I Don’t Hate America!

Tis’ an excellent feeling to be back here blogging at good ole’ IDHA yet again (unless if course you are reading this on Minnesota Campaign Report where I have been posting somewhat regularly since IDHA has been down). It appears Jason has gotten all of the technical difficulties solved, and we are back online. Many thanks go to Joe Bodell at MNCR for allowing me to post there while these evil computer bugs decided to let loose on IDHA.

The last post I made at MNCR concerned a subject which I first didn’t think would ever be blogworthy, then after I realized something needed to be said I figured only one post would be necessary. Unfortunately, it seems this subject not only needs more attention, but is bringing attention upon itself willingly. Let me provide background material.

The issue of Governor Tim Pawlenty’s appointment of a state university student member to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities board of trustees has unexpectedly become quite a contentious issue. For the complete “long story,” you can check out former MSUSA state chair Hal Kimball’s posts at Blue Man in a Red District, the Cucking Stool, A Bluestem Prairie, Dump Bachmann, and my “two cents” (which ended up being more like six-and-a-half bucks) at MNCR here.

The short story is this: two candidates have been recommended by the Minnesota State University Student Association to fill the position: Ezra Kazee (former MnSCU policy and procedure facilitator, student services coordinator and member of the board of directors for MSUSA) and Adam Weigold (editor of the “Maverick Underground” newspaper, advocate for the Minnesota Students for Academic Freedom, former student body president at Minnesota State University-Mankato and MSUSA board member). In addition to these two candidates, a third one named Luke Hellier, has been discovered as an applicant to the position. He is a graduate of St. John’s University (a private school) and will soon attend MSU-Mankato via distance learning program on a part time basis to pursue a graduate degree. He has served on the SJU student senate, as a campaign staffer for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, and as an advocate for Mark Kennedy. Personally, I know the first two through student government activities and I know Luke through our time in local independent professional wrestling, myself as a ring announcer, Luke as a referee and his father as a promoter (coincidentally, however irrelevant, Ezra is a wrestling fan and used to attend matches featuring Luke and myself in our respective roles!).

Needless to say, some students aren’t pleased that someone who has yet to take a class at a MnSCU institution is being considered for a very prominent position within higher education in Minnesota. The position of student trustee is that of a full voting member of the MnSCU board; not just that of a “delegate” or “student advisor.” As evidenced by the links listed above, the blogosphere has picked up on this issue.

Hellier’s supporters have reacted through the social networking site “Facebook”(add me if you like, just do a search for “DJ Danielson”). These reactions have fueled already mounting suspicion that the consideration of Hellier has been based on partisanship as opposed to qualification.

Facebook features a “wall ” feature on which “friends” (contacts) can leave “posts” for all to see.

Some of these posts have showed apparent enthusiasm for the blogosphere’s attention to this issue.

The main catalyst for this has been Tim Ibisch, a former MSUSA board member representing MSU-Mankato (again coincidentally, his term followed Adam Weigold’s departure from MSU-M).

Today he wrote on Hellier’s wall: “libs are really going nuts its (sic) great.”

He wrote on Michael Boulton’s wall (the current trustee): “i(sic) know, its(sic) great to see the hippies go nuts, did they really think that a lib would get it?”

Boulton, seemingly responding to the Ibisch comment (or vice versa), says “I heard about that….oh well, he qualifies for the position, so what is the big deal?”

Two other posts on Hellier’s wall from other people include one, seemingly sympathetic, saying “rough day on the blogosphere?” Another, which seems to think Luke should find glory in all of this attention, says “I’m so proud of you, Luke! It’s pretty sweet to be known as “the Manchurian Candidate” by the Lefties.”

This whole issue illustrates three items which bring much contention to this situation.

First: Trustee Boulton says “oh well, he qualifies for the position, so what is the big deal?” Technically speaking, he absolutely qualifies for the position. He qualifies as much as anyone about ready to transfer into a MnSCU four-year state university.

He might be qualified and then again he might not be. Is he the most qualified? Some bright brain in a public administration class in one of the seven state universities might be and he or she might not know it due to lack of interest in this sort of position and we never will know. Does Luke’s resume (which has been taken down) directly show more qualification than Mr. Kazee or Mr. Weigold, two MSUSA endorsed candidates, though? I find it hard to answer “yes” to that question. I fail to see how work for conservative causes, as honorable as that may be (I truly mean that; its better to stand up for something in college than to not care about politics at all), translates into qualification for this specific position.

Second, Mr. Ibisch’s comments complete the point of this entire thing being blown up to the proportion it has been:

THIS SHOULDN’T BE ABOUT PARTISANSHIP!

I repeat…

THIS SHOULDN’T BE ABOUT PARTISANSHIP!

I am glad Mr. Ibisch considers Hal Kimball (who spent many years manning the turret of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle in Korea) a “hippie.” In all fairness, maybe he was referring to myself as a hippie, though I doubt that since my hair doesn’t grow longer than one-eighth of an inch and I (as of now, anyway) cannot even find a Democratic candidate I completely support in 2008, regardless of how many people are hopping on various bandwagons (other posters of this blog included!).

This appointment has been relegated to name calling of “libs” and “hippies.” This process shouldn’t be as partisan as it is, but it has been pointed out that it is going in that direction, and people seem upset at the attention it is receiving! Why does everything have to be either about “libs” or “repubs”? <tangent> Things like this made it difficult for me to get involved in partisan groups in college. It seemed everything was partisan for the sake of being partisan, with virtually no real focus for policy; more interest in getting photos with candidates than interest in the process or bills. WSU College Republicans would follow the College Democrats around with a video camera asking the question “Well, let’s see what the hippies are up to these days!” In my time at WSU, College Democrats would ask questions during conversation such as “Do you think all Republicans are assholes?” and “Could you ever marry a Republican?” </tangent>

Thirdly: ADAM WEIGOLD IS A CONSERVATIVE! And, he was recommended for the position by MSUSA. I cannot speak for Hal or anyone else who has written about this subject, but as far as I see it, undies are not in a bunch because a conservative is being considered for this position!

Is this criticism of Luke fair on the blogosphere?

Well, like Fox News, I am fair and balanced, by god! According to several sources close to the governor’s office, at least a few “deep throat” type calls have been made bringing up Mr. Weigold’s record. Is this fair? Well, considering Weigold’s record is very public (check out Ollie Ox’s post for a few examples of this), I see no reason that politics should need to be played against him in this manner. Should his record be looked into as a consideration for appointment? Absolutely. Ezra Kazee too had an unceremoniously exit from student government. Should his record be looked at? Sure.

Both men actually have records though on which to run. They both grew up (as just about all students do during their time in college) and made up for earlier alleged transgressions and ended up serving MSUSA well. Luke does not have such a record with a public college or university.

The governor is set to announce on his 9 a.m. weekly radio show on WCCO an announcement regarding tuition reciprocity. Soon an announcement will be made regarding the trustee position.

Stay tuned.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 6:48 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.