I Don’t Hate America!

This info was passed along from Mike McIntee, familiar to viewers of the Uptake and listeners to Inside Minnesota Politics, who will be guest hosting the Mark Heaney Show on AM950, Air America’s Minnesota affiliate.

When I first interviewed Steve Sarvi he was in Iraq helping people in rural Iraq rebuild their roads, buildings and other infrastructure that has been destroyed in the fighting there.  It was his last assignment in a 19-year military career that had included successfully mentoring people in war-damaged Kosovo on how to set up their own local governments.

At that time Sarvi indicated he was ready for his next assignment: coming home, taking on Rep. John Kline in a run for Congress, and then helping us fix our own war-damaged government.

Today Steve will be a guest (and I’ll be the fill-in host) on Air America Minnesota’s Mark Heaney show.  We’re going to talk about what Steve has heard in his 13-stop listening tour through Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District.  By the way, that’s 12 more open face-to-face meetings than Rep. Kline has held with his constituents this year.  I’ll be opening the phone lines so you can ask questions of Steve too.

So as you’re driving home, or cleaning house today for Thanksgiving, turn your radio to AM 950 and participate.

Three ways to listen.  On the air live on AM950, on line live, or if you miss the show there’s a podcast available usually by the next day.

I had the opportunity to attend two of Sarvi’s listening sessions last week, and he has said that part of the reason he decided to run for Congress is because of Kline’s lack of open meetings.  Listen in at 5:00 p.m.

Over two months after Minnesota Reps. Tim Walz and John Kline .ast squared off on the big blue couch on Twin Cities Public Television’s Friday night staple Almanac (that time about the Iraq war) the two will return to the program to discuss this week’s House vote to approve transportation and housing funding. Included in the bill was funding for the reconstruction of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, the Northstar commuter rail corridor and funding for US Highway 14 in southern Minnesota, which is, well, in craptastic shape.

Walz voted for the bill; Kline voted against it.

From the Almanac Producer’s blog:

Congressional Tussle Over Funding the New 35W Bridge
U.S. House members John Kline and Tim Walz took different sides on a big House Bill that would fund –among other things– the final construction costs of the new 35W Bridge in Minneapolis. They join us live to explain their positions.

7:00 p.m. on KTCA 2.

As Steve Sarvi’s campaign for Congress from Minnesota’s Second District slowly but surely picks up steam, so too does the mainstream media’s coverage.

This Ed Felker article from yesterday’s Rochester Post-Bulletin illustrates strong parallels to Tim Walz at this stage of the race, particularly, National Guard service and lack of experience in partisan office:

Sarvi, 42, hopes his own military background and local connections, combined with another strong Democratic election wave, will be his trump card against the seemingly entrenched Kline. Like Walz, Sarvi is married and has young children. Both he and Walz served in the Minnesota National Guard and worked in the public sector.

Likewise, neither Walz nor Sarvi had much political experience before declaring their bids. Sarvi wasn’t active in partisan politics previously, holding the nonpartisan posts of mayor in Watertown; city administrator and clerk in Lanesboro; and his current full-time job as city administrator of Victoria.

He acknowledged in an interview that he attended Republican caucuses around 2000, but said he was “always more of a moderate” to Republicans, and said he is now “probably a little left of center, because of some social issues.”

So far, the race has yet to attract national attention, and political observers haven’t placed the Kline-Sarvi match among races to watch.

Congressional Quarterly still lists MN-2 as “Safe Republican,” but after Walz’s win in 2006 we know that those ratings aren’t the end all be all of candidate’s fate.

Want to find out more about Sarvi? Check him out at these remaining dates and locations as part of his district-wide listening tour:

Today, 5 – 6:30 p.m. : Chanhassen, American Legion Post 580, 290 Lake Dr. E. , Chanhassen; 7 – 8 p.m. : Senate District 34 DFL, Chanhassen Library, 7711 Kerber Blvd. , Chanhassen.

Thurs., Nov. 15, 5 – 6:30 p.m.: Prior Lake , Prior Lake Public Library , 16210 Eagle Creek Ave. S.E., Prior Lake; 7 – 8:30 p.m. : Burnsville , JoJo’s Rise & Wine, 12501 Nicollet Ave., #100 , Burnsville.

Fri., Nov. 16, 5 – 6:30 p.m. : Eagan , Community Center, 1501 Central Pkwy. , Eagan.

Sat., Nov. 17, 10:30 – noon: Northfield, Northfield Library, 210 Washington St., Northfield; 12:30 – 2 p.m. : Faribault, Java Live, 313 Central Ave N. , Faribault ; 2:30 – 4 p.m. : Montgomery, Montgomery Public Library, 104 Oak Ave. E. , Montgomery.

This post is coming to you live from the DFL State Central Committee meeting in at Prior Lake High School in Savage.

That last part was important because there was some confusion about where the meeting was going to be: some thought it was at the OLD high school (which is now a middle school) and some were initially unable to find it because it was not clear to everyone that the school was in Savage, but it appears everything is smooth sailing.

I will becoming to you later today with a liveblog of the debate between DFL candidates for US Senate.  Mike Ciresi and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer have been working the crowds; no sign of Al Franken or Jim Cohen yet. Congressional candidates Jim Hovland and Ashwin Madia (Third District) and Steve Sarvi (Second District) have already spoken.

See you all at 4:00 p.m.

Below is a screen shot from Brian Davis’s official campaign website which illustrates a quote prominently placed on the front page:

“Instead of re-electing professional politicians, we need to return to a system of electing citizen legislators…”

I can interpret this to be nothing but a subtle dig at his three opponents for the Republican nomination to take on Rep. Tim Walz in Minnesota’s First Congressional District.

The three all are currently in elected office while Davis never has. Dick Day of Owatonna has served in the State Senate since 1991, Randy Demmer of Hayfield has served in the House of Representatives since 2003 and Mark Meyer of Lake Crystal serves as chair of the Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial board of education.

Walz, elected in 2006, had no prior elected experience. If Walz, who unseated six-term member Gil Gutknecht, is indeed the target of this quote it is borderline dishonesty on the part of Davis.

I must wonder: why would Davis take up prominent real estate on his home page going negative toward his Republican opponents as opposed to using that space for something which would highlight his ultimate goal: defeating Tim Walz?

As we have previously pointed out, Davis has struggled to collect campaign contributions within the First District. Will delegates to the GOP First District convention appreciate Davis’s negativity?

In a ditch effort to look like a fiscal conservative, regardless of the record spending growth during the first seven years of his administration, President George W. Bush vetoed the Water Resources Development Act.

Too bad this was a bill full of projects which are important, and in some cases crucial, to home districts of those in Congress, including those of Republicans.

With all members of the Minnesota delegation voting to override the veto (will Bachmann get the opportunity to get smoochie-smoochie with Bush anytime soon?), the House re-passed the bill 361-54; the Senate 79-14.

Remember Gov. Tim Pawlenty saying something along the lines of “welllll ya just because ya  don’t get as much local government aid as yall want, ya don’t neeeeeed to go araising property taxes and local fees!”

While all nearly all municipalities provide services people generally like such as fire, police and schools, others have unique challenges.  One of those is Goodview, Minn., which was told to reduce radium levels in its drinking water.  To help pay for the $4 million treatment plant when other funding fell through, they had to goto the federal government.

They asked Rep. Tim Walz and Sens. Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar to secure funding under cries from fiscal hawks like Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, of “NO! NO EARMARKS! NEVER! IF THEY WANT IT BAD ENOUGH, THEY CAN PAY FOR IT THEMSELVES! FISCAL CONSERVATISM AND ACCOUNTABILITY!!!!!!!”

Yes, the sprawling metropolis of Goodview, already saddled with tremendous hardship following this year’s flooding and with a booming population of just over 3,000 is going to afford to pay for a $4 million treatment facility to meet an otherwise unfunded mandate on its own?

That brand of conservatism is quite compassionate, indeed.

Walz, who has shown his list of earmarks with almost unmatched transparency, released the following statement today.  We say “Well done!” for coming through for a community in your district.

“I am pleased by the overwhelming bi-partisan majority that voted to override the President’s veto on this important legislation. President Bush has shown he is not serious about addressing the significant infrastructure problems facing this country.  This is the first WRDA bill in more than seven years and this legislation authorizes important projects like an upgrade to the locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River and a water treatment facility in the City of Goodview.  I’m thrilled to see this important legislation become law.”

Dr. Brian Davis, Republican candidate for Congress in Minnesota’s First District, asserted that his third-quarter individual contributions under $200 help show the “whole story” of his supposed rock-solid support from within the district (this was in response to our report that just 15 of Davis’s 80 third-quarter individual donors were from Minnesota). We went on to blow his “whole story” claim out of the water by showing that a mere 5.7 percent of his total contributions were under $200. Thats barely a chapter or passage of the story let alone the whole book.

Now Davis is claiming another “victory” in his little battle to unseat Tim Walz (right here in the comments at IDHA! mind you!).

Hi DJ,

Twenty-nine percent of the contributions have come from Minnesota as of the conclusion of business yesterday (50 of 175 contributions). Twenty-six percent of the total originates from our State.

Wow. Get the man a cocktail!

29 percent!

Geez. He really showed me!
I wonder: if he gets 29 percent of the vote at the First District GOP convention for the endorsement, will he will brag about that, too?

All snarkiness aside, this figure is worthless for two simple reasons:

1. As I foreshadowed by with my sarcasm above, can anyone give me a situation in which 29 percent of contributions coming from inside a candidate’s home state could be impressive? Let alone impressive enough to brag about on a blog published by someone on that candidate’s opposing side of the political aisle?
2. Maybe the figure could be relevant but only after all of the fourth quarter reports are actually filed (mid-January)! Brian Davis has 29 percent of his contributions coming from within Minnesota. So f’ing what?! If he is going to use that figure as a benchmark to judge success, how can that be done without comparing it to those of his opponents?

Davis went on in the same comment to invite me to join the campaign as a volunteer.

Well, Dr. Davis, thanks, but no thanks. At the risk of sounding arrogant as you, I must say: continuing to dominate this game of intellectual ping-pong is much too fun quit playing in the middle of the game.

Wow, it looks like a Steny Hoyer motion to table impeachment proceedings brought up by Dennis Kucinich will fail as Republicans are switching their votes to “nay.” Right now its 194-218.

The vote has been open much longer than 15 minutes.

Looks like the GOP wins another game of “gotcha.” Way to go Kucinich.

Developing…

[Update 1:] 170-242 for tabling. 164 Republicans voting nay, 7 Democrats voting nay. Vote board has been open an hour. Did anyone see this coming? Pelosi? Hoyer? Brilliant move by the GOP minority appears ready to force impeachment to proceed and shut down Congress.

Okay, slight exaggeration there maybe.

Again, well done Kucinich. You get what you want; after all, everyone has an election certificate i guess. I’m hearing deranged belly laughs on the House floor…weird. [/Update 1]

[Update 2]Finally the board is closed. 162-251, motion to table fails Shit is hitting the fan. Hoyer moving to refer to Judiciary. Kucinich made a parliamentary inquiry if the motion failed, would there then be an hour of floor debate? The chair remarked that there would. Tons of confusion. Hoyer moves the previous question (to end debate) on motion to refer. The ayes had it on a voice vote and now there will be a 15 minute roll call. [/Update 2]

[Update 3]According to Ed Epstein of Congressional Quarterly, during debate Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, House Minority Leader, instructed his members to switch to “nay” on the motion to table. He did this because if a motion to table or refer to committee a privileged resolution fails, one hour of debate is required, and, in Boehner’s opinion, that would “embarass the Democrats.” Congrats to the GOP on another victory in the game of “gotcha” that is House 2008. About five minutes left in the vote on the motion to call the previous question, which I believe only requires a majority to pass. [/Update 3]

[Update 4] 218-194, the motion for the previous question carries. Now we move on to a roll call vote on the motion to refer the Kucinich impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee. It’s just a five minute vote. If the Republicans behave the same way they did on the motion to table, it looks like we will have a vote on the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney today on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. Unreal. [/Update 4]

[Update 5] Well, for all that excitement, it looks like the Democratic leadership has gotten its members in line enough to refer the impeachment resolution to committee. The motion carries 218-194. This time around, only four or five Democrats voted nay. And with that, impeachment is off the table again. Now it looks like they are finally on to the override of Bush’s veto on the water projects bill. [/Update 5]

It seems that Brian Davis, candidate for Congress in Minnesota’s First District, has shown his hand when it comes to campaign strategy early on.

Apparently absent from that strategy is tact. Check out Jason’s earlier post highlighting Davis’s decision to campaign while trick-or-treating with his kids last week on Halloween.

Showing your family on a piece of literature or on a campaign website? That can give voters an opportunity to see the personal, as opposed to the political, side of the candidate.

Campaigning for office while your kids trick-or-treat? While not scandalous or even unethical, it’s the opinion of this blogger that trick-or-treating on Halloween is a very sacred annual event in a child’s life; one which should provide memories for a family based on the costumes, candy and carving of pumpkins. What Davis did crosses a delicate line and violates that sacredness. Those memories should not have to take a backseat to politics.

By showcasing such activity on his blog, Davis obviously feels this is “creative campaigning.” I find it to be simply “tacky.”

In the same post, Davis takes issue with our previous assertion that due to lackluster fundraising within the district, he may not have the support of those necessary to gain the GOP nomination. He didn’t have any real in-depth rebuttal, but had three comments about what we said. In the third comment, Davis becomes the second GOP contender for the First District nomination to show struggles with mathematics, but let’s start from the beginning:

1) It’s good to have friends and colleagues who are willing to provide support.

Sure. Al Franken has given similar justification for his outsta…er…out-of-state fundraising, but Kevin Kline, Lucy Lawless or Paul Newman will not be able to cast a vote for Franken at the State DFL Convention. Likewise, Davis’s nationwide network of physician friends who gave money will not be able to cast a vote for him at the district GOP convention.

The difference comes here: Al Franken has demonstrated that he has already built a grassroots network of supporters here in Minnesota who are working the phones and will doorknock with him. Has Davis? I mean, other than his children, of course. (Only kidding!)

2) Having receipts greater than expenses is a good way to run a business or a campaign.

Being stuck with campaign debt, which is a possibility for Randy “the Whammy” Demmer, would suck, so Davis is correct here. Of course, his personal contribution went a long way towards that accomplishment for the campaign.

Well, over one-third of the way toward that end anyway. Davis’s campaign kitty had $74,104.85 in it at the end of October; Davis donated $26,193.25.

3) The FEC reports don’t tell the whole story, particularly as it concerns donations at $200 and below.

I’m quite curious: what part of the story do they not tell, Dr. Davis? Of $55,035 of individual contributions in the third quarter, just $3,132 of that was from contributions less than $200, which aren’t listed on the FEC report. Even if all of that came from within the First District, at just 5.7 percent of individual contributions that’s hardly anything to brag about, or even “add to the story.” Compared to the percentages of his “Team 3-D” comrades, it’s even less impressive (Day had 20 percent and Demmer had 31.8 percent).

The percentage of the incumbent, Tim Walz, was 28.1.

Randy Demmer, who has proven he can’t count, isn’t a doctor, so I suppose I can see him having some issues with mathematics. For someone with a Ph.D., however, Brian Davis should be able to not only count, but do a better job of interpreting equations and figures.

*Knock knock*

    “Why hello there!”

“Hi, I’m Brian Davis, running for the House of Representatives in District 1″

    ”Do you want a Snicker’s?  Maybe some Caprisun?”

“No, I mean I’m running a campaign and am trying to get the word out”

   “You look so cute in that costume.  Are you a Republican?”

———–

Actually, according to his blog, the letter he gave looked more like this:

“October 31, 2007

Dear Rochester Neighbor:

Happy Halloween! The reason that I’m writing to you is to introduce you to my campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in our District, the 1st District of Minnesota and to seek your support…..”

I just had to make a joke out of this.  I will admit that I was campaigning for Tim Walz last year during Halloween.  This was when I worked with the AFL-CIO: Working America organization.  It felt very uncomfortable to knock on a family’s door, being greeted with smiles, and tell them I was out door-knocking for union-endorsed candidates.  Of course, I did not have any kids with me as Brian Davis did.  I could see him getting a warmer welcome when with the kids, but really, the last thing a family wants to see is someone out campaigning.

 I stopped after only a few houses when the sun went down.  It’s an interesting tactic though… most people are home and expecting knocks on the door.  What better way to ensure getting the word out on a day people will answer, and not just ignore you.

 Hat tip to Brian for mentioning us on his blog within his Halloween post.