Justin C. Adams's blog

Jon Olson, the Minneapolis Park Board commissioner who is trying to unseat longtime State Representative Joe Mullery, put out a hit piece at the end of last week that quoted extensively from one of my posts, attributing the quotations to our website.

The views in my column are my own. While MN Blue does endorse candidates, and any of our contributors can endorse anyone they like, neither MN Blue nor I have endorsed Mr. Olson. In a twist that might surprise readers, I personally already voted for the incumbent in this primary by absentee ballot (I am an elections judge and will not be in my precinct on Primary Day).

While Mr. Olson has earned a reputation as a bully during his time at the Park Board, I was surprised by the content of his mailer. I had a chance to talk with commissioner Olson shortly after he filed for office, and at that time, he declined to differentiate between himself and the incumbent whatsoever, saying that he did not want the primary to be about Representative Mullery’s record.

The Minnesota Vikings unveiled plans for a stately pleasure dome to replace our aging and admittedly ugly Metrodome, apparently in preparation for an effort to extract $603 Million from our state legislature next session. Proponents argue that it is a necessary cost of keeping the Vikings in town. Opponents find it a horrific waste of public funds desperately needed in other areas.

Jon Olson to take on Joe Mullery in “no-endorsement” primary.

Park Commissioner Jon Olson filed yesterday to challenge Joe Mullery in the September 9 DFL primary in district 58A. Olson, who owns a local Dairy Queen, did not have his name in nomination at the SD 58 endorsing convention, at which Peggy Flanagan and her supporters (including yours truly) blocked the endorsement of the powerful 6-term incumbent.

US Senate:

Al Franken will face a challenge from Pricilla Lord Faris for the DFL nomination. The attorney and offspring of former Federal Judge Miles Lord has committed to spending up to two million dollars to “sharpen” the contest between democrats and incumbent Norm Coleman. Jesse Ventura will not run for the Senate, but there will be at least four candidates on the November ballot – the DFL, GOP, IP and now the Libertarians all have candidates.

More below the break

US Senate:

Al Franken is facing two perennial candidates in Ole Savior and Dick Franson in what should be an easy DFL primary. Felon and fugitive from justice Jack Shepard has filed as a Republican, setting up an easy primary for Norm Coleman. Doug Williams and Bill Dahn have already filed for the IP nomination. Rampant speculation continues regarding Jesse Ventura’s plans.

Complete update below the break...

Last week, filings were coming in a few at a time. This week, they’re coming fast and furious. Here’s a quick overview of races that developed since the weekend:

US House, 6th District: Michelle Bachman hasn’t filed for re-election yet (shhh... maybe she'll forget), but fellow GOPer Aubrey Immelman did, from Europe, where he’s conducting “military training”.

After a slow holiday weekend, office filing is back in full swing today. Here's what's new:

58B: It is official, Keith Ellison’s home district has the endorsee vs. the incumbent, as Augustine “Willie” Dominguez filed for re-election last Thursday, following Bobby Joe Champion’s first-day filing. We previewed this race here.

There are two developments to report in the 37B race between Sterner / Walter-Hansen. I previously reported that Dr. Walter-Hansen had not made a pledge to abide by the endorsement of the convention. I have new information today that indicates he had pledged to the SD party chair to abide, and that he is therefore breaking his pledge by entering the primary.

The filing period for public service began today, and so far, there are three confirmed contested primaries, all of them between DFLers.

Bobby Joe Champion won endorsement at the SD 58 convention on March 15 over incumbent State Rep. Augustine Dominguez. Senate District 58 is north Minneapolis, and the foreclosure crisis and the backwards distribution of the state and local tax burden are hurting district residents badly. The other incumbent State Rep. lost his DFL endorsement at the same convention. But there’s more to it than that.

Both challengers were also uncommonly strong candidates.

The fundraiser for Al Franken yesterday evening at Alan Hooker’s in beautiful north Minneapolis was a great success. Thank you to everyone who attended and to everyone helping support our great US Senate candidate. Al performed his famous freehand drawing of the contiguous states and auctioned off the piece to an attendee for $350. All told, a significant amount of money was raised, all of which will be put to good use retiring Norm Coleman. In addition, a great time was had by all.

Jim Godfrey is challenging four-term GOP incumbent Rob Eastlund in this rural district. Jim is an Education Minnesota member and a teacher with a strong union background.

Matt Dean has represented this large district, situated northeast of St. Paul, since 2004. Dean won his seat from current State Auditor, Rebecca Otto, who served the district after winning a 2003 special election. Dean narrowly won re-election in 2006 with 51.85% over Jason Gonnion.

The DFL endorsed candidate Kevin Staunton finds himself in a great position to win this traditionally GOP seat from 9-term incumbent Ron Erhardt. The district is trending blue, with a narrow victory for Kerry and a solid victory for Klobuchar. The US Congressional candidate, Aswin Madia is energizing Democrats.

I am extremely honored to be a co-host for an Al Franken fundraiser next Thursday, June 26th, from 5:30 to 7:00pm. The event will be held at the home of former Minneapolis Library Board of Trustees member Alan Hooker, 4417 Upton Avenue North, in Minneapolis.

The event will be held in a casual north Minneapolis home with refreshments provided. Al will present some short remarks to those gathered, but mostly this is a great oppurtunity for attendees to meet with Al & Franni one-on-one in a relaxed setting, to learn more about this very important campaign, and to mingle with all the illustrious co-hosts (of which yours truly is surely the least interesting).

Complete details after the break.

Mike Obermueller is making a second run for the Minnesota House in district 38B, which covers Burnsville and Eagan. In 2006, he lost the seat by just more than 100 votes as a first time candidate, which makes his seat the third most competitive potential pick-up among democratic candidates.

John Kline has won three terms to the United States Congress from Minnesota’s second district, encompassing most of the ex-urban south metro. His district has supported him with safe majorities in each of the past three elections, beating Bill Luther by 11, Teresa Daly by 17 and Cowleen Rowley by 16. At first glance, this district might seem decidedly safe for the GOP incumbent.

On closer inspection, however, Col. Kline and the State GOP have an awful surprise coming. Several factors they are not considering point to this seat being far more competitive than in the past.

Speculation about a JNP bid for Governor started before the balloting did at the state convention last weekend.

With the energetic state-wide network he put in place, with his stronger than expected showing in the southern Minnesota congressional districts, with his supporters already joining the fight to put Al in the US Senate and the near universal respect Jack enjoys, any observer would have to consider Jack a strong candidate, if not the front-runner, for Minnesota Governor in 2010.

Jack is a social justice candidate. His most reverent supporters come out of the Peace movement, and many of these are still smarting as they look at the future political landscape in our state. Jack clearly would have preferred to serve at the federal level, but Keith is keeping his seat and we have no US Senate election coming in 2010.

You heard it here first. My very own State Senator Linda Higgins (58-D) will be the chair at the upcoming convention this weekend. Linda is an excellent parliamentarian and has experience running conventions. She served as co-chair to the 2006 DFL State convention and already had a chance to show off her skills this year when she saved delegates and alternates from a proposed IRV/drop rule that would have kept us at that convention for days by 'dividing a question'. The maneuver of a master parliamentarian if ere' I saw one...

Among progressives and liberals, there is little disagreement that government must act to help mitigate the healthcare access and cost crisis facing so many of our citizens. Nationwide, nearly 50 million, one in six, are without health insurance. Healthcare spending made up 15.2% of US GDP, and cost nearly $6,000 per capita in 2003, twice as much as it cost our neighbors to the north. The economic impact of healthcare costs is not limited to consumers – it has been reported that it costs $1,500 more to build a car in the US than it does overseas, just due to the cost of employee healthcare coverage. Thus, US failure to act on universal healthcare is a factor driving the outsourcing of American jobs.