STRIB HAS BRAINS. STRIB endorses Tarryl Clark as the next representative to Congress, from Minnesota's Sixth District.

This link, This screenshot (click it to enlarge and read it, and read the entire item, at Strib):

Sure, voters might not follow Strib's endorsement, but whichever way the votes tally, Strib got it right that Clark is the most viable and capable and promising and hard-working of the three candidates.

Bob Anderson running as the IP candidate is also obviously several cuts better than the incumbent.

Hat tip to Gary Gross in noting [while disagreeing with] the Strib commitment. Without his linking, I might have missed the endorsement.

What is amazing is that Michele Bachmann stiffed the editors at STRIB exactly as she did the editors at ECM Publishers. What a piece of work.

__________________

Gary Gross is a GOP party activist, who also noted a Duluth paper endorsed the Republican running in MN 8 against Oberstar. Strangely, Gary seems to think belief and credibility should go with the Duluth choice, but not Strib's. Gary seems an okay guy, for a Republican. Better than many others. Never at a loss for an opinion. He's okay. I'll drop the qualification,. Go see what he says. I disagree, obviously, and await his having an epiphany on the way to Damsacus, seeing the light, becoming a DFL champion, etc., but have a look. Gary's two posts, here and here. [UPDATE - GG pic added; from this Facebook page.]

Finally note how Strib in its sense of fairness put Bachmann's picture on the left sidebar, along with Clark's. That was big of them as an online measure. And did Strib make a typo, on the verb for Bachmann and the cameras, adding an "r"?

_________UPDATE________
Dump Bachmann picked up the endorsement reporting, and excerpted a few key words. If you do not take the time needed to read the entire Strib item, and think it over, go to DB for it's excerpting.

_________FURTHER UPDATE_________
GOP blogging gets better and better. Triple A flags a Clark event I previously did not mention, where there's a chance to see a former president in person, and to cheer for the Vikings in Blaine. His take, sour grapes. He probably faults Emmer for not bringing in a fabled former president to help his sagging campaign, the renowned George W. Bush.

Why was Triple A inexplicit about saying I'll see your bet and raise you a pres of my own?

After all, George W. Bush is as Republican as they come. No RINO there. Pure GOP, head to toes. The kind a presumptuous floozy and smitten GOP hanger-on would waylay, grasp by the shoulder in an aisleway, and kiss. For sure. Some even say it happened. Sing along with the custard kids of Wayzata:

... It makes the world go 'round.

____________FURTHER UPDATE____________
More on the Duluth paper, endorsing Chip What's his name. Here.

Contribute to the Clark Campaign, this link.

Mike Jungbauer, if you believe he believes what he says, delivers what in effect is a stronger indictment of his chums in Ramsey than I have leveled.

Elk River Star News, this link, reports of and quotes the Senator:

He said both sides are guilty of stealing money out of other funds to balance the budget.

“Don’t say you’re not raising taxes when you’re stealing money out of other funds,” he said.

He said it’s a lack of vision.

“To not solve those problems, you’re just putting it off to the next generation of people that come in to do the work and that’s always wrong.”

Mike's chum, Matt Look has been chest pounding around everywhere about Ramsey not raising the tax rate, short-term, recently, which was an arrangement achieved by buying the failed Ramsey Town Center via depletion of reserve funds (set aside for other purposes than land speculation and consultancy hirings).

I have criticized the creation of an illusion by City of Ramsey folks of balancing things while claiming to not ultimately be raising taxes, via manipulating reserve levels, but I have never gone so far as to equate it to, "stealing money out of other funds to balance the budget - don't say your not raising taxes when you're stealing money out of other funds."

Mike the Senator said it's "strealing."

Him.

Not me.

So tell me, where does this image fit into the Senator's analysis:

___________UPDATE___________
Is Matt Look's advocating the Ramsey Town Center purchase by the city, with Matt Look then within a year deciding to leave the situation he'd championed, something that in the Senator's view was, "just putting it off to the next generation of people that come in to do the work and that’s always wrong"? Are there nuances at play in the Senator's thoughts that I miss?

_________FURTHER UPDATE_________
Read the Elk River news item. What do you find there other than platitudes?

What actual policy statements are there? I see two: Walk away from administrative rule-making. Gut permitting oversight.

Do more with less is nothing but a platitude. The GOP governor's not downsized the executive branch payroll despite tons of do more with less rhetoric.

Pawlenty instead gave high paying government jobs, the spoils of victory, to political appointees. As did every governor before him. He only dissembled over what he was up to much more than the others.

_________FURTHER UPDATE__________
For those needing more convincing, or saying I quoted the Senator out of context - he was talking about the legislature not Ramsey's council - my answer is: THINK. What's the difference in substance, if the words are accepted as believed by the speaker, when applied, in substance, to a parallel governmental set of circumstances? It is not applying "apple" analysis to "oranges." It is applying words about government integrity, good government judgment, and fair and careful honest characterization of conduct and results. It is applying those conceptual assertions about government, to a specific governmental set of steps.

And that cash cow? Well the Senator does in the article define himself as a water expert with Landform [I only mention the term "rainmaker"] where:

[1] Landform has insinuated itself into the position of drawing regular five-figure cash from Ramsey for consulting.
[2] Landform has been tub thumping with the Senator having billed Ramsey for consulting time for a Legislative tour situation that had Senate members visiting the Ramsey site about which Landform "consults."
[3] The Senator was the sole author/sponsor of SF 2500 last session intended to route over two and a half million of State money through DEED to Ramsey, without Landform disavowing an intent to ultimately be paid a part of proceeds of any such grant of funds, had it passed (and with the money intended for the site in Ramsey where Landform has been doing its consulting).

In baseball it is three strikes and out.

In addition, the Senator has not registered as a lobbyist for Ramsey, despite the business set-up, the billed hours re the "legislative tour," and the legislative process being used and aimed at getting state cash for a water-related project, in Ramsey.

Who are these people? What do they have under their thinking caps instead of brains? Emmer has questionable home refinancings, Jungbauer has a late property tax history, and they rail about government instead of wanting the rich to pay a fairer share so they'd have to pay less. Don't they know which way is up?

I noted the Jungbauer recent late property tax record, that situation, this link. This image - the online county tax record for Jungbauer's East Bethel property as of Oct. 4, 2010:

Now Strib indicates that DFL party people are asking about Tom Emmer's financial status and how it reflects on his capacity to prudently lead. This link.

Should someone be taken seriously, saying government should live within its means while possibly exceeding his own? Is that a person you would want to put in charge of running the State in all its fiscal complexity?

And the whine is always, government is too big, or spends too much, or taxes too much, when the wealthy have loopholes, sharp accountants, and influence in DC to get taxable income for the wealthy whittled down (and remember that Minnesota income taxation is keyed to the fedreal reporting and paying, if not entirely, at least very, very much so).

These people are having trouble getting their act together, (and recall in January 2009, Strib reported Norm Coleman's home refinancing pattern back during the recount), i.e., having trouble personally getting ends to meet; yet they appear to lack the plain good sense to look around and say, "Hey. Tax the rich."

That way government and the schools and the next generation's education are not beggared; while ends can meet fiscally for government; but it is so if and only if others pay a fairer tax level so that those such as Emmer and Jungbauer pinched in the middle can get pinched less. Can't they see that?

What have they in their heads, where Democrats saying "Tax the rich" have brains?

It astounds me.

Private sector outcry about St. Paul municipal competition in land development. It must be a pack of "property-rights" Republicans in St. Paul too, just as in Ramsey. "Risky for taxpayers," the headline says.

We in Ramsey all know how the new GOP bloc on the Ramsey City Council spearheaded a public HRA funding buy-out of the failed Ramsey Town Center to play developer, and to create an ownership that yielded a monthly five-figure cash flow for the Landform firm.

The private sector probably missed notice, or had no care to protest.

Reporting about the St. Paul situation shows the private sector took notice of the socialization of development potential, at that locale:

St. Paul's plans as developer questioned

About 20 Twin Cities apartment property owners say the city's plan to take over the Penfield and Lofts at Farmers Market projects is unfair to the private market and risky for taxpayers.

Disgruntled apartment property owners have sent a letter protesting the city of St. Paul's intent to develop two downtown housing projects and asking officials to withdraw.

They say the city is creating "grossly unfair" competition with private real estate developers because it has access to cheap financing and doesn't have to pay taxes.

Last month, the city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) Board voted to take over the Penfield and another project, the Lofts at Farmers Market, lagging projects expected to cost $67 million to build. A combination of bonds, tax-increment loans and grants are the likely funding sources.

City officials acknowledged it was an unusual step for the city to become a developer, but they also said the projects are "catalytic" and couldn't get done without government financing help. The Penfield project includes a Lunds grocery store, and getting a grocery store downtown has been a high priority for the city.

"Catalytic" the item says. A city official called it that. In Ramsey, the comparable Ramsey Town Center purchase decision most certainly catalyzed a cozy cash flow, for the Landform insiders, such as they are.

Cash catalysis happens. It happens for the Landform firm and for their prosperity, in times when prosperity is a little harder a thing to obtain for the ordinary and unconnected among us.

Source of the St. Paul reporting is Strib, online October 20, 2010, this link. Read the entire article if you find the excerpt interesting and informative.

I wonder if any crony-socialist (not that different than crony-capitalist, but public sector instead of private) dimension arises in St. Paul. Will there be some favored five-figure per month consultant - drum beater contract, in St. Paul? Or will the private-sector attention and protest drawn by St. Paul's socialized development temper the tendency toward mischief?

I wonder whether the St. Paul situation will "rebrand."

And whether goofy highway signage changes are anticipated there.

Here's one where my enviro friends can help out. Uncle Sam pays three-quarters of a billion for brown field cleanup. Who holds title after remediation is my question.

Strib carries an AP feed. This link. Cleaning up toxic sites is good. Jobs from the effort, now, is a helpful thing.

But the entire AP feed ignores, who will own the land after Uncle Sam pays. Will Uncle Sam have a security interest; or is some kind of land-scam at play.

That's a ton of money, so -- help me friends -- who will hold title after remediation?

Who prospers on taxpayer money? This is unclear, and fraught with danger, to taxpayers, of being hoodwinked yet again, yet another way, yet another time.

WHO HOLDS TITLE AFTER REMEDIATION?

The Republican -&- Pawlenty lame duck Met Council is being, well what other word serves, being very, very Republican.

ABC Newspapers reports, here.

Read it. Form your own opinions. But do so recalling Peter Bell and all the council are Pawlenty appointees.

That's planning for you. GOP style. Changing horses midstream. Now who else was it attempting that same switch? The name will come to me --- It was an avid GOP person, I recall that.

Look, that's it. Matt Look.

Buying the farm, so to speak, (The Town Center, actually), and then abandoning it to twist slowly in the wind. Dropped like a hot potato within a year after the purchase, with only Landform left to it, for paid company.

These Republicans. When will they stop it?

Breaking news. Tarryl Clark gains another well deserved newspaper endorsement, this one from ECM - ABC Newspapers, which has outlets in numerous towns in the Sixth District.

No point excerpting for this. Minnesota Progressive Project has full detailed coverage. Here and here, the last item linking, appropriately to the Clark contribution page - here - where citizens can help get the word out that Bachmann needs to be dumped and that there are only two weeks left until doing it.

Clark does need that fiscal help very much, to get that message out against the tsunami of mailed junk that the Bachmann camp is flooding into Sixth District mailboxes on a daily basis.

 Counter the Bachmann bunk. Contribute to Clark, early and often.

Remember, Bachmann may raise millions from chumps.

However, no credible news outlet would ever endorse the carnival barker.

She has to turn to the likes of Jason Lewis.

Low. Very low. Exceedingly low.

Bachmann has to reach lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut, to get anything but well-earned universal informed disdain.

Aside from how awful Bachmann is; Tarryl Clark is one of the better legislators Minnesota has had, and one of the hardest working there is. She is a sensible, highly intelligent, and hard-working person respected by her peers in the legislature, DFL and GOP. Bachmann needs to be allowed more time with her family, so help, by voting her out of office. The opportunity comes every two years. This is the chance.

___________UPDATE___________
The online HometownSource.com item from ECM Publishers is here. It is incredible. Bachmann stiffed them on granting the editors an endorsement-inquiry interview, and that says it all about her actual opinion for the District, other than as a springboard for greater publicity outlets - something the ECM editors note.

This excerpt from the middle of the endorsement:

As editors from ECM newspapers that serve the Sixth District converged as an editorial endorsement panel to screen candidates in this election, we had hoped that the incumbent would grant an interview to assist the panel in its deliberation. Repeated attempts in late August and throughout September to schedule an interview were not successful. That was disappointing and the panel had no choice but to move on.

We understand that Rep. Bachmann has been part of the House minority, Still, in the four years that she has served in Congress she has authored only one piece of legislation that became law. Still worse, she has not supported important construction projects in St. Cloud and Stillwater — projects of great value in this district.

To her credit, Clark is no rookie to the legislative process and has been willing to work in a bipartisan arena for the betterment of the state. Sen. Clark’s life experiences in teen counseling, parenting, senior citizen advocacy and work with groups like Habitat for Humanity and the Minnesota Community Action Program give her a solid foundation that will help her succeed in Washington.

She demonstrated deep understanding and knowledge of national and international issues. Raised in a conservative Republican family, she has matured to form a philosophical view that draws on her upbringing and world views today.

The editorial panel also found Bob Anderson to be an interesting candidate. After collecting 10 percent of the vote in the Sixth District race in 2008, Anderson is certainly a factor again this year. As a third-party candidate, he believes he offers a choice between Sen. Clark (too far left for the district) and Rep. Bachmann (too much of a rock star).

Bob is a gentleman, just as Clark is a refined and decent person. Both are good people. With a choice between them, quality people, who needs a lesser qualified third option?