Category Archives: Uncategorized

White House! Communications Director! Dan Pfeiffer! was the clear headline act on Friday morning at Netroots Nation. Probably a couple hundred people gathered in the big room to hear the Angry Mouse (Kaili Joy Gray, associate editor of Daily Kos) quiz him in a no-holds-barred session. Continue reading →

Minneapolis is the site of the national Netroots Nation convention this week, and Minnesota media is making a good showing. I caught two workshops with Minnesota presenters this morning, “Breaking News with Mobile” with Mike McIntee, Jason Barnett and Chuck Olson from The Uptake, and “Managing a State Community Blog,” with Joe Bodell and Eric Pusey from Minnesota Progressive Project joining forces with Katherine Haenschen and KT Musselman from Burnt Orange Report in Texas. Continue reading →

As Minnesota grinds on toward shutdown, schools are graduating students and closing their doors for summer. Unfortunately, summer vacation won’t make them safe from the consequences of state budget gridlock and shutdown. Continue reading →

“Are you a Union member?  If so, are they the communist giving you this propaganda?” That was part of the response by Minnesota Republican Representative Tom Hackbarth to a letter from a constituent asking him to “ask the most fortunate among us to pay their fair share” rather than “inflict severe pain on the middle-class and vulnerable Minnesotans.” (Full copy of the correspondence between the union member, Hackbarth, and Cody below.)

Hackbarth, you may recall, is the 8th-term legislator who was “stopped and handcuffed by police in the parking lot of a St. Paul Planned Parented in mid-November after he was spotted with a gun in his waistband.” (Hackbarth may have been looking for a woman with whom he had an on-line relationship—or an in-person relationship—depending on which version of the ensuing stories you believe.)

The union member who sent a letter to Hackbarth forwarded his response to the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees. MAPE Executive Director Jim Monroe responded, in part, “Do you really believe that when our members ask you to protect 140,000 Minnesotans from losing their MnCare benefits rather than having the richest two percent of Minnesotans paying their fair share of taxes it compares to the rise of Hitler and targeting the Jews?   When did supporting public services for battered women, crime victims and students in public universities become a fascist notion?”

Monroe said he was deeply troubled by Hackbarth’s response. We should all be deeply troubled by the failure of civility, but also by the failure of competence and conscience that lead to the current sorry proposals to strip protection and support from the most vulnerable Minnesotans.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

EMAIL FROM ROBIN SEIFERT TO REPRESENTATIVE HACKBARTH

>>> Robin Seifert <email address redacted> 6/9/2011 4:25 PM >>>

Jun 9, 2011

Representative Tom Hackbarth
State Office Building, Room 409
100 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard St. Paul, MN 55155

Dear Representative Hackbarth,

You have a choice. As a legislators, you could chose to ask the most fortunate among us to pay their fair share or you could inflict severe pain on the middle-class and vulnerable Minnesotans.

I oppose the all-cuts budget which will increase property taxes on homeowners, renters and small businesses by more than one billion dollars.
The all-cuts plan will eliminate support for battered women and crime victims and slash funding for public universities by $411 million.

We have a choice. We can either protect the richest Minnesotans and large corporations or we can protect the vital services that average Minnesotans depend on.

Are you willing to take away health care from 140,000 Minnesotans just to protect the 40,000 richest people in Minnesota?

I also support the Viking stadium they are part of Minnesota and need to stay here.  We have waited to long to get a stadium they time is now!!

Please tax the richest 2% of Minnesotans. Ask them to pay their fair share.

Sincerely,

Ms. Robin Seifert

RESPONSE FROM REPRESENTATIVE HACKBARTH TO ROBIN SEIFERT

From: Tom Hackbarth [mailto:rep.tom.hackbarth@house.mn]
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 10:14 PM
To: Robin Seifert
Subject: Re: Stand up for the middle class

Robin,

I can’t believe what I’m hearing from folks?  All, similar letters to yours.
Are you a Union member?  If so, are they the communist giving you this propaganda?

Do you know the who, what, when, where, why, and how, of Fidel Castro?
Hitler rose to power using and blaming the jews for the destruction of the German economy.  Castro built his army of murderers by blaming the rich bankers and capitalist for destroying Cuba and taking advantage of the Cuban people.  Hummmm?

Representative Hackbarth

Rep. Tom Hackbarth
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
Office: 651-296-2439 Fax: 651-296-3918

To subscribe to my email update go to: http://www.house.mn/48A

LETTER FROM MAPE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JAMES MONROE TO HACKBARTH
June 13, 2011

Representative Tom Hackbarth
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, Minnesota  55155

Sent via email and by U.S. Postal Service

Dear Representative Hackbarth,

I received a copy of an email that you sent to one of my members, Robin Seifert, in regards to her membership in the union I represent.  While I appreciate your willingness to respond to your constituents, I am deeply troubled about what you wrote and ask you to shed light onto linking a public employee union with the rise of Adolph Hitler and murderous armies of Fidel Castro.

I would appreciate you clarifying your statement to our member on June 9, 2011, at 10:14 pm:
“Robin,

I can’t believe what I’m hearing from folks?  All, similar letters to yours.
Are you a Union member?  If so, are they the communist giving you this propaganda?

Do you know the who, what, when, where, why, and how, of Fidel Castro?
Hitler rose to power using and blaming the jews for the destruction of the German economy.  Castro built his army of murderers by blaming the rich bankers and capitalist for destroying Cuba and taking advantage of the Cuban people.  Hummmm?

Representative Hackbarth”
Representative Hackbarth, do you really equate advocating for the middle class and Minnesota’s vulnerable citizens as communist propaganda?   Do you really believe that when our members ask you to protect 140,000 Minnesotans from losing their MnCare benefits rather than having the richest two percent of Minnesotans paying their fair share of taxes it compares to the rise of Hitler and targeting the Jews?   When did supporting public services for battered women, crime victims and students in public universities become a fascist notion?

When did humanity and caring for our neighbors and asking for millionaires to pay their fair share become supporting Fidel Castro and his murderous armies?

As I am sure you would agree, we are lucky to live in a free society.  But with the freedom of expression, comes the responsibility of explaining oneself.    I ask that you please explain to me the basis of your email response to a hard working public employee who wants to work for Minnesota, is proud to serve this state and is worried about what an all-cuts budget will do to her family and the rest of the middle class.

We are not asking you to agree with everything, but you were elected to serve all your constituents and listen to their concerns respectfully without denigrating their ideas.
Please remember that their hard earned tax dollars fund your position.

At the end of this letter, I will attach the full exchange between you and Robin Siefert to refresh your memory.

Thank you for your time with this matter.

Sincerely,

James Monroe
Executive Director

Updated 6/8/2011: The last few days have been (with apologies to Sly and the Family Stone) more hot than fun. On June 7, Twin Cities temps reached 103 degrees, hotter than it has been since 1988, according to MPR. With official voices are warning of dangerous heat and poor air quality in early June, what’s next? Back in the day, strategies for beating the heat included riding around with the car windows open, sleeping on the screen porch, and hanging out in air-conditioned movie theaters. Here’s a round-up of heat-related news, advice and predictions—and an invitation to share your advice, recipes, and complaints.<img title="” src=”http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/sites/all/modules/wysiwyg/plugins/break/images/spacer.gif&#8221; alt=”” />

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air quality notification for Tuesday and Wednesday, noting ozone levels that are “unhealthy for sensitive groups” on Tuesday and “moderate” particle pollution both days. Sign up for future alerts at http://aqi.pca.state.mn.us.

Local environmental activist Allen Muller noted in an email that there should have been an air quality alert on Monday as well:

Yesterday, June 6, was a “Code Orange” (“Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”) bad air day in much of Minnesota.  The official offending pollutant was ozone.  But this is misleading.  Particle pollution levels were also elevated, officially to “Moderate” (Code Yellow).

(However, no alert was ever issued for yesterday by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) because, we are told, their contract forecasting service–Sonoma Technology, Petaluma, CA–failed to forecast correctly.  By the time the PCA realized concentrations were climbing above forecast levels, the agency considered that an alert would be too late to do much good.  The MPCA has generally taken this responsibility seriously–within the serious limitations of the federal framework–but it is disturbing that air quality could deteriorate as seriously as it did yesterday afternoon in the Metro without any notice being issued.  I hope a post-mortem will be done on how this came about and how it can be avoided in the future.)

Muller also observes that the “Air Quality Index System is based on the single highest pollutant,” and that, “Air pollutants, pollen, heat, and humidity, individually, are health stressors and the combination, although not officially considered or reported, can be far worse.”

Speaking of far worse, Newsweek just published an in-depth warning on severe weather and climate change impacts, titled “Are you ready for more?” The article begins with the Joplin tornado, and goes on to warn: “The stable climate of the last 12,000 years is gone. Which means you haven’t seen anything yet. And we are not prepared.”

The city of Minneapolis sent out an advisory on coping with the heat, which has some helpful tips:

◦  Drink more fluids. Drinking fluids helps your body cool itself. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink. Don’t drink liquids with caffeine, alcohol, or large amounts of sugar. They can actually cause your body to lose more fluid.

◦  Never leave any person or animals in a closed, parked vehicle.

◦  Wear lightweight, loose-fitted clothing.

◦  Check on your neighbors who may be at risk. Visit seniors and other vulnerable neighbors at least twice a day and look closely for signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.  Seek medical advice immediately if you notice nausea, weakness, disorientation, rapid pulse and dry skin.

◦  Stay indoors if you can. Air conditioning is your best defense against heat-related illness. If you must be outside, try to limit your activity to morning and evening hours, take frequent breaks in the shade, drink plenty of fluids, and protect yourself from the sun by wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sunscreen. The City of Minneapolis provides a list of public, air-conditioned buildings for those who don’t have air conditioning in their homes.

◦  Don’t rely on an electric fan. Electric fans may seem to provide comfort, but when the temperature is in the 90s, fans will not prevent heat-related illness. Using wet cloths or a spray of mist on exposed skin will help cool your body temperature.

For a list of air-conditioned public buildings in Minneapolis, go to the Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support website.

My favorite cool-down (so far) this summer is a Rhubarb Slush—both the drink and the  recipe served up by my sister-in-law, Joan Turck.

Have a heat tip? Post it as a comment below.

No tricky camera angles – this is a real pile of snow, still in St. Paul on May 19. Is that depressing, or amazing, or both?

The same adjectives apply to the legislative performance going on just a few blocks from the slowly melting, glacial pile of crud in the Sears parking lot. The last few days before the end of the session give evidence of a frozen intransigence, with the Republican majorities voting for cut after painful cut—cut money for the courts, cut money for Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth schools, cut money for crime victim protection programs, cut money for higher ed, cut medical care for the poorest of the poor, cut general assistance for poor and disabled adults, cut, cut, cut.

<img title="” src=”http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/sites/all/modules/wysiwyg/plugins/break/images/spacer.gif&#8221; alt=”” />The list seems never-ending. DFL press releases describe some of the consequences:

On cuts to public employment:

State Rep. Phyllis Kahn: “On top of the 5,000 middle-class, public sector jobs this bill would cut, the Republicans are also targeting nearly 1,500 private sector employees for job losses. Every job loss, public or private sector, hurts our economy. It’s money that won’t be spent in local small businesses, restaurants or shopping malls. This bill, along with the rest of the Republican budget, will destroy our fragile economic recovery.”

On cuts to education:

State Rep. Tom Rukavina: “What we are doing to our students and the future workforce of our state is indefensible. This historic cut would hike tuition, cancel courses, lay off teachers and eliminate programs. All of this, to protect the wealthiest Minnesotans from paying another cent to balance our budget.”

On cuts to environmental programs:

State Rep. Jean Wagenius: “This bill says no to our state’s long tradition of protecting our natural resources that all Minnesotans use and enjoy. This bill makes the wrong choices and walks back decades of protections for clean water. Just three years ago 56 percent of Minnesotans voted to increase the sales tax because they wanted greater protection for their drinking water, for our lakes, rivers and streams, for our wetlands, forests and other habitat. This budget makes huge cuts in each area.”

On cuts to jobs programs:

State Rep. Tim Mahoney: “Republicans have turned their back on unemployed Minnesotans. The so-called Jobs bill does nothing but cut job creation in Minnesota.  It cuts every tool the state has to help businesses throughout Minnesota expand their operations, become more competitive and increase their workforce.”

On transportation cuts:

State Rep. Frank Hornstein: “This cut takes away the ride to the doctor for seniors across our state. Harmful cuts like this are the wrong priorities, especially since the very wealthiest Minnesotans are not asked to contribute one penny to a budget solution.”

State Rep. Paul Thissen: “In order to meet the Republican bottom line, grandma just got left at the bus stop. She’s going to be waiting a long time, especially in greater Minnesota, because the bus is never coming.”

On cuts to the court and justice systems:

State Rep. Sheldon Johnson: “The bill funding the state’s judiciary is a disservice to all Minnesotans. Continued underfunding of state courts is reaching a crisis level. This bill only perpetuates the problem of reduced access, overworked public defenders and lack of a speedy trial. Minnesotans deserve better than to continue this path of slowly asphyxiating an entire branch of government.”

State Rep. Joe Mullery: “The GOP also cuts funding for state prisons, reducing rehabilitation services for prisoners and making them more dangerous when they are released into our neighborhoods. The bill cuts the Department of Public Safety which helps convict criminals. It makes drastic cuts in aids to raped women, severely beaten children, spouses and other victims of violent crime. The bill raids funds dedicated to public safety and transfers that money to non-safety portions of the state budget.”

As the Republican budget bills hit his desk in the next few days, Governor Dayton’s veto pen is sure to get a workout. On May 19, he vetoed the Republican legislative and Congressional redistricting bills, saying in his veto message that districts were “too partisan, drawn for the purpose of defeating a disproportionate number of Democrats.”

What are the chances of reaching a budget compromise before adjournment on May 23? Probably as good as the proverbial snowball’s chance in hell, and considerably less than a glacier’s chance in mid-May in Minnesota.

Republican leadership accuses Dayton of being unwilling to compromise, though he has offered to meet them halfway, cutting the tax proposals he originally made. Frozen in a no-new-taxes position, Republicans seem to think that “compromise” means arguing over whether to cut more money from, for example, K-12 education or higher education. Maybe they need to go back to school to learn the difference between the give-and-take involved in compromise and the my-way-or-the-highway attitude more correctly identified as a demand for capitulation.

Although five months of hot air wafting over from the Capitol hasn’t thawed the St. Paul glacier, I’m betting that it will be melted well before there’s any agreement on a state budget.

After weeks of controversy over its “Hmong parody” song, denounced as racist and demeaning by protesters, KDWB scheduled a meeting with what it called Hmong community leaders on May 4. The meeting was by invitation only, and the unidentified leaders were selected by KDWB. Organizers of Hmong protests against the radio station said they did not attend the meeting and did not know who was present.

Boa Lee, a member of Community Action Against Racism (CAAR), said that it seemed that KDWB was trying to exclude the community. CAAR organized protests against “30 Hmongs in a House,” which it calls “a blatantly offensive, inaccurate and racist song about Hmong families, women and teenagers.”

CAAR had invited KDWB to send representatives to a community meeting on April 30 (PDF below), but received no response and was not invited to KDWB’s May 4 closed-door meeting. One CAAR member, Amee Xiong, was invited, as a representative of Take Action Minnesota/CAAR, but was told she would be the only person allowed to attend and that no cameras or recording devices would be allowed. After discussion in the April 30 community meeting, Xiong declined the invitation.

A CAAR press release on her decision said in part:

“The decision to not attend today’s meeting came after consulting our supporters and other organizations that had also been invited to the May 4 meeting,” said CAAR Communications Chair Boa Lee. “We operate with full inclusion of the community and the community has said that KDWB needs to come to us.”

The community meeting, said Lee, was attended by 75-80 people, most of whom were Hmong. That meeting decided to call on KDWB to attend a May 13 community meeting, open to all. (See CAAR website or Facebook page for details.)

After numerous phone calls from TC Daily Planet to KDWB Program Manager Rob Morris and station attorneys, Stacy Bettison of Rotenberg Associates responded as spokesperson for KDWB. She said:

We have met with various segments of the Hmong and broader community. We’re not disclosing their names at this time because we want to continue the progress we’ve made. A certain activist group that doesn’t represent the Hmong community attempted to interfere with our reconciliation process, which is why we are not disclosing their names.

We are grateful for all the time that these individuals have devoted to working with KDWB in a respectful and collaborative manner and we are very pleased with the progress we are making.

Bettison said that she could not identify the leaders involved in the meeting. She also could not say what “progress” they were making or what the reconciliation process was.

Asked to comment on Bettison’s statement, Lee said, “It sounds to me like they are picking and choosing who they talk to, and that goes against what they tried to tell us about being inclusive and reaching out to all members of the community. For them to exclude a multiracial coalition is detrimental to the process of resolution.” She said she did not know who attended the May 4 meeting, but knew that CAAR, Take Action Minnesota, State Representative Rena Moran, and Hmong 18 Council did not attend.

The law firm website for KDWB’s spokespersons, Rotenberg Associates,  says that it “provides strategic communications counsel to corporations, non-profits, and individuals facing legal issues, media scrutiny, or other reputational crises.”

The CAAR website says that it was founded in 1998 to protest anti-Hmong racism on KQRS, and was revived after KDWB aired “30 Hmongs in a House” in March. CAAR’s website says that it wants KDWB to meet with the community and that it wants Clear Channel policy implementation, including:

Moving forward, some requests that CAAR will consider are the following: KDWB/Clear Channel must implement rules to punish – reprimand with suspension or termination – anyone who airs something that violates the aforementioned company policy. We want to increase the diversity of people who work at the radio station. We want current and future staff at the radio station to undergo annual diversity and/or white privilege trainings. We want the station to work with us to craft a public statement of these changes and one that also acknowledges they recognize the harm inflicted with the March 22, 2011 song. We want the station to devote airtime to accurately and fairly educate listeners about the diverse communities in Minnesota, especially the Hmong.

Late on Sunday, May 8, Hmong National Development, Inc. issued a press release saying that they had met with KDWB on May 5 because, “As a result of low attendance at the May 4th meeting, KDWB and Clear Channel reached out to HND to meet again on Thursday, May 5, 2011.” According to the press release:

Given the low attendance at the May 4 meeting, HND accepted the invitation and agreed to meet with KDWB for the purpose of listening to what representatives from KDWB and Clear Channel had to share. HND did not engage in any negotiations on behalf of the local Hmong community, nor did it make any demands or recommendations to KDWB. HND clearly stated at the meeting that they were not in attendance to represent the local Hmong community and highly encourage KDWB to meet with various groups in the community. …

On April 27, over ten local Hmong organizations held a meeting at Hmong American Partnership and formed a Hmong Coalition to work on this issue.  Hmong 18 Clan Council was appointed as the lead agency and we look forward to their leadership.

HND characterized the May 5 meeting as “very productive.”

Congratulations to John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, who received the 2011 Access to Justice award from the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association. ILCM’s press release noted that last year they served more than 3,300 cases, reaching nearly 10,000 Minnesota individuals and families, who come from 95 different countries. Continue reading →

As traffic snakes through construction barriers on University Avenue, I look at the chain link fences lining the sidewalks and wonder just how much damage some of my favorite small businesses have already felt. Corner businesses on major cross streets are luckier—the #16 bus still stops at Prior and University and traffic still crosses the street in all directions. Mid-block businesses on the south side of University Avenue (now) and on the north side (later) are cut off by trenches and earth-moving equipment, imprisoned behind chain-link fences. Continue reading →

The official story from the Met Council on April , as repeated in MinnPost and MPRwas that there’s great news and new government money to help businesses along the Central Corridor. “Assistance to businesses along the Central Corridor LRT route will increase to $11.1 million, which now includes more than $6 million in forgivable loans and grants,” said the Met Council press release.

The University Avenue Business Association said that they were “happy to see the Met Council responding, but their announcement is confusing.”

They got that right. Continue reading →