{"id":30327,"date":"2012-09-10T07:27:04","date_gmt":"2012-09-10T12:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=30327"},"modified":"2012-09-10T11:34:48","modified_gmt":"2012-09-10T16:34:48","slug":"idle-hands-part-2-so-lets-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=30327","title":{"rendered":"Idle Hands – Part 2: So Let’s Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we’ve noted a time or two in this space, the new leadership as of this past April in the Fourth District MNGOP has taken what appear, to a rank outsider, to be some odd stances on what it takes to lead a major party unit in an election year – at one point saying it wasn’t, in his opinion, the job of the Congressional District to take a role in any elections at the BPOU or Congressional District level<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The chairman, of course, is John Kysylyczyn, former mayor of Roseville. \u00a0I don’t know Kysylyczyn from Adam, and have no ambitions whatsoever in the party; I chose to serve on the District executive committee previous to Kysylyczyn’s purely as a matter of putting my actions where my mouth was. \u00a0I have no personal\u00a0<\/em>reason to attack him at all.<\/p>\n

There is, of course, quite a bit of video of Kysylyczyn’s term as mayor of Roseville; according to the video (which, it’s fair to point out, was clipped from hundreds of hours of City Council meetings by his detractors), the then-mayor seemed to be prone to subjecting his City Council to bladder-busting gales of Roberts’ procedural pedantism<\/a>. \u00a0On the other hand, the Twin Cities press – largely but not exclusively the sophomoric howler monkeys at the\u00a0City Pages<\/em> – savaged him during his regime, in a manner that even the media sometimes called unfair<\/a> (which is ironic, given the way he wrapped himself in the “Society of Professional Journalists “Code of Ethics<\/a>” \u00a0when I sought clarification from him, like journalists do, on rumors from within his own committee that he was considering spending the district’s money to send pro-Ron-Paul delegates to Tampa rather than support candidates. \u00a0He used the CD4 official website to take his potshot back at me<\/a>, in fact – which is an odd use of a district party resource. \u00a0Of course, the irony springs from the fact that I, being a conservative pundit, bend over backwards to support, or at least be fair to, libertarians and conservatives, while the SPJ COE is nothing but a framework that “journalists” can use to whitewash their own abuses – it’s a whitewash they apply to their biases as needed. \u00a0Lori Effing Sturdevant waves the SPJ COE around like Ignatius Reilly’s bedspread).<\/p>\n

At any rate, as we noted a few weeks ago, Kysylyczyn \u00a0had a meeting scheduled for the fall – only the third since his election, and the only one before the General Elections. \u00a0He then cancelled it<\/a> because it fell on the same night as the Vice Presidential Debate.<\/p>\n

A groundswell of district activists overrode him<\/a>, and met the district’s constitutional requirement to call a new meeting. \u00a0 The meeting is taking place tonight<\/a>. \u00a0The main subject – at least, according to the activists involved in demanding the meeting – is the topic of the donation of the other $5,000 to the Hernandez for Congress campaign – which is, let us not forget, the campaign endorsed by 97% of the convention’s delegates, and a solid majority of CD4’s primary voters.<\/p>\n

Kysylyczyn posted the meeting on the CD4 website<\/a> – as well as a “notice<\/a>” with a whoooole lot of questions and Kysylyczyn’s answers. \u00a085 of them, to be exact – which, with all due respect to Chairman Kyslyczyn, tells you a bit about his communication style.<\/p>\n

While I’m not a member of the committee, I’ll endeavor to respond, from the perspective one one activist anyway, to Kysylyczyn’s statements – many of them, anyway – below the jump.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: \u00a0I just looked at the meeting call. \u00a0Kysylyczyn has pivoted from “We have no need to take people off the streets before an election” to a bladder-bursting, buttock-numbing budget question along with the issue of the donation. \u00a0A meeting which starts at 9PM will likely be dragging on into the wee hours.<\/p>\n

Amazing what a week’s worth of focus will do, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Questions specific\u00a0to the Hernandez campaign<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Question To Kysylyczyn<\/strong>: Has the Hernandez for Congress campaign made a formal request to the CD4 Executive Committee for additional funds beyond the first $5000 he initially recieved?<\/p>\n

Kysylyczyn’s Response<\/strong>: No.\u00a0 Neither I nor the CD4 Executive Committee has received a formal request from the Hernandez for Congress campaign for additional funds.<\/p>\n

My Counter-Response<\/strong>: Well, I guess we’ll settle that at the big meeting tonight!<\/p>\n

\n

Question To Kysylyczyn<\/strong>: Has the Hernandez for Congress campaign provided the CD4 Executive Committee with a strategic plan for the use of additional funds?<\/p>\n

Kysylyczyn’s Response<\/strong>: No.\u00a0 Neither I nor the CD4 Executive Committee has received a strategic plan from the Hernandez for Congress campaign for the use of additional funds.<\/p>\n

My Counter-Response<\/strong>: At the risk of sounding pedantic, there are less than sixty days til the election. The time for “strategy” is long past. \u00a0This is a tactical campaign; getting name recognition, getting out the vote, advertising by any means necessary.<\/p>\n

\n

Question To Kysylyczyn<\/strong>: Is the Hernandez for Congress campaign required to request funds or have a plan for their use?<\/p>\n

Kysylyczyn’s Response<\/strong>: No.\u00a0 No campaign is required to request funds or to have any kind of plan whatsoever.\u00a0 Based upon my professional experience though, common practice that if a campaign would like to receive funds from a well heeled donor, (i.e. CD4, $5000), they ask.\u00a0 It is generally common practice that when you are approaching well heeled donors, you have a plan.<\/p>\n

My Counter-Response<\/strong>: CD4 is a “well-heeled donor?” \u00a0Who knew? \u00a0No, I’m not just being a smart-ass – we’ll come back to that one.<\/p>\n

\n

Question To Kysylyczyn<\/strong>: Has the Hernandez for Congress campaign posted anything on Facebook?<\/p>\n

Kysylyczyn’s Response<\/strong>: The campaign does have a Facebook account.\u00a0 But I believe that most CD4 members have nothing to do with Facebook.\u00a0 Therefore if any campaign wishes to communicate with CD4 membership as a whole, they would use general email to reach a majority of the membership.\u00a0 I personally do not spend much time on Facebook.\u00a0 Generally I look at it once or twice a month.<\/p>\n

My Counter-Response<\/strong>: This is an odd little diversion. \u00a0Hernandez has a Facebook page; also a Twitter feed, a Youtube Channel, and a Website<\/a> that is constantly updated – and via\u00a0none of which\u00a0<\/em>would a request for funding be transmitted to\u00a0the Congressional District committee that endorsed him<\/em>. \u00a0This is either an odd little non-sequitur or a straw man.<\/p>\n

\n

Question To Kysylyczyn<\/strong>: Where is the Hernandez for Congress campaign in relation to past CD4 campaigns?<\/p>\n

Kysylyczyn’s Response<\/strong>: Federal Election Commission reports are public information and are available online. I have created a summary sheet for members which show three current campaigns, CD4, CD5, Senate, along with 1998-2010 CD4 campaigns.<\/p>\n

Link to FEC Reports and<\/a>\u00a0election statistics.<\/p>\n

Based upon pre-primary YTD reports, the Hernandez campaign is at:<\/p>\n