FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
With speculation surrounding the timing of his move into Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District, Matthew Kirkpatrick, a former Republican Party staffer and a young attorney at Gurstel Chargo, P.A., in Golden Valley, announced today that he will not be running for congress in 2012.
Speculation began to grow when friends and activists learned that he and his fiancee Carrie Zimmerman had placed an offer on a home in the Sixth Congressional District. Submission of the offer came within days of the rumors growing louder about a possible presidential run by Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN-6).
Following the closing on the house this morning, Kirkpatrick made the following statement:
“While I am not ruling out a possible run for political office in the future, Carrie and I didn’t factor in the possible open seat when planning a move into the Blaine/Lino Lakes area. And I will not be running for Congress in 2012. There are many fine conservative leaders in the Sixth Congressional District to run for the seat should Rep. Bachmann run for president. After three politically active years including two state-wide recounts and travels around the US for multiple special elections, I look forward to pursuing my passion of practicing law on a full-time basis.”
Tags: Bachmann, Coleman, Emmer, Gurstel Chargo, Herman Cain, MichelePAC, Mike Parry, MN-6, MNGOP, Newt Gingrich, NRCC, Pawlenty, Republican, Republican Party of Minnesota, Rick Perry, Romney, Scott Brown, tcot
Two months after Time (and its partner CNN) asked “Is Violent Rhetoric Behind the Attack on [Representative] Giffords?,” Time (and CNN) decided to end its detente with an article about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker titled “Wisconsin’s Governor Wins, but Is He Now Dead Man Walker?”. Time’s (and CNN’s) sensitivity, after a contentious three weeks where Republican State Senators in Wisconsin were subject to death threats that have lead to official investigations, exhibits the lack of professionalism and respect of its editors and staff.
That being said, Time’s (and CNN’s) lack of practicing what it preaches inspired 14 non-violent alternative titles that Time could have used.
- Larsony of Public Trust (State Sen. Chris Larson)
- Risser of Two Evils (State Sen. Fred Risser)
- Not a Lassa Courage – (State Sen. Julie Lassa)
- Don’t Lena On Me – (State Sen. Lena Taylor)
- Coggs of the Union Machine (State Sen. Spencer Coggs)
- Holperin Teacher Unions At Any Cost (State Sen. Jim Holperin)
- Marked Absent – (State Sen. Mark Miller)
- Hansen the People’s Pockets (State Sen. Dave Hansen)
- Break the Vinehout, I’m finally coming home (State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout)
- The Adventures of Run Tim Tin (State Sen. Tim Carpenter)
- Turning Erpenbach On My Voters (State Sen. Jon Erpenbach)
- Jauchying for Teacher Unions Support (State Sen. Robert Jauch)
- Cullen the Cowards (State Sen. Tim Cullen)
- Wirch Way Home To His District (State Sen. Bob Wirch)
Tags: Carpenter, CNN, Coggs, Cullen, Dead Man Walking, Erpenbach, Fleebaggers, Gabrielle Giffords, Hansen, Holperin, Hugo Chavez, IStandWithWalker, Jauch, Larsen, Lassa, Miller, Risser, Scott Walker, Sean Penn, Taylor, Teachers Union, Time, Vinehout, Violent Rhetoric, WI14, Wirch, Wisconsin Education Association, Wisconsin State Senate, WIUnions
In a situation where the opposition has decided that death threats and thuggery are a proper response to their voices running and hiding in another state instead of actively debating, it is often very had to find a silver lining. However, I found a small one.
Obviously, I’m referencing the present situation in Wisconsin. The not so obvious silver lining … the people of the 7th Congressional District in Wisconsin were not seduced by State Senator Julie Lassa’s congressional campaign promises. (“Julie Lassa is running for Congress to be a fresh new voice for Wisconsin families”) Instead, in November 2010, they elected Representative Sean Duffy to go to Washington, D.C. to make sure their voice was heard. One has to wonder what would State Senator Lassa’s response have been to any of the controversial votes in Congress. Would she have left DC? Her actions in this State Senate session by running to Illinois with the other 13 State Senate Democrats shows that she has no problem robbing 160,000 plus constituents of a voice.
Thankfully, she wasn’t elected to Congress where she may have robbed 670,000 plus constituents of a voice.
Tags: David Obey, IStandWithWalker, Julie Lassa, Scott Walker, Sean Duffy, Teachers Unions, WI-7
Teacher’s loyalty to their unions continues to trump their loyalty to their students and the parents of the students who put their faith in the teachers to put their children first. (See, Teachers Protests Force School Closing) Recently, I found a sadly, unsurprising quote from a past leader of a teachers union.
“When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.” - Albert Shanker, former president of American Federation of Teachers
If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to take some time to watch “Waiting for Superman” and consider becoming involved in StudentsFirst.
Tags: Albert Shanker, American Federation of Teachers, Education Minnesota, Michelle Rhee, Scott Walker, Students First, Wisconsin Education Association
The cover and story about the 1994 Election says so much about time. I look forward to their post election cover this year as well.
http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19941107,00.html
This statement by Paul Starkovich, leader of Democrats for Chip Coalition, sums up the Minnesota DFL better than any characterization that I’ve heard in a long time..
Tags: 8th Congressional District, Chip Cravaack, Chisholm, Ely, James Oberstar, Lindstrom, MN-8, tcot, US Navy, Vets for Congress
After reading Briana Bierschbach’s recent hit piece in Politics in Minnesota about Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer’s leadership style, I knew that some perspective was needed. However, I wasn’t sure who needed more perspective Bierschbach; Former Reps Peterson, Tinglestad and Ehrhardt who aired their grievances; or the current Reps who requested anonymity who also aired their grievances. After reading a couple of times, I decided all three groups needed some perspective.
One has to wonder how much deep thought went into this article or if the author was just willing to write a hit piece. Thank you, Briana, for interviewing three former representatives, including two who’s constituents let their voice be heard and dealt one a decisive defeat in a primary and one a decisive defeat in a general election. She asked them their perception of how Emmer dealt with the possible vote override. However, the more telling response was how their constituents responded–voting them out– and that their constituents supported the no new taxes approach that Representative Tom Emmer was advocating.
An interesting tidbit that this politico would like to know… what sweetheart deal did Speaker Kelliher offer Tinglestad, Erhardt and Peterson to buck the party? Were they promised help in getting through a primary through crossover votes? Were they hedging their bets on a Pawlenty loss and or a Governor Kelliher in their future? Did they honestly believe that expanding tax revenues while failing to curb the problem, government spending, was supported by their constituency? One hopes this was an error of youth and not an intentional omission to write a hit piece framed at informing the public of some grave issue.
Another interesting tidbit would be further insight into the “three current House Republicans who proffered criticisms of Emmer’s style.” For instance, while they requested anonymity, maybe ask them who they supported during the endorsement process. Could that possibly color their comments? Of course, however, Bierschbach’s hit-piece writing skills prefers the world of the ambiguous. Maybe, she is hoping that this will be another “feat of investigative journalism” like her days writing for that unbiased “news”paper, the Minnesota Daily.
One final point of perspective concerns Former Representative Seifert, also former Minority Leader, who at the convention and immediately post-convention was commended for his classy concession move and his efforts to bring his supporters to support the endorsed candidate Tom Emmer. Seifert’s comments or lack thereof in this article are disappointing. Bierschbach not surprisingly left out Seifert’s public statements during the gas tax override battle in order to continue the theme of her hit piece against Emmer. We are obviously unaware if Bierschbach truncated Seifert’s actual statements to fit her hit piece. Moreover, based on the quality of the piece as a whole, an intentional omission of a positive statement by Seifert would not be that surprising.
That being said, I look forward to future articles from this hit-piece hustler about sell-out soothsayers who you shouldn’t take advice from about the future.
Tags: Airing of Grievances, Briana Bierschbach, Ehrhardt, Emmer, Feats of Strength, Festivus, Gas Tax Override, House Republican Caucus, Meeks, MN2010, MNGOP, Pawlenty, Peterson, Politics In Minnesota, Seifert, Seinfeld, Tingelstad
I can still remember my reaction in December of 1997 to the death of Saturday Night Live star Chris Farley. I was saddened not only by the death of a great Wisconsinite but also by the thought of future current events that could not be satirized as well due to his loss.
I submit that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs would be more palatable if we could look forward to Farley spoofing his gaffes and everyday peculiarities. In a NBC Today Show interview today, I enjoyed the interview so much more when I began imaging that the interview wasn’t reality rather it was Farley. I imagined it was Matt Foley discussing a van down by the river instead of Gibbs spinning Senator Obama’s discouraging statements about the surge in Iraq.
Unfortunately, I finally realized that this wasn’t a spoof, Gibbs is actually the White House Press Secretary, and the content and spin of his interview was purposeful, had some basis in reality, and wasn’t intended to be humor.
With Chris Farley’s absence, I can only hope that President Obama’s Oval Office speech tonight will merit some satire from Fred Armisen on Saturday night.
13 years later, Chris Farley you are still missed.
Tags: afghanistan, Gibbs, Iraq, mission accomplished, Obama, p2, Petraeus, surge, tcot
If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress. – BARACK OBAMA, Bloomington Pantagraph, Feb. 25, 2005
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