I Don’t Hate America!

We’re back after a fantastic Independence Day. It is on July 4 that the title of this blog especially rings true; we do not hate America! We celebrate our independence and freedom as much as anyone else regardless of what the right wing talking points would have you believe.

Hal Kimball continues his coverage of the MnSCU student trustee position situation over at Blue Man in a Red District. He notes that late appointments to this position by the governor are not a new concept.

One of the three candidates, Luke Hellier, has a new item which to place on his resume: number five on the list of the Top Young Conservative Activists in America complied by the Young America’s Foundation.

In all fairness, like I have said before, I have no problems with someone being conservative. In addition, I have no illusions that anyone other than a Republican will be appointed to this job as Gov. Pawlenty’s appointments thus far have been very partisan. (again, Mr. Ibisch, this “hippie” is NOT going “nuts” because a “lib” isn’t “going to get it”).

I don’t even have a problem with Mr. Hellier bringing folks like David Horowitz to campus. While I don’t agree with Horowitz’ outlook of the classrooms in this nation’s colleges (rather I think his rhetoric is more along the lines of demagoguery than anything) it’s certainly a viewpoint which should be given the opportunity to be heard. In fact one of Hellier’s fellow candidates for the position, Adam Weigold, is also a fan of Horowitz and his positions.

This particular article about the top young campus conservative activists though lists one individual brought to campus by Mr. Hellier who is particularly troubling: Jason Lewis.

I say this not because Lewis, the drive time host on KTLK 100.3 FM, is conservative. I find it troubling because he is flat out the most anti-higher education voice around in the media.

If appointed to the MnSCU board of trustees, Mr. Hellier will (or should!) represent the members of the Minnesota State University Student Association. February 14 this year MSUSA held a rally on the steps of the capitol in St. Paul advocating for lower tuition and more state funding of the MnSCU system. What did Jason Lewis think about the students doing this?

On his show prior to the rally occurring, he slapped students in the face by saying that they were nothing more than “rubes and tools” for the faculty so they can have their pay increased.

His other rants about higher education have not only been upsetting to state university students but also misguided. He has spoken about the massive tuition increases of the past decade going to “more liberal programs” in the classroom, failing to cite the individual responsible for appointing members to the board which sets tuition: Gov. Pawlenty. He also fails to cite the party in control of the state house and governor’s mansion during the years of those increases and massive budget cuts: the Republicans!

It all creates some great food for thought: if Hellier were appointed to the board, would he agree (if he doesn’t already!) with his hero Jason Lewis that the students he would be appointed to represent are nothing more than “rubes and tools,” or would he actively advocate for their interests?

Discuss.

Excellent weather today, eh? I was able to sneak out of work a little early to enjoy some time outside.

Yesterday I missed Matt and Sean over at MNPublius on the air on AM950. I had not heard of them appearing before they were on the air, so instead I listened to KTLK 100.3 the other side of the dial.

Unfortunately, instead of hearing the heartwarming and inspiring voice of Jason Lewis (..sarcasm…yeah..), who happened to be on vacation, the show was guest hosted by none other than state House Minority leader Marty Seifert.

Yes, Marty Seifert hosting a radio show for three full hours. Three hours of right wing rhetoric straight from the leader of the tribe. Three hours of nasal-voiced goodness.

In all fairness, he didn’t do too poorly for someone whom I assume has little experience in broadcasting behind the mic. For instance, his transitions were poor and he forgot to give out the phone number the first half hour but he did much better than Michele Bachmann in the same role a few months ago, which Hal Kimball describes as “the worst three hours in the history of radio.” He had somewhat interacted with the traffic, weather and news people and actually took phone calls.

There is another story here though beyond Marty Seifert simply hosting a radio show.

Overall it seemed like a three hour radio infomercial for the House GOP Caucus! You see, those folks are hosting a Republican Straw Poll for the presidential race. I thought all should be able to take part in the democratic process, but apparently in GOP land you can only participate for $100 and a trip to the Rivercenter in St. Paul. A few callers complained about this fact but Seifert gave the excuse that “renting the Rivercenter costs money.”

I can’t remember the date advertised and apparently the GOP doesn’t want people to find out anymore. The official website for the House GOP Caucus is down. The parked page offers links to information on how to start a hot dog franchise, Republican ringtones, the Minnesota Independence Party and information on John McCain for president but unfortunately nothing about a straw poll.

If Seifert had mentioned this event once or maybe even twice I would see no issue, but he brought it up constantly throughout the program. After breaks, after comments from callers and seemingly all other points of the program he continued to mention this $100 event, which can only be assumed to be a fundraiser. It seemed like one of those infomercials for a Ron Popeil product disguised as a talk show. Is this or should this be considered legitimate advertising or open game? I am no expert in state campaign finance law, and I am not making accusations here, but it seems to raise a couple of questions from me:

Did the Minnesota House Republicans pay KTLK for this time? Is there a monetary value to the time given to the Minnesota House Republicans on this program that should be listed as an “in-kind” contribution on campaign finance statements? Since I know so little about this specific subject, I’d love to hear from someone with some knowledge of it.

I may be on to something. Then again, I may be on something.

And no, I’m not calling for a return to the fairness doctrine or anything. Simply put, while my observations may end up being completely baseless, this just came across as quite fishy to me.

(Sidenote: KTLK doesn’t podcast shows with guest hosts. I would like to revisit this show, but I guess that can’t happen.)

[Update] The House GOP site is back up and running.  Get those checkbooks out; the site is advertising the date of the straw poll as August 22.  And no, I did not record the show because while I thought Seifert hosting a radio show for three full hours had the potential to be funny, I didn’t (perhaps naively) think it had much potential to be controversial.[/Update]