Link to the Jensen specific anti-vaxx item of interest.
Is Jensen reevaluating? Has his campaign's internal polling revealed he should downplay the vaccine irregularities of his past? While still keen on fundraising opportunity? Read of it in Sorensen's posting.
Also, this, at Bluesteam Prairie about Scott Jensen's recent campaign showings.
Beyond that "will and capability" question, would Jim Schultz have filed against KKR & Co. Inc. - would he have had the balls to do so? To take on a top tier major financial industry player - a private equity giant - with his grounding in elite private law firms earlier and most recently being on the payroll of a couple of Minnesota private equity players of lesser status? Where, when losing the election for Minnesota Attorney General he'd have to go back into private practice in a niche fitting his resume?
FIRST -
The complaint filed in the Minnesota Attorney General's lawsuit against Fleet Farm's dangerous neglectful sale of handguns to an unrelated pair of straw buyers is online, and in describing the parties to the litigation it states:
PARTIES
7. Keith Ellison, Attorney General of the State of Minnesota, is authorized under Minnesota Statutes chapter 8 and has common law authority, including parens patriae authority, to bring this action to enforce Minnesota’s laws, to vindicate the State’s sovereign and quasi-sovereign interests, and to remediate all harm arising out of—and provide full relief for—violations of Minnesota’s laws.
8. Defendant Fleet Farm LLC is a Delaware limited liability company with its principal place of business in Appleton, Wisconsin. Fleet Farm LLC is registered as a foreign limited liability company in Minnesota with a registered office address of 1010 Dale Street North, St. Paul, Minnesota 55117. According to federal court filings, Fleet Farm LLC is wholly owned by Fleet Farm Group, LLC. In turn, Fleet Farm Group, LLC is wholly owned by Fleet Farm Guarantor LLC, which is wholly owned by Fleet Farm Intermediate Holdco LLC, which is wholly owned by Fleet Farm Holdco LLC, which is majority owned, indirectly by one or more subsidiaries of KKR & Co. Inc.—a publicly traded private equity and investment banking firm. Fleet Farm LLC was formerly known as Mills Fleet Farm LLC until its name was changed in February 2019.
[bolding emphasis added] Cutting through layers of intermediary limited liability ventures, KKR & Co. Inc. is the bottom line player being sued. It's interests are on the line. It's intermediaries are asserted liable for inappropriate conduct leading to death at the hands of a criminal via a handgun it's agent sold to a straw buyer.
SECOND -
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strategic partners, hedge funds. As of December 31, 2021, the firm had completed more than 650 private equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $675 billion of total enterprise value.[2]: 7 As of December 31, 2021, assets under management ("AUM") and fee paying assets under management ("FPAUM") were $471 billion and $357 billion, respectively.[2]: 166
The firm was founded in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg Jr., and cousins Henry Kravis and George R. Roberts, all of whom had previously worked together at Bear Stearns, where they completed some of the earliest leveraged buyout transactions. Since its founding, KKR has completed a number of transactions, including the 1989 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, which was the largest buyout in history to that point, as well as the 2007 buyout of TXU, which is currently the largest buyout completed to date.[3][4]
In October 2009, KKR listed shares in the company through KKR & Co., an affiliate that holds 30% of the firm's ownership equity, with the remainder held by the firm's partners. In March 2010, KKR filed to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE),[5] with trading commencing four months later, on July 15, 2010.
As of 2010 KKR had offices in 21 cities in 16 countries across five continents.[1] The firm was headquartered in the Solow Building (9 West 57th Street, New York, New York), but in October 2015, announced its intention to occupy the newly-constructed 30 Hudson Yards.[6]
That is in Wikipedia's opening introductory paragraphs.
No doubt, an 800 pound gorilla in the private equity marketplace. Jim Schultz's marketplace. Interested readers can follow the wiki link. Of interest here, the post continues:
Business structure
In a 2016 interview with Bloomberg, founder Henry Kravis described KKR in terms of three broad buckets: private markets, public markets, and capital markets.[9] The firm has traditionally specialized in private equity investments, focusing on specific industry sectors where the firm has created dedicated investment groups, including:
Core Americas Industries Core European Industries Core Asian Industries Industrials Business Services Retail & Consumer Financial Services Retail & Consumer Energy & Resources Retail & Consumer Energy & Natural Resources Financial Services Energy Financial Services Healthcare Technology Healthcare Industrials Media & Communications Industrials & Chemicals Media & Telecom Healthcare Infra & Utilities Technology Hospital & Leisure Technology, Media & Telecom Travel
Business segments
KKR's business operates in four segments: private markets, public markets, capital markets, and principal activities.[10]
Through its private markets segment, the firm manages and sponsors a group of private equity funds that invest capital for long-term appreciation, either through controlling ownership of a company or strategic minority positions. In addition to traditional private equity funds, KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in growth equity and core equity. The firm also manages and sponsors investment funds that invest capital in real assets, such as infrastructure, energy, and real estate.[10]
Private markets
KKR has raised 23 private and growth equity funds with approximately $102.9 billion of capital commitments through December 31, 2017. Its private equity investment strategy typically seeks to engage primarily in management buyouts, build-ups, or other investments with a view to acquiring a controlling or significant influence. The firm has sourced several smaller growth equity investments and expanded the business by launching dedicated growth equity funds.
KKR's first dedicated growth equity fund, launched in 2016, invests in the technology, media, and telecommunications sector, primarily in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Israel. In 2016, KKR also launched its second dedicated growth equity fund to pursue investments in the health care sector, also primarily in the United States. As of December 31, 2017, they have received $2.0 billion of capital commitments to these strategies.
In 2017, they further expanded on their private equity business by making their first core equity investment, targeting investments that have a longer holding period and a lower risk profile.
[...]
Capital markets
KKR's capital markets business mainly arranges debt and equity transactions for the firm, its portfolio companies, and third parties.[12] KKR's capital markets group raised $815 million of debt needed to close the purchase of Mills Fleet Farm in 2016.[13]
Principal activities
The Principal Activities segment uses KKR's balance sheet assets to support its investment management and capital markets businesses. KKR uses this capital for general partner commitments and to establish a track record for fundraising purposes in new strategies, such as the approximately $1 billion invested in KKR's real estate business as of 2017.[14]
[...]
In 2004 a consortium comprising KKR, Bain Capital and real estate development company Vornado Realty Trust announced the $6.6 billion acquisition of Toys "R" Us, the toy retailer. A month earlier, Cerberus Capital Management, made a $5.5 billion offer for both the toy and baby supplies businesses.[107] The Toys 'R' Us buyout was one of the largest in several years.[108] Following this transaction, by the end of 2004 and in 2005, major buyouts were once again becoming common and market observers were stunned by the leverage levels and financing terms obtained by financial sponsors in their buyouts.[109]
In 2005, KKR was one of seven private equity firms involved in the buyout of SunGard in a transaction valued at $11.3 billion. KKR's partners in the acquisition were Silver Lake Partners, Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Blackstone Group, Providence Equity Partners, and TPG Capital. This represented the largest leveraged buyout completed since the takeover of RJR Nabisco in 1988. SunGard was the largest buyout of a technology company until the Blackstone-led buyout of Freescale Semiconductor. The SunGard transaction was notable given the number of firms involved in the transaction, the largest club deal completed to that point. The involvement of seven firms in the consortium was criticized by investors in private equity who considered cross-holdings among firms to be generally unattractive.[110][111]
Since 2005 and the Buyout Boom
[...]
History
[...]
[red bolding added] Up there with Mitt Romney's Bain Capital, definite major leagues of private equity.
The footnote 13 re KKR and Fleet Farm, links to a Reuters item stating in part:
When private equity firm KKR & Co set its sights on a small Midwestern retailer in late 2015, it turned to some of the largest banks on Wall Street to obtain debt financing for the acquisition. It found no takers.
After a handshake deal with the company over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, KKR was unable to get the money it needed from the two dozen banks it contacted, as a sharp market sell-off sparked a broad pull-back from lending.
Rather than walk away from the deal, a team of capital markets professionals on the 41st floor of KKR’s headquarters in Midtown Manhattan took matters into their own hands.
“We started to feel the banks wobble,” Adam Smith, KKR’s head of capital markets, told IFR. “The debt markets were shut.”
Bypassing the banks - and their underwriting fees - Smith’s team raised the entire US$815m of debt needed to close the purchase directly from investors, allowing KKR’s acquisition of Mills Fleet Farm, a retailer that sells items from hunting rifles to farm supplies, to be announced a few weeks later.
LONG JOURNEY
The Mills deal marked the culmination of a decade-long effort by KKR to build a fully fledged capital markets business.
It originally set up the group in late 2006, during a leveraged buyout boom that pushed deal sizes to new highs - and before the subsequent bust just a year or so later.
As equity cheques got bigger prior to the crash, sponsors were forced to partner up in so-called club deals to get enough downpayment together. But KKR, sceptical about the strategy of sharing lucrative business tips with rivals, was thinking about how to go it alone.
“You would have multiple sponsors with their hands on the steering wheel and that is just a very tough way to drive,” said Smith, who joined the firm in 2007 from law firm Simpson Thacher and helped jump-start the capital markets initiative.
“We decided to go out and raise our own money.”
[...]
[red bolding added] And so, international ultra big money player, KKR stands tall.
But not too tall for Keith Ellison to take on for the safety and benefit of Minnesotans at risk from straw purchased handguns - bought from neglectful vendors - and ending up in the hands of criminals unable to lawfully purchase or own them. Ending up on lawns where tiny children could have ended up dead. Aiding and abetting being one count alleged in the Attorney General Ellison's complaint. Negligence being another count.
Then, in what insults the intelligence of every single Minnesota voter, urban, suburban, exurban and rural, we have Jim Schultz not even sling his own mud, but from hiding behind a skirt via the campaign manager, Jim telling Strib via the surrogate that taking on KKR in court is a miniscule and desperate act:
Christine Snell, Schultz's campaign manager, called Ellison's Tuesday news conference "the last gasp of a dying campaign."
"In response to Jim Schultz's historic endorsement by 22 county sheriffs and many law enforcement organizations, the best Keith Ellison could muster was endorsements from a few DFL attorneys," Snell said. "That is embarrassing for Keith, but not surprising in light of his relentless hostility to police and the reckless Defund-the-Police policies he has embraced."
Either Schultz and advisors are that clued out, or they are bullshitting every citizen of the State of Minnesota expecting an intelligence level that would buy into that crap.
Either way it looks bad. It looks unbelievably amateur.
Hiding. Hedge fund man talking up crime, crime, crime ducks chance to make a substantive comment on a private equity giant being indirectly liable for handgun violence escalation in Minnesota after his having nationally made race baiting assertions against Ellison's handling of his job to FOX host Laura Ingraham:
[...] quite frankly, Keith Ellison is disconnected from the community. If they [Ellison and his House successor Rep. Ilhan Omar] were connected to the community, they would know there's areas of north Minneapolis that have become a shooting gallery, there's areas of St. Paul where on any given day, you might be carjacked or otherwise [...]
A shooting gallery? North Minneapolis, and let's see, that would be what ethnicity? Well, it turns out a "shooting gallery" with KKR-Fleet Farm retailed handguns; and Schultz has the balls to have the campaign manager sling shit while quietly taking a hike, personally. Courage? You decide.
_________UPDATE__________
Trickle down -and- Know who you are dealing with.
Suit against Fleet Farm is logical, in that it is a major player in the retail handgun market, where action against it and against curable lax practices will wake up the retail handgun industry, top down.
For a scale of things this retailer, besides being tied to the financing giant KKR, where the action will be noticed and awareness will trickle out, the big dog's stress is noticed throughout the pack. Trickle around and down being at play.
So pick the right target to get maximum regulatory impact. Sue big. Which is what Ellison was not afraid to do. Online pages of interest related to the scale of Fleet Farm handgun merchandising:
Page 1 - https://www.fleetfarm.com/category/hunting/firearms/handguns/_/N-3492940777
Ten pages of community risk of death if merchandising is allowed to be trickled out indiscriminately, each sale for a profit. 3 x 9 listings per page, except for page 10 having fewer. That is 27 per page. That is a lot. And money is made selling ammo.
There is more logic to squeezing handgun sales to responsible buyer/users only to curb a profligate spread of illegal weapons held by extremely bad actors posing threat to one another and to the community at large than there is to other possible action. Stopping or at least trimming straw buyer activity is a more effective step, and cheaper than any stop-and-frisk dreams Jim Schultz might hold as policy to try to sell to the gulible among the public. Bigger new prisons to house all those Schultz claims to want to see via a war on crime would be more costly, and less effective than focus on a rational choke point for separating bad guys from valid purchasers.
And this is a civil action. It is not a criminal pursuit of individual bad actors one after another. It is a precise and well thought out pinch on the pulse of handgun leakage into wrong hands. It is the opposite of racist incitement or fear mongering, for votes.
That video was put online by the Schultz campaign. No solutions. Hostile rhetoric. Content challenged.
In order to deconstruct what Schultz is up to from the start: Begin with this seldom viewed minute and a half long Schultz campaign kick-off video put by him onto YouTube Jan 9, 2022. What does he say via the item that is not simply stated, fear-loaded, easy-attack vitriolic rhetoric?
Does he show himself as somehow "the better man for the job" as well as a well grounded knowledge of what the job is?
There are under ten comments to the video on YouTube, with the only one which got a thumbs up saying:
We're still waiting. It is a simple request. Aside from blowing smoke - What's the plan?
Also, what's the motive? What's in it for Jim? Name recognition so when voting is over with Ellison reelected and it is time to move back to private practice, at that point having better prospects than before? Why now? Opportunism after the George Floyd protesting? Like Nixon's "law and order" and "silent majority" posturing after the King assassination riots? Not earlier, nor later after more relevant seasoning for the demands the actual job entails? Seize the moment?
FURTHER: Websearch = fleet farm assault weapon handgun sales initiated when
Timing of decision making facts were not returned, but there is a short reddit thread returned with one entry stating:
I work with the former owners of MFF they get more and more pissed off every time the new company changes another thing they worked so hard to create.
Notice how you said fleet farm and not mills fleet farm, the company is dropping Mills from the name, they stopped advertising AR guns and accessories over a year ago. Before that Mills had a very good store brand made by Adams.
They also did a lot of military surplus and surplus ammo which was dropped under the new company.
The new company fired/demoted almost every store manager and only offer part time jobs now and the sporting goods section has went to shit. The people in stores no nothing about anything, I actually go to gander now.
A Strib April 2018 returned item, in ending noted:
Companies that have made changes to their gun policies do not always make them permanent. After the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, Dick's halted sales of assault-style rifles but then started selling them at its Field & Stream stores a few months later. When asked on "Good Morning America" at the end of February if the company might later start selling assault-style rifles again, Chief Executive Ed Stack said, "We have eliminated these guns permanently."
Several retailers that sell guns have not made recent changes, including Bloomington-based Gander Outdoors, Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops.
Although the company still uses the name "Mills Fleet Farm" in its advertising, the Mills family no longer has significant involvement or ownership. More than a year ago the Mills family sold the firm to KKR, a New York investment firm, for a reported but unconfirmed $1.2 billion.
That means KKR's buyout was in 2017 for over a billion dollars, while noting that gun outlets can alter policy when major mass shootings happen with old policy later restored. That and the Reddit comment about part time staffing after the KKR takeover together bolster the thrust of the AG's lawsuit aimed against negligent practices, while indicating even a settlement consent decree might need ongoing attention. (The Strib item names other large retail outlets which ought to be expected to pay attention to the present litigation focus on Fleet Farm.)
Discovery in the litigation, if it gets to that, likely would entail profitability of handgun sales vs. profitability of general merchandising, in toto, store by store and over time, and would likely yield informative discovery responses helpful to the AG in overall quelling of straw buyer crime, whether such crime is originating at Fleet Farm outlets or otherwise.
BOTTOM LINE: Filing that lawsuit was a progressive step toward quelling gun-related crime and illegal gun toting criminals. It was experienced measured action. Not hot divisive momentary election-focused rhetoric. It says much about the differing styles of the two Attorney General candidates. Voters should take notice.
FURTHER: The KKR SEC 10k filing is online. For 2021. Many find such filings informative. For 2022, absent a prompt settlement, KKR would have to report the tort suit against its gun sale practices to the SEC as an outstanding legal matter of impact. Absent a prompt settlement, a likelihood exists that plaintiffs' tort lawyers nationwide might take notice with consequent actions filed, possibly class actions, related to handgun crime victims. Victims of handgun crimes where weapons were purchased by straw parties from KKR controlled outlets in Minnesota or elsewhere.
FURTHER: MPR coverage of the AG press conference shows by image a large range of Minnesotans having personal interests or stakes in the filing and its ultimate outcome. Some may be victims already represented by counsel.
Nothing done in campaigning by Schultz should be viewed as having somehow precipitated this filing. It is the responsible statewide official acting to protect Minnesotans, independent of how Schultz campaigns. The question for Schultz is not about causation, but whether Minnesotans, on reflection, could imagine his ever filing such a lawsuit, against a giant of the industry in which he earned his living most recently before deciding to run for office.
Incidentally -
The question of will to take on the likes of private equity giant KKR likewise applies to GOP politician Mike McFadden, who makes his money from private equity, with a mergers and acquisitions background, where KKR stands as an international powerhouse in the areas of commerce from which McFadden has been gaining his livelihood.
McFadden, however, is not on the ballot this cycle. McFadden outside of his job is presently content to serve on the Board of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School while also the co-founder and Board member spearheading OurChildreMN.com, which is figureheaded by fellow Catholic Alan Page, the former Notre Dame and Vikings football standout and former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice, with that entity's declared organic aim and purpose being alteration of Minnesota's Constitution in a way which arguably might ultimately be advanced as favorable toward vouchers.
Vouchers also are being touted by Scott Jensen and suburban Catholic high school founder Matt Birk, while the focal person of major parts of this post, the GOP's anti-abortion candidate Jim Schultz, who "lives with his wife and three kids in the west metro and attends Holy Family Catholic Church in St. Louis Park" seems not to presently care to be on record anywhere online as to education policy, of any kind in any direction; as if affirmatively hiding from taking an unpopular stand on vouchers.
What is clear, Schultz hides from issues when his finger to the wind suggests it wise.
The man hides by scrubbing his campaign website. Specifically, his present Issues campaign webpage:
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The Schultz campaign "ISSUES" webpage as first archived Feb. 17, 2022, by Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:
Compare and contrast. You may need to click each image to enlarge and read.
Yes. He cut weak GOP candidate Kim Crockett loose with no lifeboat. It seemed appropriate to the campaign, apparently. Election posturing, from issue to non-issue.
Integrity? You decide.
Minnesota Family Voter scrubbed the item in question, but Internet Archive kept it online: https://web.archive.org/web/20220927144652/https://www.mnfamilyvoter.com/candidate/schultz-jim/
The item asks, "1. Should abortions be banned after fetal heartbeat is detected (around 6 weeks gestation)? The item posts a Schultz response, "Y" for Yes.
Schultz has disavowed that response. Minnesota Family Voter's public position is it "inferred" the response.
DFL posted about it, and Schultz is reputed to have threatened suit. Ken Martin's reputed response, "Bring it on."
Can you imagine Schultz actually suing? That would be a hoot. Discovery under oath. Schultz asserting that Minnesota Family Voter falsified things, asserting that under oath, not as a claim made to the public via campaign spokespersons.
"Bring it on" clearly was the appropriate response. And DFL would be the deep pocket. It was a clear absurdity for the Schultz camp to actually assert a will to litigate. It borders on unbelievable that they took that step.
Meanwhile the Attorney General, Ellison, is doing his job while Shultz has been posting video.
__________UPDATE_________
MN DFL has posted this Twitter tweet thread. It is focused on Schultz, while a sidebar item references another, separate MN DFL tweet thread. They are separate and different tweets, both by MN DFL.
The above cited Schultz-centric tweet might confuse. The item has been archived by Internet Archive, and while the originating political operation took down its publication of the Schultz questionaire response it had earlier published, on their active website; as of the date of this Crabgrass post Internet Archive retained it online. The archived page tells its story; the backing and filling from Schultz and the item originator notwithstanding, it was posted, Schultz is documented in video saying he'd go on the offense about abortion, "Offense, offense, offense," with that offenseive aimed against the Minnesota Supreme Court's decision in Doe v. Gomez, (with that case based upon the Court's holding of Minnesota Constitution privacy rights, which the MN GOP wants to destroy).
Minnesotans deserve privacy, including in reproductive decision making as well as in other contexts, even if Ailito and Clarence Thomas have the will to undermine privacy as a U.S. Constitutional right of all of the nation's citizens. And Minnesotans retain their privacy rights, under Doe v. Gomez. And that remains important, now and in the future, with the evidence showing that for the upcoming election the MN GOP as a pure election tactic, wanting to falsely soft peddle their stance due to the unpopularity of that stance among voters. In essence, they belie the truth.
Put another way, if it were your ass on the line, which of those two lawyers would you trust with your own litigation matters? Ellison, in court or advising? Schultz, same thing (except perhaps on how to get around SEC rules and requirements on form filings)?
Headline things. First Fleet Farm being sued for irregular handgun sales - sales ultimately putting guns illegally into the hands of very dangerous people - guns going to public menacing usage:
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is suing Fleet Farm, accusing the retailer of repeatedly selling guns to buyers who turn around and resell them to violent criminals who cannot legally buy the weapons themselves.
At least one of those guns acquired in such a "straw purchase" was used in a 2021 shootout in a St. Paul bar that left one woman dead and 14 bystanders injured.
At a news conference Wednesday, Ellison said Fleet Farm was "negligently selling firearms to straw purchasers, aiding and abetting these criminals and contributing to gun trafficking in Minnesota by allowing guns to get into the wrong hands."
[...] Ellison said Fleet Farm disregarded "well known and blatant signs of straw purchasing" including multiple purchases of similar handguns, especially 9-millimeter guns, buying sprees over concentrated periods of time and staggered visits by straw purchasers to different Fleet Farm locations to elude multiple-sale reporting requirements. He said these are typical "red flags" of illegal gun trafficking.
"Fleet Farm had a duty under the law to spot and stop this behavior," Ellison said. "Nevertheless, Fleet Farm continued to engage in straw purchase transactions even though they knew or should have known that these customers were not making legitimate purchases for themselves and were likely to resell them illegally." It thus "profited from the unlawful sale of firearm" which were then transferred to criminals, he said.
Fleet Farm denied the allegations Wednesday.
"We strongly disagree with the Attorney General's lawsuit," Jon Austin, a spokesman for the retailer, said in a statement. "We comply with all applicable gun laws and devote substantial resources to training and compliance. It is disappointing that Attorney General Ellison filed his complaint without ever once talking to us.
[...] Attending Ellison's news conference were mayors Melvin Carter of St. Paul, Jacob Frey of Minneapolis and Maria Regan Gonzalez of Richfield, all of whom endorsed the lawsuit. Ellison said he was spurred to take on Fleet Farm after a call from Carter about the problem of straw purchases.
The lawsuit alleges three counts of negligence by Fleet Farm, one count of aiding and abetting and one count of being a public nuisance because it was endangering the safety of members of the public.
Fleet Farm has 17 stores in Minnesota, all of which sell firearms and ammunition, the suit said. The company is headquartered in Appleton, Wis.
Straw buyers convicted
Ellison's lawsuit cites two straw buyers recently convicted in U.S. District Court. Jerome Horton bought 24 guns from Fleet Farm between June and October 2021. Sarah Elwood purchased 97 firearms from nine different gun dealers in Minnesota between May 2020 and May 2021, including 13 from Fleet Farm.
The lawsuit said the sheer volume of Elwood and Horton's purchases put Fleet Farm on notice that they were not making bona fide purchases. Horton is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court Oct. 22 in connection with the purchases. Elwood was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Sept. 14.
Six guns were transferred from Horton to Gabriel Young-Duncan, and several were transferred again. Young-Duncan was charged Jan. 18 with making false statements in the purchase of a firearm. He was sentenced Wednesday afternoon in St. Paul federal court to 3 1/3 years in prison, a term below federal guidelines, followed by three years of supervised release.
[...]
Guns end up on streets
A 9mm Glock 19 pistol that Fleet Farm sold to Horton was found in the front yard of a south Minneapolis home by a 5-year-old boy.
"It's too heavy to be a toy gun," Olin Norseng, now 6, told his mother, she recalls. Olin and his parents, Michael and Sara Norseng, took part in Ellison's news conference.
Olin's father called police, who came and said there was still a live bullet in the gun.
"We're lucky," Sara Norseng said after the news conference. "He (Olin) could have pulled the trigger."
According to the suit, "the gun was likely discarded there by suspects involved in an earlier Minneapolis public shooting incident who then raced through the neighborhood as they fled the police."
Another gun, a 9mm Mossberg MC2C pistol that Fleet Farm sold to Horton on July 31, 2021 — which Horton then transferred to Young-Duncan — was linked to the Oct. 10, 2021, Seventh Street Truck Park bar shooting in St. Paul, according to the suit. The pistol was fired by Devondre Trevon Phillips, who had a prior felony conviction that made him ineligible to possess a firearm. During an exchange of gunfire among three different gunmen, 14 people were injured and 27-year-old Marquisha Wiley was killed.
Responsibility and accountability are important values to bolster when proper conduct seems lacking, and Ellison made the move, as approved by city mayors.
As to endorsements, county attorneys know how to evaluate helpfulness from statewide officials, in practice; or as touted during an election. They support Ellison over Schultz in placing their trust.
Nine Minnesota county attorneys endorsed Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison's re-election campaign Tuesday, two weeks after nearly two dozen county sheriffs endorsed his Republican opponent.
The county attorneys backing Ellison are Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, Anoka County Attorney Tony Palumbo, Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem, Cook County Attorney Molly Hicken, Winona County Attorney Karin Sonneman, Stevens County Attorney Aaron Jordan, McLeod County Attorney Michael Junge and Lake of the Woods County Attorney Jim Austad.
"It is our honor at the Attorney General's Office to be your colleague, to stand with you," Ellison said to the county attorneys endorsing him during a news conference at the State Capitol on Tuesday. "We want to run to you to help because we know about your concern for the victims and the people who are suffering."
Former Minnesota Attorney General Skip Humphrey, Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin and former Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom also endorsed Ellison on Tuesday. Klobuchar is a former Hennepin County attorney.
Several of the endorsers praised Ellison for assisting under-resourced rural county attorneys with criminal prosecution cases. Freeman, the Hennepin County attorney, spoke on Ellison's behalf both at the news conference and in a recent television ad.
The Tuesday endorsements put some of the state's most prominent county attorneys in Ellison's corner. Ellison's GOP opponent, Jim Schultz, has been endorsed by 22 sheriffs — including those representing some of the state's largest counties — as well as the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association.
[...] Schultz, a political newcomer, has labeled himself a law enforcement ally who will partner with police to address violent crime. He has criticized Ellison for supporting the failed ballot amendment to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety.
Christine Snell, Schultz's campaign manager, called Ellison's Tuesday news conference "the last gasp of a dying campaign."
"In response to Jim Schultz's historic endorsement by 22 county sheriffs and many law enforcement organizations, the best Keith Ellison could muster was endorsements from a few DFL attorneys," Snell said. "That is embarrassing for Keith, but not surprising in light of his relentless hostility to police and the reckless Defund-the-Police policies he has embraced."
Christine Snell? The manager? Get real. Schultz could not even be counted on to sling his own mud and make his own excuses? Handed it over to one more politically experienced? What can he do on his own? If anything?
________UPDATE________
MPR reporting adds some detail:
City and county officials, not the state, has jurisdiction to bring criminal charges against the retailers, Ellison said. And he said other gun dealers could also face civil action from the state if they engage in similar sales practices.
“We need to go upstream with civil tools as well and turn off the spigot of illegal gun trafficking,” he said. “And I want to commend the retailers who are doing the right thing and meeting their duty to stop straw purchasing. We don’t want to generalize, it’s not everybody. Many gun retailers are abiding by the law and we thank them. But for the ones who are not, they have to stop and get in line and obey the law.”
The mayors of Minneapolis, Richfield and St. Paul said they’d asked Ellison to help limit the number of illegal gun sales in the Twin Cities. And they, along with family members of those affected by gun violence in the region, applauded the effort to limit alleged trafficking.
[...] St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said gun retailers involved in the straw purchasing pipeline should face repercussions for the Seventh Street Truck Park shooting and other instances of violence.
“The fact that guns purchased like that could cost us the life of a 27-year-old in our community is just offensive. And it’s unacceptable,” Carter said. “We see the shooters being held accountable, we see the purchasers being held accountable but until we break the profit chains that allow … some regional manager to make a quarterly bonus off of selling 33 firearms in a matter of just a couple of months we’ll continue to be behind the eight ball.”
The profit chains are what matters most to the NRA, which opposes handgun regulation of any kind. Where Schultz stands on cracking negligent handgun sales to straw purchasers is unknown
Schultz wants to downfund enforcement against business misconduct. He also has accused DFL officials of prejudice against small business in favor of "big box" retailers.
Schultz also addressed the sentencing of small business owner Melissa “Lisa” Hanson for violating Governor Tim Walz’s (D) COVID lockdown orders.
He said, “It is clear that [Democrat] leadership, especially Keith Ellison and Governor Walz, have taken a selective approach to enforcing their COVID restrictions. It appears that their approach is driven by partisan politics rather than fair and constitutional decision-making.”
He shared his belief that the policies unfairly benefitted “big box stores.” He said, “Big box stores were allowed to stay open, but churches and many small businesses were forced to close.
The Schultz commentary is confusing in that it was a local city attorney, not statewide forces, that successfully prosecuted the actively hostile and defiant bar owner, Hanson, (as is clear from the linked item in the above quote).
Hence, the Schultz take on big box retailer Fleet Farm as a target of enforcement of community standards against dangerous handgun retailing conduct might prove revealing of who he actually is. He owes us more than a mud-slinging response from his campaign manager.
Is he for or against cracking down on retail profiteering via lax attention to purchasers of multiple handguns of similar kinds, done over suspiciously short timeframes, allegedly for "personal use?"
It is a suit aimed to deter insensitive action of all gun retailers - policing of handgun retailing to stifle profiteering off of recognized but allowed straw buying, to stifle negligent inattentiveness toward the reasonably imposed societal duty to anticipate and recognize straw buying red light signal conduct and to deny straw buyer purchasing, all as a part of a general will and duty to study and regulate business misconduct in general. It is a main part of what a state attorney general must do for a state to assure orderly and fair business interactions with the state's citizens.
Is Schultz not up to the job, or worse unwilling to see it as something he'd have to do if elected? Is he actively hostile to the fact that business practices need policing? The latter possibility seems to be a worry. Is he blind or wanting to appear blind toward business crime? Hostile to a duty to stifle it?
It is fair to ask that Schultz position himself on the question, or that he declare it not of interest to him and campaign advisors. Silence can only mean not of interest.
_________FURTHER UPDATE_________
Searching the web has revealed the AG's official news release of the filing, and the complaint in the action are each online. These are original government sources, supplemented by media reporting previously analyzed. It is not difficult then to say that Schultz has constructive notice of the full nature of the litigation, as filed. As an AG candidate he should be anticipated to keep current on case progress.
I.e., Schultz knows there is a major duty of business policing and that it is happening now in open public view, even if he publicly opts to remain silent, or worse, to speak next of it in order to belittle the policing aim and effort.
[closing wording has been edited and revised for greater clarity]
Idaho. Note that emergency contraception also is in the crosshairs, not solely referral to abortion services. It is Idaho. Backwards, nasty, anti-choice because the legislature and governor's house are in GOP hands. It is a warning to the remainder of the nation. Do not put it all into the wrong hands because if you do, there will be hell to pay. Republicans arising from the weeds to strike. From the report [italics added]-
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Public universities in Idaho are warning staffers not to refer students to abortion providers or tell them how to get emergency contraception because they could be charged with a felony, and one is barring employees from recommending birth control, as well.
The guidance from the University of Idaho and Boise State University forms the latest restrictions in a state that already has some of the nation’s strictest abortion laws.
“This is going to have a very broad impact. It’s going to have a very strong chilling effect on free speech,” said Mike Satz, an attorney and former faculty member and interim dean at the University of Idaho’s College of Law. “I’m afraid it’s going to scare people from going to school here or sending their kids to school at Idaho institutions.”
The prohibition against referring students or “promoting” abortion in any way comes from the No Public Funds for Abortion Act, a law passed by Idaho’s Republican-led Legislature in 2021. Boise State, like the University of Idaho, told faculty members in a newsletter this month that they could face felony charges for violating the law. Idaho State did not respond to phone messages from The Associated Press asking if it had issued similar guidance.
Serpent speak: As to the Republican trickster memo here in Minnesota, this link. Strib local content. Our dissemblers at their most dissembling -
The memo marks a shift in tone from the party on abortion and comes as Democratic attacks continue.Minnesota GOP Chair David Hann has advised the party's candidates to refer to abortion as a "protected constitutional right" in the state before pivoting to crime, the economy and education, according to a memo shared by several Republicans.
The memo was sent to candidates Friday as the GOP in Minnesota and nationally struggles to find the right message on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in June. Democrats have spent the summer hammering Republicans on the issue and have spent millions of dollars on attack ads in the race for Minnesota governor.
The item notes the new hope that papering over the issue and lying is leaving out the fact that there is no aim change, with the MN GOP still dead set at fully killing choice and attendant privacy rights, (making contraception a next target).
The message also marks a shift in tone from the state party's platform adopted in May, which says the U.S. and Minnesota constitutions should be amended to restore legal "protection to the lives of innocent human beings from conception to natural death."
"Here are the facts: Abortion up to the moment of birth is a protected constitutional right in Minnesota," Hann wrote in the memo. "The only two ways this can be changed are by the Minnesota Supreme Court overturning existing law or by Minnesota voters passing a state referendum.
"Since abortion is not on the ballot, let's talk about the ongoing issues that affect Minnesotans every day: crime, inflation, the economy and education."
Abortion is a constitutionally protected right. Fret over other crap: "Since abortion is not on the ballot, let's talk about the ongoing issues that affect Minnesotans every day: crime, inflation, the economy and education." Strib's closing: The [Republican] party did not respond to requests for comment after past former Minnesota GOP Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb and the Libertarian group Action 4 Liberty separately posted the memo. The Brodkorb post, as an image -
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Brodkorb posted on Twitter, (so there's a crap thread left off the imaging) where you can read the pernicious "dissembling instructions" for how to parrot HAHN "developed and tested," one-size-fits-all Big Lie for GOP campaigning.
The ruse is a nationwide Big Lie. Those biting into the apple - usual dissembling suspects - proving M.D. after a name is not necessarily a sign of political integrity. Meanwhile, Matt Birk has kept his campaign website (https://mattbirk.com/issues) truthful in saying:
Matt Birk knew he was pro-life after cradling his first-born son. He has been a long-time pro-life activist - and his Catholic faith drives him to protect the unborn. You can often find Matt Birk at March for Life rallies and advocating for the unborn. As Lieutenant Governor, Matt will help drive policy decisions which reduce and eliminate the eradication of babies - which predominantly impact the black community in Minnesota.
As tacky as ever, but not following Hahn guidelines of deceit, at least there.
Jezebel.com has a thorough commentary, "Minnesota Republicans Advised to Repeat Claim That 'Abortion Is Not on the Ballot' -- The GOP has been gaslighting us with this line for years, but it's a bit late for that now." It includes quoting the MN GOP platform's unequivocal anti-choice, anti-privacy-rights plank, and noting:
The Republican nominee for attorney general, Jim Schultz, said during a March candidate forum that, unlike some Republicans who go into a defensive crouch on abortion, he would “be the one going on offense.”
As the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party wrote on Twitter, “Talking about important issues is not baiting, it’s called campaigning. If Republicans cannot defend their plans to ban abortion, that’s on them.”
The state GOP email is yet another example of Republicans attempting to deflect when asked about their supremely unpopular abortion policies and focus the midterms only on the economy. There are several problems with that strategy, one of which is that abortion is a top issue for voters. Another is that abortion access is deeply connected to the economy: People struggling to pay their bills will have an even harder time if they have to feed and clothe another human, or make an expensive trip for an out-of-state abortion. Pennsylvania’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro correctly noted last week that state abortion bans could affect the number of jobs available in any given state as employers expand elsewhere.
But hey, if you ask Republicans about it, they’ll gaslight you and say, “There’s nothing happening there.”
It is a bit disgusting and condescending -- In effect, a Father Knows Best how to dissemble and gaslight if "baited" about abortion -- read this, follow this, march to the same tune, leadership leads, caucus follows leadership, turn off your own mind and parrot what we formulate, "developed and tested," we know best, you don't.
And to top it all, "CONFIDENTIAL." A badge just like on the stuff Trump stole from the White House to Mar a Lago after being fired by voters (a theft for which he hopefully will face consequences).
Niska got the message: In closing, Harry Niska is the Republican candidate for HD 31A where I live. This campaigning card arrived in the mail:
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Trimming the issues, crime/inflation, as the memo said, "developed and tested."
Marching orders seen, marching orders followed. (Niska does list his campaign website, where he is more expansive about being anti-choice and a waffle on public education being a constitutional bedrock community function in need of full protection against erosion.)
I know Harry. I know that he is fully aware that in HD 31A crime is negligible, and almost exclusively property crime and domestic dispute calls, not violent attacks by strangers upon strangers on the district sidewalks. It is just not there. Cops are not disrespected. Occasionally roadside doing traffic stops, but mainly patrolling and on call with prompt response times. It is simply a non-issue for "our community" and he knows it. Yet on website and flyer, same featured posturing. I expected more and better personalized attention to District factors from Niska. I know he is smart. One of the smartest people I've met in Ramsey.
His opponent is very personal in stating her guiding outlook, not parroting anybody's canned presentation of leadership's "developed and tested" talking points.
And yes, I would vote for Betsy in any event, knowing her and family. But Harry's lockstep flyer was a disappointment. Flyer heading, "Focused on the issues that matter to our community." Then talking points via Dave Hahn. Public Safety not really a concern in HD 31A, but packaged as if it was. As if Harry is turning his campaign over to "specialists," and not thinking things out on his own. As if he'd be a follower if elected, leadership being accepted as for the likes of Kurt Daudt - a clearly far lesser man than Niska. I expected more. Even while an O'Berry supporter.
___________UPDATE__________
Two points. It is not said nor implied in this post that Harry Niska is Norm Coleman. He is not. Norm is who he is, Harry is who he is, and neither is the other. I have respect for Niska. I have nothing but disdain for Norm Coleman in all his dimensions as a political figure, and now a lobbyist and fixer for Saudi Arabia while managing strings tied to vast amounts of political PAC money doled to Republicans; and in 2018 being a fixer for a Chinese high tech firm violating U.S. sanctions against certain dealings with North Korea and Iran. Money sloshing all around. Harry is not that.
Second, a MN DFL twitter thread worth consideration on the questions posed in this Crabgrass post; video embedded as truth over more recent fiction.
Jeff Thiemann
8 months ago