It’s been a month since Andy Birkey at the Minnesota Monitor complained that Rep. Michele Bachman (GOP, MN6) fails to disregard the Minnesota mainstream media’s anti-conservative hackery, and limits most of her media to conservative and Christian outlets.
I responded by sending invites to half a dozen key DFL office-holders and candidates. I left emails and, in almost all cases, voice mails with the media contacts for Al Franken, Amy Klobuchar, Keith Ellison, my own “representative” Betty McCollum, Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak, and Growth and Justice president Dane Smith. In the intervening time, I also invited Saint Paul City Council prez Dave Thune to talk with us about his “puking Republicans” slur.
Of course, on Saturday Ed and I interviewed Dane Smith of G’nJ. It was, nearest I could figure, an excellent hour – although frustraing. I think we could devote a couple of shows to be debate between the “Happy to Pay for a Better Minnesota” movement that Smith represents, and the opposition of which I’m a part. It was a civil debate – notwithstanding the conceit of talk radio’s opponents, who believe we’re entirely about plate-throwing – and hopefully the first of several.
I noted last week that, in addition to Smith, I’d heard from another of my invitees. Sort of.
Someone in RT Rybak’s press office left a comment on “The Upsider” (a regional blog you should be reading) denying that I’d emailed the Mayor. I responded, in the comment as well as via email, saying that I’d left a note at the City of Minneapolis site on a form that said “we’ll forward the message to the right party”. Apparently that didn’t include the mayor’s office.
We traded an email or two last week. We shall see.
But I’ve heard not a peep from candidate Al Franken’s campaign, or from te press offices of Representatives Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum, or Senator Amy Klobuchar.
The logical conclusion is that, while conservative politicians have to either run the gauntlet of hostile left-leaning mainstream media or be considered “evasive” by the even more hostile, more left-leaning alternative media, Minnesota’s liberal politicians feel no compunctions about ignoring the half of their constituents with whom they disagree. They are afraid to face tough questions, preferring the vacuous softballs they get from a regional media that largely regards them as friends – a regional media that largely sympathizes with them (the Strib’s Rochelle Olson and the wife of Keith Ellison have been observed to have a cordial social relatioship; it seems unlikely that most of the Strib’s staff will get too tough with Amy Klobuchar, daughter of longtime columnist Jim Klobuchar; that Dave Thune feels the need to depart the friendly confines of the local media and the lefty echochamber to answer questions.
Which is the sign of a particularly gutless breed of politicians.
UPDATE AND BUMP: I neglected, in my haste, to note the name of the blog via which I came into contact with Mayor Rybak’s office – The Upsider.
Mitch – it is actually worse than that, although I would not have believed it, had I not lived it for the past three years.
My husband was the commander of the bomb squad in Minneapolis until 2005. He nearly died as the result of a blast injury suffered during a training exercise. Since then, we have been treated like dirt by Minneapolis. The spent 6 months trying to deny responsibility for the work comp claim, and another 6 months trying to keep Dan from getting medical care. Two years after the injury, they cut off work comp payments, because a loophole in state law allows them to do so.
During all that time, we never once got a get well card, or a phone call, or any message of support from RT or the city council. I am a City Council member in Lakeville, so I would run into some of the Mpls Councilmembers from time to time, and asked them why they were doing this. The standard response was to act surprised and claim to know nothing about it, and then ask for information and promise to look into it. After that, there was is no response, or a “well, we are just following state law” answer.
My husband has a brain injury, similar to the soldiers in Iraq. Courage Center says he is a vulnerable adult. They spent 6 months trying to teach him to slow down and rest, because the harder he pushes, the worse his brain functions. Being treated like a liar and a mooch by Minneapolis has caused him to repeatedly refuse to take his meds and push himself even harder, until he completely ceases to be able to function at all. Still, the city persists in its message of “if you could work, we would give you a job, but since you can’t work, we feel absolutely no responsibility towards your well being.”
Our state rep, Mary Liz Holberg, introduced two bills this year to try to solve the problem. The first one tried to fix the work comp loophole. Minneapolis aggressively opposed the bill, saying that it would not be responsible to the taxpayers for them to pay work comp payments to take care of my husband. The second bill goes after the pension side of things, and is still in process.
Dan was extremely well respected throughout the world for his work as bomb commander, yet his service means absolutely nothing to the mayor and city council. And nobody cares – Fox 9 and KSTP did stories, but the strib and ppress haven’t been interested, and there hasn’t been any backlash on Minneapolis at all. Apparently, spending three years playing mind games with a vulnerable adult isn’t news.
The first one tried to fix the work comp loophole. Minneapolis aggressively opposed the bill, saying that it would not be responsible to the taxpayers for them to pay work comp payments to take care of my husband.
Good lord, this just boggles the mind. It would be irresponsible to the taxpayers of Minneapolis to pay workers comp claims of a man INJURED ON THE JOB OF PROTECTING THE TAXPAYERS OF MINNEAPOLIS???
And my more liberal acquaintances wonder why my anger, distaste, outrage, disgust and any number of other negative “feelings” and “emotions” towards all levels government bureaucracy grows deeper, darker and stronger just about every week. Of course, they sit and shake their heads, look down their noses and “tut tut” at me, just like a liberal elitist is duty bound to do.
You and your husband are in my thoughts and prayers, Wendy.
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