I’ve never liked Mark Ritchie much.
Minnesota’s Secretary of State, swept into office last November by the anti-Republican trend of the day over the vastly more-competent Mary Kiffmeyer, came to office on a platform of empowering the indifferent and the illegal. He’s a sloganeering stealth party hack who is dedicated to bringing masses of uninformed, disinterested people (and, apparently, suggestible ones) to the polls, as I wrote last year. He’s a leading figure in the trivialization – read “devaluation” – of the franchise in Minnesota.
It’s also a little bit personal. A little bird told me that Ritchie ordered the removal of the state “painting” (actually a hand-colored photograph) of “Grace”, by Eric Enstrom – a photo in whose genesis my grandmother was closely involved) from the Secretary of State’s office, presumably to be replaced by a photo of Mao leading the Long March. Suffice to say that Secretary Ritchie might wanna ensure he was alternate backup if plans to walk in front of any buses.
But today, it’s all business. Nothing personal.
Allegations have surfaced that Secretary Ritchie has used his office improperly:
I have received the letter sent to Jim Nobles, the Legislative Auditor for the State of Minnesota, earlier this morning requesting that he investigate how contact information provided at an official meeting of Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s office ended up being used by Ritchie’s campaign to solicit campaign contributions.
The letter, signed by two attendees of the April 2nd meeting organized by Ritchie’s official office at taxpayer expense, call Ritchie’s actions “an abuse of his position as the chief elections officer”:
“On October 22, 2007 we each received a campaign email from Mark Ritchie that included a solicitation for campaign contributions. It is our belief that Mr. Ritchie used his capacity as Secretary of State to collect information from prospective donors and transfered that information to his campaign. We believe that this is an unwarranted use of government resources and an abuse of his position as the chief elections officer.” Source: Giga and Tomczak letter to Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles, October 29, 2007
Click here to read entire letter sent to Mr. Nobles.
Jim Nobles – the state’s legislative auditor – is known as a person of scrupulous integrity; his office is no partisan hacketeria.
Stay tuned to MDE for the latest.
As I happen to know Mark, and spent a considerable amount of time talking with him, I’d say he’s far more of a mensch than most of the people I’ve met from the Republican side of the house. He’s down to earth, pragmatic, and decent.
Apparently looking to get people to vote, including those who may not be up on issues, is a bad thing, because they’re not fully informed (note I’m not disputing the point, I could, but it’s not the point). No, what we don’t want is a true reflection of the opinion of the ENTIRE electorate, no, only those who we deem pass a over a bar of information/knowledge of issues.
So Mitch, how, exactly, should we set such a bar? I mean, we know that conservatives, based on polls by Polling Point and Rassmussen, are more likely than liberals to get news from one or two potentially very skewed sources, especially Fox News, and/or talk radio – so maybe the bar should be MY bar, rather than yours.. namely, if you don’t expose yourself to multiple sources, can’t pass even rudimentary knowledge on key issues (like say understanding that Shiaa aren’t part of some sort of pan-islamic movement – and Hussien didn’t help out with 9/11)..
Or maybe, there just shouldn’t be poll tests, or taxes.. maybe.
That said, maybe Mary Kiffmeyer was dead wrong to post ‘beware of terrorists” – equally wrong, and equally hackish in intent and design. But hey, I suppose holding Kiffmeyer equally accountable is off topic, and when you insult someone I know to be a pretty decent guy, from 1000 miles away (or 50 or 100), based strictly on the fact that he’s trying to do his job – namely getting everyone to vote – rather than personal knowledge, well, yeah, I’ll probably say – if you expected similar conduct of Kiffmeyer, I might even think your complaint should be taken seriously.
“Jim Nobles – the state’s legislative auditor – is known as a person of scrupulous integrity; his office is no partisan hacketeria. ”
So if he comes back with ‘There’s no There There, will MDE profer up one of his many apologies *laughing* Oh that’s a knee slapper!
Flash
So if he comes back with ‘There’s no There There, will MDE profer up one of his many apologies *laughing* Oh that’s a knee slapper!
Is that a question?
You should ask Michael.
There is another “there” there, Flash. A third attendee received solicitations from Ritchie.
I think having a picture of Mao is a bigger crime then this. If Ritchie has a thing for murderers, at least he could use a Minnesota killer. How about the guy in Savage? Or maybe Richard Bloom (sp)? Majorie Hagen is still kicking and lighting fires (not for long, we hope). (for those who are satire-impaired, this is not meant to be a serious proposal. I’m mocking his ignorance (I hope) of mass murderers)
I cannot wait to watch that smug, conniving little commie squirm on the 5:00 news!
Is this three DishonestFuckingLosers that MDE has sent down in flames, or four? He may be the next MOB Ace!
There is no imminent threat to construction or the timetable, that is why you guys are so far off in lala land that it is difficult to have a rational debate on this (or most any) issue.
Flash
Prior post is for a different thread. My Apologies!
Flash
Flash,
Apology accepted, but given how the Left debates a complete non sequitur is nothing new. Actually, with PB/peev/clown anywhere in the thread it’s expected!
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