49.6% [...]. We even outperformed President Trump’s margins everywhere in Minnesota, including by over 3% in rural areas and by over 5% in the suburbs.

Republicans also almost won the state auditor’s race.

[...] With just a slightly different environment nationally or slightly different circumstances in Minnesota, we would today be talking about a Republican legislature holding Gov. Walz accountable, a Republican attorney general for the first time in nearly 60 years, and a very different long-term trajectory for our state.

And although none of us would wish upon our state the policies now being pushed by our government, such policies will turn off most Minnesotans. Minnesotans wanted more jobs, a growing economy, safer communities, and a return to normalcy. Instead they got late-term abortion (something 70% of Americans oppose) and sex changes for kids (something 67% of Minnesotans oppose). There isn’t recent polling on the Democrats’ planned tax hikes but considering our $19 billion surplus and Minnesota’s status as one of the highest taxed states in the nation, it’s safe to say that most Minnesotans are not supportive. And there continues to be a crime epidemic and the DFL’s answer is giving municipalities a few extra bucks. I could go on.

Perhaps Schultz with an outsider's view of Twin Cities importance sees the Weaver founded half a century effort of MNBP as Twin Cities oriented, and weighted heavily toward Big business, primarly in Minneapolis and St Paul, with outliers. There is false hubris afoot in, "none of us would wish upon our state the policies now being pushed by our government, such policies will turn off most Minnesotans." The majority of Minnesotans voted as they thought best, and "none of us" is the false reflection of a loser. Perhaps he meant few of rural Republicans like losing, and too many are envious and resentful toward the Twin Cities having, in fact, the greatest impact in State economics. Perhaps he views "us" as Republicans and nobody else.

Teetering on a knife's edge, says the Alpha News subheadline. Schultz and Alpha News see the sky falling because his party lost and he lost (however he dresses up might-have, it was a loss). Partisan to a fault. Bear that in mind. The MNBP is not partisan, or tries its best to represent big business interests without angering or marginalizing half of the State. Perhaps that kindles resentment in Schultz's mind.

Perhaps Schultz is rankled by the MNBP beliefs and strong policy on diversity, having used matches and flames and an insult to north Minneapolis in his campaigning web presence and in focusing his campaign events almost entirely in predominantly white outstate venues.

Perhaps with his heavily seeking sheriffs and cops to endorse him, and then never ending in his touting success that way, he resents MNPB advocating for sensible police reform. MNBP policy being:

The Minnesota Business Partnership (MBP) today released policing reform recommendations in advance of the upcoming Special Session, which convenes on Friday, June 12. The recommendations are aimed at addressing police misconduct and increasing accountability and transparency. (See full list of recommendations below.)

“Minnesota’s business leaders are united in a commitment to address not only policing reforms, but also the broader need to advance social and racial justice in our society,” said Charlie Weaver, executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership. “Our recommendations are a starting point for reform, not the finish line. Systemic change requires hard work, and some reforms will require consensus-building over time. The Partnership and its members are prepared to continue to engage vigorously in this process for the long term.”

More than 80 members of the Partnership signed a letter urging lawmakers to pass policing reform when they convene for a Special Session this week. The substance of the recommendations are derived from a February 2020 report by the State of Minnesota Working Group on Police-Involved Deadly Force Encounters. The Working Group, which spent nine months conducting hearings and taking testimony from the public, was co-chaired by Attorney General Keith Ellison and Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington, and comprised of a diverse membership including law enforcement, mental health, academic, and community leaders.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

  • Encourage all police agencies to adopt use-of-force policies that make sanctity of life a core organizational value.
  • Require law enforcement agencies to implement an Early Intervention Program (EIP) for officers and dispatchers that is designed to identify problem behaviors at the earliest possible stage so that intervention and support can be offered in a non-disciplinary manner.
  • Expand resources and increase statewide awareness of existing resources, to improve the mental health and wellness of first responders and dispatchers.
  • Require law enforcement agencies to adopt data practices that promote transparency, openness, and accountability. This includes collecting, analyzing, and publishing data about the nature of police-community interactions, use of force, and police-involved deadly force encounters.
  • Create an independent and specialized investigation unit within the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) with the authority to investigate all officer-involved shootings and uses of force that result in death or severe bodily injury.
  • Work with the Attorney General and the Minnesota County Attorneys Association to enable the Attorney General’s Office to be supportive and engaged around deadly-force encounters in terms of expertise, resources, conflicts, jurisdiction, or other issues.
  • Direct the Department of Public Safety to work with law enforcement associations, police unions, local officials, and community leaders to promote more effective models of community policing.
  • Increase state-provided law enforcement training funding where appropriate.
  • Increase police training on interactions with African Americans and people of color.
  • Increase police training on interactions with people with disabilities, and people experiencing a mental-health crisis during interactions with law enforcement.
  • Explore the non-disciplinary use of body camera video and simulator scenarios to identify training to improve officer performance through proactive coaching/mentoring and training in de-escalation tactics.
  • Encourage local law enforcement agencies to work with community partners to engage them in the standards, expectations and recruitment of officers that know their local communities and increase the diversity of their workforce.
  • Ensure that all law enforcement agencies are trained in de-escalation tactics and skills in order to reduce use-of-force, especially when responding to persons in crisis.

POLICY CONSIDERATIONS

In addition to the above recommendations derived from the Working Group, the Partnership urges lawmakers to consider the following recently proposed reforms:

  • Repeal the state law that mandates binding arbitration for law enforcement officers accused of misconduct.
  • Change laws governing collective bargaining agreements that impede discipline of officers who seriously betray the public trust.
  • Enhance screening to prevent unacceptable applicants for positions in law enforcement from being hired and ensure clear and enforced guidelines that define acceptable and unacceptable behavior and policing tactics.

 

That might be a lot for Schultz to swallow. 

from during the campaign

Add to it the Twin Cities Business publishing outlet giving favorable coverage to police reform while crediting Big Business TC operatives for taking initiative to advance reform.

 Perhaps Schultz sees his Church doing innovative schooling in the Twin Cities in ways impossible in less densely populated and less economically diverse zones, and might have positive ideas how such innovation could be shaped to fit rural Minnesota. Just as the Cristo Rey model would not scale to super large school districts who cannot cherry-pick their student body, it would not work in areas of the State where Schultz focused his campaign. He may resent the fact that MNBP, housed downtown in the Twin Cities, touts Cristo Rey without a parallel attention or policy to upgrade education in his campaigning centers.

Perhaps Schultz sees numbers and gets stars in his eyes. Big pie, slice wanted.

__________FURTHER UPDATE_________

Something to Consider: Charlie Weaver incorporated MNBP at a time when politics were less polarized than now. This is important for one wanting to represent and advocate for business interests in general, from today onward. 

Or for one wanting to be so represented.

Weaver, besides being a second generation legislator for over ten years also held an administrative position in the Ventura government. He was not solely and staunchly Republican in any very confrontational way.

Schultz, by comparison, since the election had decided that Ellison would continue as AG, has remained actively partisan; e.g., the recent posts here, with the first one a week after he'd incorporated his MPBC venture. He makes divisive and pejorative judgments about the party in power and its actions, rather than expressing a positive set of policy thoughts in a nonconfrontational way.

Being that partisan, and exacerbating the urban-rural polarization rather than trying to keep both parties and both constituencies together on a course both could embrace, it is as if he chose to write more as an igniter than a uniter.

Surely Schultz can speak his mind. Nobody would say otherwise. And he can freely write and publish his ideas. The point is any business thinking it wants to hire a representative and advocate should weigh whether Schultz or someone less polarized, such as Weaver, would be the better suited person.

Also, when Weaver committed to building a business representation effort, he no longer intended to seek office. 

Schultz is unclear that way, and it is hence unclear whether the MPBC will be a long term commitment for a growing list of clients, over years, or a thing impacted next election cycle when Schultz might again seek office.

That is something any potential client might weigh, and it would be proper for any business person thinking of MPBC alliance to pin down actual future dimensions and possibilities, before taking a step. 

Or not. 

Each business person has ideas and goals and a world view. Those feeling congruent with Schultz's persona and aims likely will affiliate with him and his new MPBC operation, however long it is built to last.

If MPBC is a partisan Republicans-only operation, and business owners are okay with that, then they should go with Schultz. He is bright and would work hard.