Today’s UpTake: Dayton’s Big Lead, Attacking Civil Liberties, Common Cause Files Complaint, And Madore Touts Transportation

Today on The UpTake we offer analysis on the big lead that Democratic-Farm-Labor gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton has opened on Republican opponent Tom Emmer — according to the MPR-Humphrey poll released yesterday. The reason: the rift within the Republican party, between extremist tea partiers and moderates, is splitting the GOP — and here in Minnesota that rift is siphoning off votes to Independent (and former Republican) Tom Horner. We also have testimony from lawyers who attended Monday’s FBI raid protests in downtown Minneapolis, saying that the raids represent a serious affront to civil liberties.

Later today on The UpTake, we’ll air footage from a press conference at the state capitol by Common Cause, which will file a major campaign finance complaint, claiming that it “uncovered an elaborate scheme by three entities to hide political contributions.” We’ll also provide footage from Second Congressional District challenger Shelley Madore’s press conference in Eagan, Minn., following the Transportation Alliance Candidate Forum. Madore, who is challenging Tea Party-backed incumbent John Kline, will reportedly discuss the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s “FasterBetterSafer” campaign and its alignment with her campaign message that investment in transportation is essential to our economic recovery.

Why was the scheduled gubernatorial debate at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul canceled last night? According to Kaley Taffe, president of the school’s Political Science Club: “The debate was canceled because … Tom Emmer declined our invitation and said it was because of scheduling conflicts. We got the final no from his campaign scheduler four business days before the debate was scheduled to take place (we had previously set our deadline to know by as Sept 10th to avoid putting so much more work into it if it wasn’t going to happen). After Tom Emmer declined, we informed the other campaigns and told them we still wanted to move forward with the remaining two, but Mark Dayton’s campaign got back to us and said if Emmer wasn’t attending, Dayton was also not going to attend.”

As for the reaction on campus, Taffe added: “After the final cancellation was made, students here are upset and very disappointed to see that candidates that are running for Governor were not willing to give up that one hour of their time to spend here and discuss education with the people it directly affects. Pretty much makes us wonder how much they value our ideas and opinions.”

MPR Poll Gives Dayton Huge Edge: Republican Rift Hurts GOP

Extremist Tea Party Views Could Hurt GOP With Swing Voters

Today’s Minnesota Public Radio-Humphrey Institute poll shows Minnesota Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton running away from Tea Party-backed Republican Tom Emmer. Perhaps more telling, the poll reveals that Independence Party candidate Tom Horner (a former Republican) is gaining ground, and stealing crucial support from Emmer. Only a month ago, the MPR-Humphrey poll showed Dayton and Emmer tied with 34 percent each. But today’s tally gives Dayton an 11 percentage-point lead over Emmer — 38 to 27 percent. Horner has risen from 13 percent a month ago to 16 percent today.

The apparent rejection of Emmer by many Republican voters shows that what many political pundits have long suspected nationwide also holds true for Minnesota. The right-wing Tea Party, and its focus on eliminating government, and including Christian doctrine in Washington, is hurting the greater Republican Party’s chances of appealing to swing voters and winning back the Senate and the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections. Tea Party-backed Christine O’Donnell’s upset victory in Delaware’s Senate Republican primary election earlier this month punctuated this development.

The story of a growing rift within the Republican Party — between Tea Party extremists, and moderates who are driven more by fiscal policies than by bedroom politics — is playing out all over the country, and especially here in Minnesota, where Dayton, Emmer and Horner boast very different political visions. … Continue Reading

Lawyers Say FBI Raid Raises Civil Liberty Issues

Lawyers at Monday’s Minneapolis rally in solidarity with the six citizens targeted by FBI raids on Sept. 24 discussed some of the frightening new personal liberty issues that these dramatic events have raised. In particular, a July ruling by the Supreme Court threatens First Amendment rights in various ways. The current law — and the FBI’s interpretation of it — suggest that interacting with groups that may be on the government’s list of terrorist organizations could put one at risk. The previous standard concerned providing aid. Now, talking may be a crime. The Washington Post touched on these threats to civil liberties in its series entitled “Top Secret America”. Local attorney Coleen Rowley, who spoke at the FBI protest on Monday, has authored several pieces on this issue.

On a related note, the FBI emptied its Minneapolis offices prior to the rally. Twenty Minneapolis Police officers observed the peaceful protest from across the street, including Chief Tim Dolan. In addition, the Ramsey County Sheriff provided surveillance — despite the fact that Minneapolis is in Hennepin County, not Ramsey County … i.e. they were out of their jurisdiction.

Today’s UpTake: FBI Raid Protest Videos, Minnesota Legislative Hearings, Dayton, Klobuchar Address AFL-CIO

Today appears to be a relatively slow news day, following the cancellation of a planned governor’s debate at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul. (But we also thought last Friday would be a slow news day, before the FBI busted into the homes of six Minneapolis peace activists at 7 a.m.). The UpTake has video footage of hundreds rallying in support of the peace activists raided by the FBI. The rally was held Monday in front of the FBI headquarters in downtown Minneapolis, and featured peace activists, American Indian leaders and National Lawyers Guild representatives.

Protest Sign outside FBI Offices In Minneapolis

We have footage of Democratic-Farm-Labor gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton’s speech to the AFL-CIO on Monday, and Senator Amy Klobuchar’s appeal to the union base earlier in the day to put Dayton in the governor’s mansion come November. And watch student journalists quiz President Obama here.

The Minnesota legislature is unable to broadcast live feeds today due to technical repairs in the capitol, but you can catch the replays of yesterday’s hearing on Ethnic Heritage and New American Working Group and the Minnesota Legislative Hearings On Children And Family Services.

Dayton, Klobuchar Address AFL-CIO

Yesterday, Minnesota Democratic-Farm-Labor gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton fired up the AFL-CIO convention during his rousing speech to the labor base at the Sheraton hotel in Bloomington, Minn. Earlier in the day, Senator Amy Klobuchar implored the union workers to elect Dayton this November.

Student Journalists Quiz President Obama

Every cub reporter dreams of getting that big interview. When you’re in journalism school, it’s quite a big “get” to interview the President of the United States. Several journalism students got that opportunity Monday when the President had a half hour conference call with them.

After President Obama talked about his education plan, students asked about their generation being the “lost generation” because of rising tuition, why the President visits Wisconsin so often (he’s there again today), and health care coverage for young people.

Related links:
Student Journalists Quiz President Obama- Transcript
… Continue Reading

Replay-MN Ethnic Heritage and New American Working Group

Staff from the Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of Human Services and DEED presents information regarding current department-specific programs that are serving immigrant and refugee populations.

Replay- Minnesota Legislative Hearings On Children And Family Services

Minnesota Reps. Paul Thissen and Thomas Huntley held an informational hearing at the State Capitol on children and family services, focusing in particular on priorities and challenges, child safety and permanence, child support enforcement and simplification and child development services.

Afternoon Session:

Related Links:

Hearing on children and families morning session video

To view our live blog in a pop-up window: Click Here
… Continue Reading

Hundreds Rally In Support Of FBI-Raided Peace Activists

Over three hundred people rallied yesterday in front of the Minneapolis FBI Headquarters Building in solidarity with the six citizens who were invaded by the FBI on Friday, Sept. 24, losing computers, phones, bank records etc. A seventh was served with a warrant to appear before a grand jury, but she escaped the shattered doors and lost property. All seven were ordered to report to a grand jury in Chicago in October. Yesterday’s crowd was loud and outraged, but disciplined. Over 30 peace groups were represented standing in solidarity with the accused. This was a non-violent rally. The 20 Minneapolis Police officers who waited across Washington Avenue were left without task.

People representing many organizations spoke in support of the peace activist victims. Two veterans of the American Indian Movement — Clyde Bellecourt and Russell Means — spoke about the similarities between this action and the FBI’s harassment against Indians for decades.

National Lawyers Guild Attorney Peter Erlander compared the FBI’s attacks on the peace community with its modern-day repression of the local Somali population, and encouraged the two groups to stand together.

And veteran Minneapolis activist Mel Reeves fired up the crowd.

Building security initially told the protestors they could not stand on the plaza, they had to confine action to the sidewalk. The building manager wisely revoked this order. This simple act defused initial anger about being pushed into the street, and it left the police with nothing to do but watch.

Video reporting by Bill Sorem and Jacob Wheeler

Today’s UpTake: FBI Protests, Minnesota Flood Relief, Targeting Debt Collectors, And Jimmy John’s Rotten Meat

Protest Sign outside FBI Offices In Minneapolis

We’ve now posted video of yesterday’s peace activist protests in front of the FBI headquarters in downtown Minneapolis — following the FBI’s dramatic raids of six homes on Friday. Concurrent demonstrations were also held in Chicago, Buffalo, Michigan, Utah, North Carolina and Florida, and today New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles and Atlanta will show their solidarity. Yesterday’s Minneapolis protest — attended by several hundred — was peaceful, but impassioned speeches by Native American civil rights leaders and National Lawyers Guild attorneys suggest dark times for American civil liberties.

Yesterday, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty addressed the need for flood relief in southern Minnesota. A one-day legislative session sometime between Oct. 7 and 12 will focus on that need. We also posted this video of the National Guard responding to last week’s dramatic floods in southern Minnesota — courtesy of the Department of Defense.

Meanwhile, at the state capitol, Senator Al Franken held a press conference announcing that he’d go after abusive debt collectors like the one who told a Minnesota debtor, “I’ll hunt you down like a dog.” Franken gave a rousing, fired-up speech to the Minnesota AFL-CIO convention the day before, and we’ll soon post videos of Sen. Amy Klobuchar and DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton’s appearances yesterday at the convention.

Do you prefer street-level politics? On Sunday The UpTake talked to Jimmy John’s employees in Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood who were rallying in solidarity with their colleague Margaret Brickely. Earlier this month Brickely was pressured by her supervisor to serve contaminated meat to customers. These Jimmy John’s workers are also organized to unionize, citing low wages, employee harassment and allegations of racial and sexual discrimination at other Jimmy John’s locations in Minneapolis.

Have you seen our feature video story examining the growing rift within the Republican party, between radical Tea Partiers and the GOP’s moderate wing?

This morning at 9 a.m. we’ll also air an informational hearing from the state capitol on health care and family services. Rep. Paul Thissen, Rep. Thomas Huntley will chair these hearings. And in other Minnesota political news, the state will likely hang onto all eight of its congressional seats; General Mills will say no to political donations, likely to avoid the hot water that burned Target, and Tea Party-backed incumbent John Kline still refuses to debate Democrat Shelley Madore, who seeks his congressional seat. One can’t fault Madore for trying.