Archive for November, 2007
« Previous EntriesBOMBSHELL: LEGISLATIVE AUDITOR STATES RITCHIE DIDN’T FULFILL LEGAL OBLIGATION TO FULLY DISCLOSE INFORMATION
Friday, November 30th, 2007This exchanged occurred tonight between "Almanac" co-host Cathy Wurzer and Minnesota Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles: Cathy Wurzer: "Chairman Melendez asked Chairman Carey what laws had been broken and it's a question maybe you can answer at this point: Jim Nobles: "Well, I'd like to do the investigation first. But in the first instance of simply [...]
CAREY VS. MELENDEZ ABOUT RITCHIEGATE ON “ALMANAC†TONIGHT; RITCHIE REFUSED TO BE INTERVIEWED #2
Friday, November 30th, 2007Chairman Carey hit a home run tonight on "Almanac" during his debate with DFL Party Chairman Brian Melendez. Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles was also a guest on "Almanac" tonight and he discussed his investigation of Secretary of State Ritchie. Nobles made a very interesting statement about legal troubles facing Ritchie. I'll have more on [...]
LTE: “AN ABUSE OF POWER”
Friday, November 30th, 2007An abuse of power A Nov. 28 letter defending Secretary of State Mark Ritchie's abuse of power and lying as a minor transgression almost made me sick. All it lacked was the announcement that the Church of Ritchie would be holding three services each Sunday. Ritchie campaigned on the idea he would be nonpartisan in [...]
CAREY VS. MELENDEZ ABOUT RITCHIEGATE ON “ALMANAC” TONIGHT; RITCHIE REFUSED TO BE INTERVIEWED
Friday, November 30th, 2007"Should Secretary of State Mark Ritchie Resign?We hear two different answers as Republican Party Chair Ron Carey is joined live by DFL Party Chair Brian Melendez. By the way, we want you to know that invited Mark Ritchie to join us as well but he declined our invitation for either a live or taped interview." [...]
AP: “RITCHIE REJECTS GOP CALL TO STEP ASIDE DURING SPECIAL ELECTION”
Friday, November 30th, 2007"ST. PAUL — A Republican effort to push Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie aside during an upcoming special election went nowhere Thursday. Ritchie rejected the suggestion through his spokesman, John Aiken. GOP Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem and Sen. Chris Gerlach (GER'-lahk) said they were uncomfortable with Ritchie overseeing a Jan. 3 special Senate [...]
STAR TRIBUNE: “REPUBLICANS ASK RITCHIE TO STEP ASIDE FOR ELECTION”
Friday, November 30th, 2007"Republicans in the Minnesota Senate called Thursday for state Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to at least temporarily step aside from his duties as an election official during an upcoming special election amid an investigation into Ritchie's impartiality. Ritchie, a DFLer, is being investigated by the legislative auditor to determine whether he improperly transferred a [...]
PRESS EVENT: SENATORS CALL FOR SECRETARY OF STATE RITCHIE TO SUSPEND ELECTION DUTIES DURING OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION #2
Thursday, November 29th, 2007Please read the release from today's press conference by the Senate Republican Caucus about Secretary of State Mark Ritchie after the page jump. ###
PRESS EVENT: SENATORS CALL FOR SECRETARY OF STATE RITCHIE TO SUSPEND ELECTION DUTIES DURING OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION
Thursday, November 29th, 20073:15 p.m.: Melendez has finished speaking to reporters. I was really surprised that he attended the SRC's press event. Melendez lashed out at the reporting of this story by the media and questioned the accuracy of the Ritchie's initial interview with the Star Tribune. I'll have more on this later tonight on Minnesota Democrats Exposed. [...]
COMING ATTRACTIONS: MDE AT THE MOVIES
Thursday, November 29th, 2007Over the next several weeks and months, I will be taking a look at some of the films featuring Al Franken over the years. The first film I will take a look at is "God Spoke," a documentary about Franken's time at Air America. I think this clip succinctly captures how mean-spirited, nasty and polarizing [...]
BREAKING NEWS: SENATE REPUBLICANS TO ADDRESS ONGOING SECRETARY OF STATE SCANDAL IN THE MIDST OF SPECIAL ELECTION
Thursday, November 29th, 2007Members of the Senate Republican Caucus have scheduled a press conference for 2:45 p.m. in room 181 of the State Office Building to address the ongoing scandal involving Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. UPDATE: I will be live-blogging this press event.
STATE SENATOR TOM BAKK HAMMERS FRANKEN IN STORY ABOUT BAKK’S ENDORSEMENT OF CIRESI; BAKK CALLS FRANKEN “TOO NEGATIVE”
Thursday, November 29th, 2007"'I am extremely pleased and grateful for this important endorsement. Tom is an outstanding senator who is well respected throughout this state by his colleagues, unions, business and community leaders.' Franken, however, has claimed the endorsement of dozens of state legislators and also the powerful Steelworkers and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees [...]
MESABI DAILY NEWS: “SECRETARY OF STATE RITCHIE’S CAMPAIGN FOCUS ON ETHICS BURNS HIM BADLY”
Thursday, November 29th, 2007"Mark Ritchie ran a successful campaign for secretary of state last fall against Mary Kiffmeyer citing what he claimed were ethical lapses in her office that were born of partisan politics. Ritchie now has a major ethical issue of his own to deal with because of — well, partisan politics. Ritchie has admitted to giving [...]
PATRIOT PRIMARY EVENT TONIGHT
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007I'll be attending AM 1280 The Patriot's Patriot Primary tonight at the Minnetonka Marriot South to watch the GOP presidential debate. It should be an interesting debate and I hope you consider attending. Check back to Minnesota Democrats Exposed for live updates on tonight's event. UPDATE: Leaving your computer's power cord at home is [...]
MN GOP CHAIRMAN RON CAREY: “FRANKEN LIES ABOUT PAST ATTACKS”
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007During a recent visit to Rochester, Al Franken served up a real whopper to readers of this newspaper. In an interview, Franken was asked whether he had ever mocked Bob Dole over the war wounds Dole suffered during World War II. "That is not true at all," Franken insisted. Yet Franken wrote this in 1996: [...]
PIONEER PRESS EDITORIAL BLASTS SECRETARY OF STATE RITCHIE
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007"Ritchie hosted a meeting in April of members of a variety of interest groups, hoping to form a state council on civic engagement. Participants received follow-up e-mails, and a directory was created of the participants. In October, two Republican activists who had attended the meeting received what they called It invited them to a Ritchie [...]
BEMIDJI PIONEER EDITORIAL BLASTS SECRETARY OF STATE RITCHIE
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007"When Mark Ritchie campaigned for Minnesota secretary of state last year, he pushed hard that the office, as the state’s No. 1 watchdog over fair and impartial elections, should be non-partisan. He alleged that under then-incumbent Mary Kiffmeyer, it hadn’t. In some regards, Kiffmeyer, a Republican, did run the office as a partisan way in [...]
FOX 9 STORY ON BLOGGING AT 2008 GOP NATIONAL CONVENTION
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007I was interviewed by Fox 9 tonight regarding blogging at the 2008 GOP National Convention. I'll update you when the story is scheduled to be broadcast.
MN GOP PRESS RELEASE: “WHERE DOES FRANKEN REALLY STAND ON THE 2ND AMENDMENT?; FRANKEN’S LENGTHY ANTI-GUN RECORD REVEALED”
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007"Al Franken’s comments today on KSTP Radio about his support for Minnesotans' right to own and bear arms are not only disingenuous, but also lack in candor and honesty. The fact is Franken has a long history of hostility towards gun owners and gun rights. Now as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, he wants [...]
MDE FROM THE ARCHIVES: RITCHIE SAID “WE MUST HAVE HONESTY AND INTEGRITY IN OUR ELECTION OFFICIALS”
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007A dedicated reader of Minnesota Democrats Exposed sent me this clip of a then-candidate Mark Ritchie talking about how “we must have honesty and integrity in our election officials” during the 2006 elections. I don’t believe most Minnesotans would use the words “honesty” and “integrity” to describe Secretary of State Ritchie these days as [...]
TPT’S MARY LAHAMMER: “RAY COX RUNNING FOR NEUVILLE’S SEAT”
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007"I think you're hearing it here first, former State Representative Ray Cox just told me, 'yes, I do plan to run' for the seat Sen Tom Neuville is expected to vacate today. Cox told me he had coffee this morning with Sen. Neuville and he encouraged Cox to attend Gov. Pawlenty's announcement at 1:00 in [...]
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