Minnesota Monitor - Front Page

Media scrutiny forces RNC coordinator to resign

Andy Birkey — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:28:58 GMT

Doug Goodyear was tapped by Sen. John McCain last week to be the manager for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. On Saturday, Goodyear who is also the CEO of DCI Group resigned under mounting media scrutiny over his firm's lobbying for the military regime of Myanmar. DCI earned $3 million last year lobbying for clients like ExxonMobil and General Motors. Prior to DCI, Goodyear did public relations for cigarette maker R. J. Reynolds.

The Myanmar connection forced him to resign "so as not to become a distraction in this campaign."

According to Newsweek's Michael Isikoff:

[T]he firm was paid $348,000 in 2002 to represent Burma's military junta, which had been strongly condemned by the State Department for its human-rights record and remains in power today. Justice Department lobbying records show DCI pushed to "begin a dialogue of political reconciliation" with the regime. It also led a PR campaign to burnish the junta's image, drafting releases praising Burma's efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing "falsehoods" by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses.

Convention spokesman Matt Burns told the Pioneer Press, "In planning any event of this size - -and like with any large organization -- there are bound to be comings and goings. You simply adjust and move forward."

The McCain campaign still employs one member of the DCI Group. Doug Davenport is his regional campaign manager and, as head lobbyist for DCI, would have dealt directly with the Myanmar military regime.

Paradise backfilled: Making a mountain out of a river bed at Minnehaha Park

Chris Steller — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:07:39 GMT

Minnesota law is supposed to protect the state's natural and historical resources, but enforcing those protections often falls to local units of government that have other priorities. Case in point: Since last year, an immense pile of dirt has obscured part of Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis, one of the state's most popular parks, and neighbors are persisting in asking why. This is a story of local government embarking on an unauthorized side project while skirting public review to make what a residents' environmental committee calls "a major and unexpected change" to "a unique and significant geological feature" at Minnehaha Falls.

Minnehaha Park annually attracts three-quarters of a million visits from people who gaze at the falls, hike along Minnehaha Creek or picnic in the park's many glens and glades. Not far from the falls, a bronze plaque directs visitors, intriguingly, to an "abandoned waterfall," a separate site from Minnehaha's famous falls. It's at the end of a grassy cul-de-sac known as the Deer Pen, a gentle valley that meets Minnehaha Creek on its way to the Mississippi River. The Deer Pen is really a long-gone western channel of the Mississippi where the river fell and flowed for eons before abandoning that channel in a course change 9,000 years ago. (The same waterfall still exists today, having receded upstream until finally being fixed 120 years ago by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at its current site: St. Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis.)

Many park visitors seek out the abandoned waterfall and riverbed, but fewer are finding it these days because it's been buried under tons of fill dirt from a nearby construction project. The new earthen slope stretches over about a third of the 340-yard length of the Deer Pen, and in places nearly fills its 70-yard width. "It's a geological feature," says Irene Jones, a member of the Longfellow Community Council's River Gorge Committee, of the falls site and old river channel. "You don't just fill it up, at least not without talking to people."

Jones and others from the neighborhood say the idea of dumping dirt into the Deer Pen wasn't mentioned last year when the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board presented plans for building new shelters and roads in the adjacent Wabun picnic area -- the project that turned out to be the source of the dirt.

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The fall and winter passed with simmering consternation. To many the new slope looked like the makings of a road, while the park board's Minnehaha District newsletter asserted that "the design of the slope was actually revised to accommodate sledding." Last month, the gorge committee sent a formal letter to Park Board President Tom Nordyke complaining about the dirt pile and demanding an explanation.

This week, park planner Andy Lesch responded by e-mail, conceding that park staff had authorized the pile without board review or even a drawn-up plan. But dumping dirt excavated from the Wabun picnic area into the nearest depression was the more "sustainable" option, Lesch argued, "rather than truck this material off-site." (Cheaper, too, for the contractor or the Park Board.) The actual lip of the former falls had already been covered years ago by earlier fill, he says, though without explaining the logic of extending that by a factor of three. He said the project had "all applicable permits issued by the city, local and state agencies," allowing for disposal of excess dirt within a project area that included the Deer Pen, and he denied that the Park Board was building a road into the Deer Pen, saying that the Wabun topsoil is of no use as roadbed material anyway.

Residents remain suspicious of a stealth road-building project because of what they recall park planners saying last summer regarding "creation of a hard surface access road for vehicles from the north end of the Deer Pen down toward the creek, primarily for police use, although the possibility was raised that this would be a route to perhaps also be used by people with disabilities; some form of vehicular access for large picnic events to take place within the Deer Pen area; and a new park building/structure for picnicking in the Deer Pen area."

One government agency that didn't sign off was the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission. Minnehaha Park is both a local and nationally designated historic district (the state's first), and the HPC is charged with evaluating proposed changes to the natural and historic landscape there. But the Park Board didn't ask for HPC approval until the Wabun project was well underway, and then only for a single building. (The park board says the city didn't say the project needed HPC approval.) In November, then-HPC Chairman Phil Koski said he was "distraught that the project has proceeded to a point where we are really only reviewing one structure and I think there are several elements, pathways, view sheds, entrances, materials, ground surfaces, that need to be considered as part of this landmark. The entire landscape is the landmark."

On Wednesday evening, several people wandering through the Deer Pen said they were looking for a landmark in the landscape. The old falls site shown on the bronze plaque was the goal for Charlotte Eastin and her husband, Michael, who said, upon learning that their intended destination lay under tons of new dirt, "Boy, talk about abandoned falls!"

Joni Lager, who works just across the river as a fitness specialist at the Ford plant, said she'd been looking for the abandoned falls for weeks. This time she had help from a friend, Jessica Vossen, who brought along her brother Justin and his fiancee, Kelly Garrett. They, too, took their cue from the bronze plaque and were confused about where to look by what Justin called "manmade dirt."

Brian Johnston, out for a run with his son, Jack, 3, said, "I love this little stretch," adding that it looked as if the dirt pile area had been clear-cut of trees and bushes. "This part was really secluded," he remembered.

If Minneapolis park commissioners were to look at the bronze plaque installed 39 years ago, they would see this message from their predecessors: "A great deal of effort has been put forth to retain the natural beauty of the glen so please leave everything as you found it."

She's back! Controversial former SoS Kiffmeyer seeks to replace convicted legislator

Andy Birkey — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:25:17 GMT

Last weekend former Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer got the endorsement nod from House District 16B Republicans to replace embattled Rep. Mark Olson, whose conviction for domestic assault got him booted from the House Republican caucus. If they were looking to replace Olson with someone less controversial, Kiffmeyer may have not been the best choice. District 16B is in Sherburne County and comprises the city of Big Lake.

Kiffmeyer was an extremely controversial figure as secretary of state, drawing criticism from Democrats, independents and, occasionally, Republicans.

Kiffmeyer came under fire for her statements regarding the separation of church and state. At a National Day of Prayer event in 2004, Kiffmeyer said that the "five words" that are "probably most destructive" in America today are "separation of church and state." Kiffmeyer later told the Star Tribune's Nick Coleman, "It's not the words that are destructive, it's the way they are interpreted. There are a lot of good church people who don't think they can be involved in government." She also told the Minnesota Monitor that her statements regarding the separation of church and state were "cobbled together."

Despite the fact that Minnesota's same-day voter registration policy has helped the state maintain the highest voter turnout in the nation for five decades, she often told other officials from other states attempting to implement same-day voter registration that it was problematic and contributed to voter fraud. She told John Fund, author of "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy," that she was "tired of hearing her state's same-day registration extolled." At the same time, she often took credit for the high voter turnout.

Many of her decisions as secretary of state were overturned by the courts. In 2002, when Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash, she prevented the distribution of replacement absentee ballots to those who requested them, a decision overruled by the Minnesota Supreme Court.

In 2004, she attempted to remove the Independence Party from the ballot, a move that was overruled by the Minnesota Supreme Court. She tried to prevent the use of IDs issued by tribal governments for voter registration, a move that was overruled by the courts.

During the 2004 elections, Kiffmeyer made national headlines when she decided to post terrorist warning signs at polling places throughout Minnesota urging voters to be wary of people appearing at precincts with "shaved head[s] or short hair" who "smell of unusual herbal/flower water or perfume," wear baggy clothing or appear to be whispering to themselves.

Race to the Right, a conservative talk show that appeared on several conservative radio stations around the Twin Cities and St. Cloud, grew very critical of Kiffmeyer after she agreed to go on the air five times, but canceled one appearance and failed to show for three others without notice.

The show's hosts wanted to discuss the fact that the secretary of state's Web site carried only metro-area elections results in 2005, an odd-year election. Kiffmeyer briefly touched on the issue in an interview with Minnesota Monitor's Paul Schmelzer. Of working with the county auditors, she complained: "I did stuff and went to things and found that it is ever-unending. I can't seem to get ahead ? You meet this and it's more. You meet this, and it's more. It's unending."

The Kiffmeyer clan made waves on the political scene even before Mary Kiffmeyer's tenure as secretary of state. Her husband, Ralph Kiffmeyer, served one term in the Minnesota House, and he made it a controversial one with a bill to outlaw "sex toys and live sex performances."

Kiffmeyer and her husband are evangelical Christians, and are part owners in a "Christ-centered" bank. In fact, Kiffmeyer was the director of the bank's parent holding company. Two paintings at Riverview Community Bank in Otsego hang on the wall of the office where the bank president prays with bank customers. One painting shows "two businessmen in an office; one is shaking hands with Christ, as though closing a deal," and the other "is a scene of what appears to be Eden. Tucked into the background of that painting is a small representation of Riverview," according to the Pioneer Press in 2004.

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On to Minnesota Majority

Since Kiffmeyer was voted out of office in 2006, she has joined up with an organization called Minnesota Majority as its executive director. Minnesota Majority is made up of Jeff Davis, founder of Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage, a group dedicated to preventing legal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Minnesotans, and Drew Emmer, uncle of Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano.

Minnesota Majority is an advocacy group that engages in a hodgepodge of wedge issue and culture war rhetoric. Its Web site decries taxes, abortion, GLBT rights, embryonic stem cell research and illegal immigration. It advocates for military intervention in Iraq, abstinence-only sex ed, a free market health care fix and intelligent design taught in the classrooms. There's barely a religious right or ultra-conservative topic left untouched.

The group came under criticism for racially charged text on its blog earlier this year. "It is not surprising that Sweden has a lower infant mortality rate, or that Japan has a longer life expectancy than the United States does," read an article on the site. "They are nearly racially pure; we are not." Kiffmeyer defended the text saying that its mention of racial purity must be understood in context, that it "is simply descriptive."

"That's a genetic term," Kiffmeyer told the Pioneer Press' Rachel Stassen-Berger. "It does matter when you are doing medical studies."

The group's newest project, globalclimatescam.com, is dedicated to "exposing the truth about global warming hysteria" by pointing out that the planet can't be warming because we had a cold winter this year.

Friday Financials: 'The government paid for my weed, man!'

Molly Priesmeyer — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:34:43 GMT

Friday Financials presents the all-stimulus-check edition! Thanks to the generous act of the government, we've found folks so stimulated they're spendin' Gs on Gs (gas, gallons), droppin' dime into mailboxes for Mr. Chase and Monsieur Bank of America, and gettin' all high and stuff.

? Stimulus checks are in the mail. But don't start planning that trip to the Bahamas or making room for the plasma TV just yet. With food costs through the roof, the average family of four spent $625 on groceries in March (an increase of 8 percent over last year), or a little more than the amount of an individual rebate check. And prices are going up: Milk is at around $4.39 a gallon in the Twin Cities, the highest it's ever been. The good news? Gas: It's cheaper than milk!

? The cheapest gas prices in the Twin Cities are hovering at around $3.50 a gallon, and they are expected to continue to rise as the cost of crude oil skyrockets. In fact, gas prices all over the country are setting records this week. Economists at Moodys.com predict the bulk of stimulus checks will end up in the hands of big oil. The good news? With prices like that, you can get about 171 gallons of gas with a $600 stimulus check, or if you're in the mood for a big family BBQ, 150 pounds of ground beef.

? In a gut-wrenching ironic twist, back in 2001, when the economy was in a slump and the Bush administration sent out rebate checks in an effort to get it all hot and bothered with barely a wink, only $300 (the amount of an individual rebate check) was needed to get you 171 gallons of gas or 150 pounds of ground beef. Yes, prices of both have doubled. The good news? Twin Cities residents are getting creative with their stimulus checks. According to the stories on How I Spent My Stimulus, they're forking over their funds for wedding pastors, car repairs and giant bags of weed. You earned it, dude.

Two more guilty pleas in free-landscaping ring

Chris Steller — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:14:15 GMT

Two former executives from Kraus Anderson, the company that built former UnitedHealth Group CEO Bill McGuire's Gold Medal Park in Minneapolis, have pled guilty in federal court to avoiding taxes on free landscaping at their homes. The company that provided the free work, Windsor Landscaping, also did the landscaping work at Gold Medal Park -- on McGuire's recommendation. A postal inspector has testified that McGuire also received discounted home landscaping as a quid pro quo for steering the work at Gold Medal Park to Windsor (a charge McGuire's attorney denied). Windsor's owner pled guilty in March to hiding the free work so it wouldn't be taxed. The two Kraus Anderson execs face possible prison terms, the Star Tribune reports.

U of M scientists protest their inclusion on think tank's list of climate change deniers

Tom Elko — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:10:29 GMT

Last September the Chicago-based conservative think tank Heartland Institute rolled out a list of "500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares." Heartland Institute identified the researchers as those "whose research in professional journals provides historic and/or physical proxy evidence" that global warming has been caused by a long, moderate, natural cycle rather than by the burning of fossil fuels; that sea levels are not rising rapidly nor are they likely to; that wild species are not being driven to extinction but rather are increasing the biodiversity of our wildlands; and that food production is likely to thrive during the decades ahead.

The article's author, Dennis Avery, made the determinations on his own and no one from the Heartland Institute -- or the Hudson Institute, where Avery also published the article -- ever contacted any of the researchers. Last week Kevin Grandia of DeSmogBlog decided to do just that. After sending out 122 e-mails, Grandia heard back from more than 45 researchers who objected to their inclusion on the list.

Minnesota Monitor attempted to contact the three current and former faculty members at the University of Minnesota who appeared on the list. At the time of publication two of the three had denounced their inclusion.

"I was surprised to find my name in the list of 'Co-Authors' in the Heartland Institute's web page," says Edward Cushing, professor emeritus in the U of M's Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior. "I resent their implication that I agree with one or more of their statements."

Cushing (pictured above) says that he believes many of his colleagues in the field of paleoecology would also disapprove "if informed that they in some way support the Heartland Institute's claims."

Herbert Wright Jr. is a former regents professor in the U of M's Department of Geology, Ecology and Botany who was also named by Avery. "I requested that my name be removed from the list," Wright said, "but the perpetrator refused to do so."

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Dozens of scientists have demanded that their names be removed from the list and that they be issued an apology, but the Heartland Institute opted instead to simply change the name of the study from "500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares" to "500 Scientists Whose Research Contradicts Man-Made Global Warming Scares." In a release accompanying the name change, Heartland Institute's Joseph Bast said the scientists "are embarrassed -- as they should be -- to see their names in a list of scientists whose peer-reviewed published work suggests the modern warming might be due to a natural 1,500-year climate cycle."

"I suppose the list included anyone who had published on past climatic changes as inferred from the dated geologic record, even without reference to human factors," said Wright, who did not seem the slightest bit embarrassed.

Heartland's seven statements:

The following list includes more than 500 qualified researchers whose research in professional journals provides historic and/or physical proxy evidence that:
1) Most of the recent global warming has been caused by a long, moderate, natural cycle rather than by the burning of fossil fuels;
2) The sun's varying radiance impacts the Earth's climate as more or fewer cosmic rays create more or fewer of the low, wet clouds that act as the Earth's thermostats, deflecting more or less solar heat out into
space.
3) Sea levels are not rising rapidly nor are they likely to;
4) Wild species are not being driven to extinction but rather are increasing the biodiversity of our wildlands;
5) Fewer human deaths are likely rather than more as the current warming continues, since cold is far more dangerous and the Earth is always warming or cooling;
6) Food production is likely to thrive during the decades ahead, rather than collapsing due to climate overheating; or
7) Our storms are likely to be fewer and milder as the declining temperature differential between the equator and the poles reduces their power.

Full text of letter from Cushing:

I was surprised to find my name in the list of "Co-Authors" in the Heartland Institute's web page. I have published nothing during my career that supports any of the seven numbered statements on their web page. Neither have I had any communication with the Heartland Institute, and I resent their implication that I agree with one of more
of their statements.
My research in is paleoecology, and I have studied how the vegetation of Minnesota has changed during the past 20,000 years -- that is, since the last glaciation in the state. The principal technique I have used is pollen analysis, which identifies changes, over centuries and millennia, in the kinds and amounts of pollen that are deposited in lake sediments. Although there is strong evidence that changes in climate have driven great changes in vegetation in the past, that evidence neither directly supports nor directly refutes the claim that climate is not now changing or will not change in the future.
I observe that many of my colleagues in paleoecology, whose published research I know well, are also named on the Heartland Institute's list. I believe that they would react as I do if informed that they in some way support the Heartland Institute's claims.
Edward J. Cushing
Professor Emeritus

Community Commentary: Quieter session for gay issues but momentum's still building

Paul Schmelzer — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:54:22 GMT

Minnesota Monitor welcomes guest commentaries from community members and organizations to be published at our discretion. Today, Monica Meyer, public policy director for OutFront Minnesota, shares her thoughts on GLBT issues in the Legislature.

To be sure, the 2008 legislative session is quieter around gay issues compared to 2007. But quietly, legislative support for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues is building and is bigger than ever before. This is the first couple of years we've not been fighting attempts to repeal rights for gay people and have been enabled to work toward positive changes in law instead.

At OutFront Minnesota's "justFair" Lobby Day in April, we had a record number of legislators -- 30 in all -- who came to our rally including the leaders of both houses. House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher said, "When I think of when I first came to the House of Representatives (in 1999) and how much hate would often be spewed on the House floor, and how much that's changed, it's fabulous because instead of that hate, we've replaced that hate with another four-letter word, and that's 'love.' We have replaced it with love and with the word 'fair.' We are going to keep fighting on your behalf to make the laws of this state more fair and more just. And we are moving things forward with your help."

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This year, comprehensive sex education passed in both the House and the Senate with very comfortable margins. This would enable students to have age-appropriate and scientifically sound sex education that would provide the opportunity for gay and questioning youth to see themselves in the curriculum (it was removed in conference committee but there's still work being done to push it forward). A bill to allow local governments to offer domestic partner and other health benefits to their employees and employees' family members passed the Senate and awaits action on the House floor. And legislation to allow sick leave for immediate household members (which would include same-sex couples) is being considered as well, with one version passing the House.

To the short-term mind, it seems there is no victory unless a bill actually becomes law. But when you set your sights on a vision for the future, this is never the sole arbiter of success. You must first organize out in the community and establish a healthy supply of legislative allies -- neither one a small feat. An astounding 1,300 people from all over the state came to OutFront Minnesota's "justFair" Lobby Day -- one of the biggest lobby days of any type at the state Legislature. Our legislation had 60 cosponsors last year and many of them on board again this year. If you look at those who vote in favor of gay-friendly legislation they come from all over the state -- from Rochester to the Iron Range to St. Cloud and beyond.

The millennia-old bias against gay people is being whittled away one heart and mind at a time. It might be a bit quieter for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community at the Capitol this year, but quietness has its virtues -- as Arundhati Roy said, "Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."

VP or not VP: Pawlenty still tops the short list

Paul Demko — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:23:37 GMT

Chris Cillizza's latest analysis of the VP sweepstakes has Gov. Tim Pawlenty as the No. 1 contender. Here's the Washington Post scribe's take on T-Paw's chances:

1.Tim Pawlenty: So Tpaw and McCain had something of a disagreement over the cause of last year's bridge collapse in Minnesota. The Minnesota governor remains the candidate in the Republican vice presidential field who fits best with what McCain wants and needs in a VP. Pawlenty has been elected twice in a Democratic-leaning state that is almost certain to be a battleground in the fall. He is liked and respected by both conservatives and moderates and gets rave reviews for his political instincts. He has also known McCain for nearly three decades and has been a supporter since the early days of the contest.

Others still on Cillizza's GOP short list: Charlie Crist, Rob Portman, John Thune and Mitt Romney.

The Schultz Report: Time to start talking about the post-Clinton era in Democratic politics?

Steve Perry — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:51:47 GMT

In this week's audiocast, Hamline prof and Minnesota political analyst David Schultz says he's taking all the post-Tuesday talk about dream tickets and graceful exits with a very large grain of salt. At this point, says Schultz, "Everybody has realized that Clinton can't win, and that the tone she's taking is really damaging to her and the party. Everybody realizes it except for her. She has said she's going to fight on to Denver. She's sworn she's in it to the end. She has loaned herself $10-11 million and probably will be loaning herself more money.

"George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson, who did that awful debate a few weeks ago, did some analysis and they were speculating that maybe Clinton will try to negotiate an exit by demanding the vice presidency. But Obama doesn't have to negotiate at this point. He's won. He doesn't have to put her on the ticket, and he'd be foolish if he did.

"Second, people are speculating that she'll stay on long enough to go out a winner, after she's picked up West Virginia and Kentucky. I think what's really going to happen is what [Peggy] Noonan said: She's going to start to twist and slowly die. Her fundraising is drying up, and advisers like Terry McAuliffe are suggesting that it's going to end pretty quickly. I think you'll see the mainstream media increasingly just stop covering her.

"I think she winds up going out pretty ugly at this point. And not only does it maybe hurt Obama longer term. In terms of how history views her, she won't be looked on favorably after her departure from the race."

More: In the second half of this week's Schultz Report, we discuss the McCain gaffes of recent weeks that have drawn little scrutiny.

Listen: David Schultz on the end of the nomination race and the Democratic party's changing of the guard (13:31)

The other side of Minnesota's sesquicentennial: Native Americans plan counter-commemoration

Andy Birkey — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:10:52 GMT

One hundred fifty years of statehood is something for Minnesotans to celebrate, right? Not for everyone. To counter next week's official sesquicentennial events, members of the Twin Cities Dakota community and their allies are planning events to show an often-unseen side of Minnesota's founding -- the experiences of their ancestors at that time.

"Opposition to the sesquicentennial events is one way for Dakota (and all native people) people to not only honor our ancestors by acknowledging the suffering they endured, but it is also a chance to tell the truth about Minnesota's shameful ethnic cleansing of its Indigenous people," wrote the event organizers. "We ask Dakota people, other Native people, and Minnesota's non-Native citizenry to support us in this opportunity to demand a narrative of truth and the decolonization of the Dakota homeland Minnesota Makoce (Land Where the Waters Reflect the Skies)."

Friday afternoon a Truth Telling Protest will be held along the Mendota Bridge during rush hour (from 4 to 6 p.m.), and on Saturday a ceremony and vigil will be held at Fort Snelling. On Sunday a rally will be held at noon at the State Capitol to coincide with the sesquicentennial activities.

An attempt at telling the narrative of the history of the indigenous people of Minnesota has been a part of the sesquicentennial planning. The Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission has issued a statement and created a Web site to "bear witness to the tragic side of Minnesota Statehood in 1858 and acknowledge the pain, loss and suffering of the Native American culture in Minnesota."

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Several events are planned throughout the summer recognizing the suffering, pain and loss of Minnesota's indigenous people.

"What I've learned from Dakota people is that many of them see the events that surround statehood as something to be mourned," Jane Leonard, executive director of the sesquicentennial commission, told the Star Tribune. "Statehood came on the backs of many Indian people who were pushed out, so farmers could have land."

In addition to statehood celebrations, May is also American Indian Month in Minnesota. As Nick Coleman of the Star Tribune wrote last week, it's an opportunity for Minnesota to issue an apology to the first peoples.

"A lot of Indians don't see the sesquicentennial as something to celebrate," Leonard Wabasha, a Dakota told Coleman. "It's just another year and an anniversary that reminds us of what was taken away, and what we lost."

On May 16 the Dakota War will be the topic of discussion at the sesquicentennial events in Winona. That war ended with the largest government mass execution in U.S. history when 38 Dakota people were hanged in Mankato.

Lawsuit seeks to overturn St. Paul's RNC protest policies

Paul Demko — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:00:13 GMT

On Sept. 1, thousands of protesters are expected to converge on St. Paul to mark the opening of the Republican National Convention. The ad-hoc plan is for demonstrators to gather at the State Capitol grounds around 11 a.m. and eventually march to the Xcel Energy Center, where 2,500 Republican delegates will presumably name John McCain the party's nominee for president.

But according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in March, the First Amendment rights of protesters are being unconstitutionally proscribed by St. Paul's parade permit policies. Next week, U.S. District Court Judge Joan Ericksen is slated to hear arguments in the case filed by The Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. The suit charges that the group's free speech rights are being violated by the city's refusal to issue a parade permit laying out exactly when and where the protesters will be allowed to march on the first day of the convention.

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction ordering the city to issue a permit immediately, along with a ruling that St. Paul's current policy is unconstitutional and therefore invalid. The city is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed and denies that its guidelines run afoul of the Constitution.

St. Paul issued a "conditional alternative permit" to the group in March, but it lacks explicit guidance on when and where the protesters will be allowed to assemble. Assistant Police Chief Matt Bostrom, who is overseeing security for the convention, has promised to supply a detailed permit by the end of this month that will allow protesters to gather within "sight and sound" of the Xcel center.

But organizers are skeptical of that commitment. "We've heard a lot from the city about what they plan on doing," says Teresa Nelson, an attorney with the Minnesota Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union who is working on the case. "Time really is of the essence."

St. Paul Police Department spokesman Tom Walsh says city policy is not to comment on pending litigation. "It's a legal action against the city," he notes. "We can't say anything."

This is so far the only lawsuit pending relating to RNC protest activities. But the ACLU and other concerned parties are closely monitoring the actions of surrounding municipalities. Earlier this week, the city of Bloomington postponed voting on a beefed-up protest ordinance after the civil liberties group wrote a letter questioning the constitutionality of the proposal. On Wednesday, the Minneapolis City Council debated an essentially voluntary protest permit policy, whereby groups would be encouraged to notify the city about large demonstrations, but wouldn't be subject to any penalties if they fail to adhere.
Four years ago in Boston, protesters at the Democratic National Convention were assured that they would be permitted to assemble within earshot of the FleetCenter. But organizers discovered just a week before the convention was slated to begin that the "demonstration zone" was to be a fenced-in area surrounded by razorwire that more closely resembled a prison courtyard. A federal judge, John Woodcock, described it as a "grim, mean, and oppressive space," as well as an "offense to the spirit of the First Amendment." But he declined to legally mandate changes to the arrangement because there wasn't sufficient time to come up with a safe, viable alternative.

Lawyers for the St. Paul protest organizers fear that they will get caught in a similar legal limbo. "When the city says we're using the Boston model, to me that's delay, delay, delay until it's too late for a court to vindicate First Amendment rights," Nelson says.

The SPPD's Walsh believes the Boston analogy is wrongheaded. "We have assured them that no later than May 31st there will be a parade route," he says. "I just don't think there are parallels."

The litigation has brought forth some interesting nuggets of information about planning for the convention. In an affidavit, Bostrom states that the Police Department will supplement its force of approximately 600 officers with an additional 2,500 cops from various law enforcement agencies during the four-day gathering.

The city attorney's office also submitted a legal exhibit featuring protest plans drafted by the activist group Students for a Democratic Society. Dated March 28, the document lays out designs to blockade the Xcel center, immobilize buses, obstruct area bridges--and ultimately shut down the RNC. "I'm not exactly sure what their motives are in providing that information," says Nelson. "That kind of caught my eye."

Nelson insists her clients plan to protest Republican policies and the war in Iraq through legal and nonviolent actions. "We've always been kind of frustrated that the City has not been more forthright and willing to work with this group that clearly does not want to engage in illegal activity," she says.

MinMon Audio: K-12 finance chair calls Katherine Kersten a 'thug,' says she should resign

Paul Schmelzer — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:26:03 GMT

When Minnesota Rep. Mindy Greiling, a Roseville DFLer who chairs the House K-12 Finance Division, recently went to Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), the majority-Muslim elementary school in Inver Grove Heights made infamous by a March Star Tribune column, what she discovered was entirely different from what writer Katherine Kersten had reported. In fact, what she saw -- halal food among a broad array of school lunch options, religious after-school activities among a range of other activities, voluntary prayer time and policies that allow children who choose to fast during Ramadan to spend mealtime away from the lunchroom -- seemed to be an exemplary model of how religious belief must by law be accomodated in a public school setting.

She wrote a letter to the editor of the Star Tribune on Wednesday, calling for Kersten's resignation, citing "reckless journalistic standards" and "gross misrepresentation of the facts." Her letter was picked up on Thursday by Power Line's Scott Johnson, a friend of Kersten's, who says publication of the letter is an "act of thuggery" by Greiling and the paper. I caught up with Greiling on Thursday to ask her about the letter, get her response to Johnson's remarks and hear about her experiences as TIZA. She said she spoke up not only because she feels Kersten's article was incorrect, but because she was amazed by the quality of the school. "I saw such well-scrubbed, beaming students," she said. "It was just such an impressive school.... a school to be emulated, not hated. She's been a thug herself, as far as I'm concerned."

Listen: Rep. Mindy Greiling on Katherine Kersten's TIZA column (8:23)

Read Greiling's letter after the jump.

Earlier: Kersten column on Muslim school followed by threats, police patrols

In response to questions prompted by Katherine Kersen's recent columns on Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), I decided to visit the school myself.
What I learned during a tour late last month is that none of Kersten's concerns that the charter school is promoting religion in violation of a state law that prohibits public schools from doing so is valid.
What I did see was excellent teachers hard at work in the classroom focused on improving student achievement. I saw engaged students of different religious and cultural backgrounds learning reading, math, government and science. I spoke with parents, teachers and administrators who all stressed their high standards for TIZA students.
While an outsider, or someone like Kersten who is trying to validate a predetermined conclusion, might be tempted to brand Tarek ibn Ziyad as an "Islamic School" because it leases space from the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, the school, like other charter schools in Minnesota that lease space from churches, is a separate entity. It does comply with federal law that requires all schools to accommodate a student's right to practice his or her religion. And unlike other charter schools that have faced financial and other administrative challenges, the school was recognized with a 2008 School Finance Award from the Minnesota Department of Education for its "sound fiscal health and financial management policies."
Kersten's reckless journalistic standards have diminished this paper's credibility. Worse, they have threatened the safety of the children and staff at the school, which has been forced to take extra security measures in the wake of recent death threats. While I value a broad range of opinions from a variety of perspectives, I value the facts even more. Kersten's gross distortion of the facts in this case should compel Star Tribune management to ask for her resignation.

Clinton camp in tactical disarray as Obama takes the lead in superdelegates

Steve Perry — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:12:44 GMT

Something's wrong with this picture: Yesterday, even as Hillary fundraising stalwart Harvey Weinstein was reportedly pulling out all the stops to get Nancy Pelosi's backing for a five-minutes-to-midnight revoting plan for Florida and Michigan, Clinton campaign chair Terry McAuliffe appeared on the Today Show to suggest it would all end soon:

"It'll be over early June... We've all said we'll be together at the end. If Hillary doesn't win, Hillary, (former) President (Bill) Clinton, myself, we'll be over there helping Senator Obama. And, likewise, Senator Obama will come together to help Hillary if she's the nominee."

Never mind the rhetorical nod to HRC's chances of being the nominee; an early June end date will certainly not find Hillary in the lead. So McAuliffe, it appears, is offering an embargoed peek at the white flag of surrender while Weinstein is wielding the threat of big-donor revolt as a cudgel. It looks like the playbook needs updating.

More: On the superdel front, ABC News is the first to proclaim that Obama has now taken the lead in superdelegates, too.

Bachmann claims credit for earmark she voted against

Paul Demko — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:05:22 GMT

Rep. Michele Bachmann has pledged to no longer seek federal earmarks for projects in the Sixth Congressional District. The first-term Republican is part of a small group of legislators (which also includes Second District Rep. John Kline) seeking to reign in pork-barrel spending by swearing off earmarks.

So it's curious that Bachmann, in a taxpayer-funded letter to constituents, is claiming credit for securing $803,600 in funding for St. Cloud Metro Bus. That earmark was part of the 2007 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill, which also included funding for I-35 bridge reconstruction and the Northstar Commuter Rail line. Bachmann voted against the legislation, but is now boasting of the spoils.

Democrats wasted no time pointing out this seeming hypocrisy. "Most Minnesotans learned in kindergarten that you don't take credit for work that you didn't do," said DFL chairman Brian Melendez in a statement. "Bachmann ought to acquaint herself with those grade-school lessons before she shamelessly tries to pull another fast one on Minnesotans."

Berglin, DFL push for constitutional amendment to stop raids on state health care fund

Britt Robson — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:41:58 GMT

Tired of watching Governor Tim Pawlenty try to raid Health Care Access Fund dollars to balance deficits in the general fund, DFL legislative leaders are attempting to put the matter in the hands of the voters. On Thursday, Senate Health and Human Services Budget committee chair Linda Berglin (DFL-Minneapolis; pictured above) brought forth a bill for a constitutional amendment that would mandate that HCAF monies go to the state-supported health insurance plan known as Minnesota Care, as originally intended when HCAF and Minnesota Care were created by Berglin and other legislators 16 years ago. Berglin's counterpart in the House, Rep. Thomas Huntley (DFL-Duluth), is expected to introduce a companion bill in that body either Friday or early next week. If approved by both the full House and Senate before the session adjourns (the deadline is a week from today), the amendment will appear on the ballot this November.

Almost every year that he has been governor, Pawlenty has attempted to take HCAF monies -- derived from a tax on health care providers and insurance plans -- to balance a deficit or otherwise fund programs contained in the state's general fund. This session he recently dropped his proposal to tap $250 million from the fund, but is still asking for $48 million per year to ease the transition of people enrolled in General Assistance Medical Care into Minnesota Care. Supporters of Minnesota Care (and additional health care funding in general) view the governor's attempt to use HCAF for an ongoing budget line item rather than as one-time money as a potentially unwelcome precedent.

"We believe a constitutional amendment is necessary because clearly the current law, which prohibits these transfers, is not being enforced," said Minnesota Nurses Association representative Mary Jo George in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee yesterday. "Hundreds of millions of dollars have been transferred from the Health Care Access Fund to reduce deficits, and sadly tens of thousands of Minnesotans have had their medical safety net severed for the sake of balancing the budget?we are concerned, without dedicated funds, we may not have a [Minnesota Care] program." An executive from Allina Hospitals & Clinics and a representative of the SEIU also spoke in favor of Berglin's bill, which passed the finance committee and was sent by the full senate to the rules committee yesterday.

Huntley's companion bill will have to go through similar legislative hurdles in the House and any differences between the two will have to be reconciled before this session's May 19 deadline. Governor Pawlenty cannot veto proposals for constitutional amendments passed by the legislature. Asked if she fears that the bill will prompt Pawlenty to take a harder line on the current budget negotiations in general and health care spending in particular, Berglin laughed and said, "he's already threatening cuts, so what's the difference?"

Book on McCain and the media grows a new chapter online

Steve Perry — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:57:46 GMT

David Brock and Paul Waldman of Media Matters have web-published a new epilogue to their book Free Ride: John McCain and the Media covering the months since McCain emerged as the Republican nominee. You can read it here.

Free Ride is the book whose chart of McCain's US Senate voting record we excerpted the other day.

Debate rages in Minnesota House as stem-cell funding passes

Andy Birkey — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:58:42 GMT

The Minnesota House on Wednesday passed a bill that would allow the University of Minnesota to use state funds to conduct research using embryonic stem cells. The measure prompted a flurry of amendments by pro-life Republicans designed to derail the bill.

Rep. Matt Dean, R-Dellwood, introduced an amendment that would limit the use of embryos only to those that had died a "natural death." Rep. Dan Severson, R-Sauk Rapids, offered an amendment that would have forced Minnesota's attorney general to investigate the University of Minnesota, because Severson feels research conducted at the university on embryonic stem cells violates the law.

"The researcher has to take this living organism and has to slice it up," said Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano. "It destroys the living organism." He continued, "Would we take an individual that is sentenced to life imprisonment, would we start cutting them up for research? No. And you might think that's a little over the top, but it's the same thing for some of us."

It might be a little over the top. The embryos used for stem-cell research are called blastocysts and have, on average, between 50-150 cells. An individual who is sentenced to life imprisonment has an estimated 50 trillion to 100 trillion cells. And is of course a human being.

Kahn's bill would only allow research on embryos that patients have donated to science. "Let's talk about the life of those frozen embryos," said Kahn. "They stay alive only as long as the couple who created them wish them to stay alive. If the commercial entity that stores those embryos isn't paid, then those embryos are discarded and at some point they are no longer viable and are discarded."

She also said that public funding would help to allay many people's concerns over cloning or unethical procurement of embryos for research. "For people who have ethical concerns, you have to have public funding. That's the only way you get public oversight," she said.

The stem-cell bill passed the House 71-62 Wednesday afternoon. The bill passed the Senate in the 2007 legislative session. Gov. Tim Pawlenty will likely veto the measure.

The stark contrast in political ideology is evident in the dueling press releases that emerged Thursday morning after the vote.

Click "read more" to view the press releases
From the office of Rep. Kahn:

ST. PAUL -- Recognizing the significant potential for medical and scientific breakthroughs, the House of Representatives today passed legislation authorizing the University of Minnesota to perform stem-cell research. The bill lays the scientific and medical basis for stem-cell research and defines what can be studied, including embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Rep. Phyllis Kahn (DFL - Minneapolis), the chief author of the bill, said the bill enables Minnesota to join other states on the cutting edge of medical and scientific research.
"Stem-cell research offers immense potential to fight and cure pervasive and chronic diseases," said Kahn. "Minnesota has historically been a haven for biomedical and scientific innovation and we should join other states in the effort to realize the curative promise that stem-cell research can offer to hundreds of millions of suffering Americans."

And from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life:

ST. PAUL -- In a heartless act of disregard for the earliest stages of human life, the Minnesota House of Representatives today voted 71-62 in favor of human cloning and embryo-killing experiments. The vote approved the deadly Kahn Cloning Bill, S.F. 100, which legalizes human cloning and forces taxpayers to pay for the destruction of human life on a scale never before seen in Minnesota.
"House members today had a chance to do the right thing and protect vulnerable human life, but instead they chose to treat human life as mere raw material for experimentation," said Andrea Rau, MCCL legislative associate. "It is a dark day for citizens to see their taxes being spent on such unjust treatment of human life."
House members approved the deadly bill authored by Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, which allows taxpayer funding for the destruction of human embryos for experiments and also the wanton creation and destruction of human life through cloning at the University of Minnesota.

MPD's new squad cars feature technology that would make Batman proud

Anna Pratt — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:30:43 GMT

The Minneapolis Police Department's newly unveiled black-and-white squad cars may be retro in appearance, but they boast the latest in crime-fighting technology. Souped-up Fords are gradually replacing the MPD's current fleet of about 200 white cruisers. The new cars' '70s-era white-on-black color scheme is meant to make them more visible from a distance, according to MPD media rep Sgt. Jesse Garcia.

On the inside, however, they're not so '70s. For starters, "mobile data computers" are connected to digital cameras for recording police incidents that start taping automatically whenever the cars' flashing lights are turned on. Garcia also notes that the upgraded "911 computer automated dispatch system" is supposed to provide more accurate information about emergency calls.

Continued: Click "Read More"
More tech:

"Traffic-signal preemptors" -- the devices that emergency vehicles use to seize control of stoplights in emergencies -- are built in.
A low-frequency siren called the Rumbler emits a deep bass thrum that "drivers can not only hear, but also feel. The vibrating siren penetrates today's more soundproof cars," according to the promotional literature.
Some cars will also be testing out a license-plate recognition system that helps police spot stolen vehicles or drivers with outstanding felony warrants. It's an infrared camera that snaps pictures of license plates and then converts the plate numbers into text and runs them through various databases.

MPD officials claim their gadgets and gizmos facilitate better police work. Garcia says the added technology will lend an office-on-the-go aspect to the cars. And that means improved response time, he claims, because "officers won't need to go back to the office so much to do certain things."

McCain's Hagee problem: No, wait, my final answer is that gays really were responsible for Katrina

Andy Birkey — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:25:37 GMT

The Rev. John Hagee, a controversial religious figure from whom John McCain aggressively sought an endorsement, has again shifted his story about God sending Hurricane Katrina to destroy New Orleans because a gay pride event was planned there.

Hagee's original comments to National Public Radio made headlines in the wake of Katrina. Hagee said: "The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came... And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans."

That statement led media to ask McCain, after aggressively seeking the support of Hagee, do you agree with his statements? McCain said, "It's nonsense, it's nonsense, it's nonsense, it's nonsense, it's nonsense. I don't have anything additional to say. It's nonsense, it's nonsense, it's nonsense, I don't have anything more to say. ? it's nonsense. I reject that categorically."

As the media cycle continued, Hagee retracted his previous statements: "Ultimately neither I nor any other person can know the mind of God concerning Hurricane Katrina. I should not have suggested otherwise."

But at a Wednesday conference call, Hagee said, that he did indeed mean what he originally said.

When a woman on the call asked why he seemed to have backed away from his Katrina comments in the face of criticism, Hagee said he hadn't. As for Katrina, he said, God controls hurricanes and "God always punishes unconfessed sin." You do the math.

Why is it better to rent than buy in Minneapolis? I'll take "negative equity" for $12,113, Alex

Molly Priesmeyer — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:49:12 GMT

If you're planning to sell your home between now and, say, 2012, it will cost you. In fact, it will cost you about ten grand. A joint report released today by the Center for Economic Policy Research and the National Low Income Housing Coalition reveals that Twin Cities homeowners can expect a decrease in equity between $8,429 and $12,113 in four years for a home purchased today at 75 percent of the median price. The median home price for Minneapolis-St. Paul is $200,000, already 10 percent lower than last year. [Here's the PDF of the full report.]

According to the author appendix, "the calculations for equity after four years assume that the house price adjusts over this period to a trend value that is pegged at 15 times the annual rent of the property. The annual rent is assumed to be 1.333 times the median rent for the city as calculated above."

Renting in the Twin Cities, according to the study, actually will save an average of $200 a month over buying, and it won't result in drowning in the adult pool of negative equity. On average, renters in the Twin Cities pay $848 for a two-bedroom pad, while homeowners pay $1,236 a month for a "low-cost" mortgage.