Comments on: THE COCKAMAMIE “LIST RENTAL” THEORY DOESN’T EXPLAIN AWAY RITCHIE’S PROBLEM

By: Drew Emmer

Drew Emmer — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:04:52 +0000

Ritchie’s silence is deafening on the various inquiries surrounding this ugly issue.

By: D

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:40:14 +0000

MDE:

Demand to see the rental receipt. Also, if this actually WAS some kind of “rental”, there has to be a signed agreement from the Richie Ritchie campaign that says something like “After XX/XX/XXXX, we will not use the information on this list for any purposes.” A “rental” means you have to give it BACK. A “purchase” means you get to KEEP it.

Nail ‘em, cowboy!

By: walter hanson

walter hanson — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:39:00 +0000

You know if they’re not get solitications from the other DFL organizations maybe the DFL will get angry for not sharing possible donors and kick Ritchie out of office for that.

Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN

By: Stonewall

Stonewall — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:38:09 +0000

Ritchie is like the piano player in the house of ill repute. He says he doesn’t know what is going on upstairs in the house of ill repute. As you (meaning MDE) point out, Ritchie’s explanation won’t fly.

By: Gary M. Miller

Gary M. Miller — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:19:55 +0000

You get extra points for using “cockamamie” in your post title.

By: Michael B. Brodkorb

Michael B. Brodkorb — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:11:02 +0000

They have provided nothing.

By: D

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:59:08 +0000

MDE:

The word “rental” is important. To “rent” something, by definition, means a FEE was required. If they just GAVE the list away…that’s not a “rental”. Have Richie Ritchie produce a receipt for the “rental”.

By: D

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:02:58 +0000

Two points:

As far as mailing lists from the SoS office, you can purchase the voter regs for any district you want. See that word? PURCHASE. The State DOES NOT give information away for FREE. If Richie Ritchie got information, there has to be a policy in place that would likely have a fee for the transation.

Second, it wasn’t the actual break-in that killed Richard Nixon…it was the cover-up after-the-fact.

By: Wade S

Wade S — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:44:31 +0000

Didn’t MPR get caught giving donor list to the DFL a few years back?

By: Kyle

Kyle — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:40:50 +0000

Nice job MDE. This is a prime example of why all other political blogs in Minnesota (left and right) play second fiddle.

By: Pat S

Pat S — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:40:13 +0000

I can think of 0 circumstances when a gov’t agency would or could allow partisan political orgs to rent lists, exchange lists, etc.

By: St. Paul JD

St. Paul JD — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:34:48 +0000

According to the liberals—this is a non-story.

No news, nothing.

1 of 2 things are happening in the liberal mindset:

1. They are too busy shaking down taxpayers on behalf of the teacher’s union.

2. –Or– They don’t want to admit that there is some legal impropriety going on in their SoS office.

My guess is both—the challenge is for MN Conservatives to expose this junk to “Joe Citizen.”

By: Chestnut

Chestnut — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:25:37 +0000

I wasn’t aware that the state of Minnesota was in the business of renting out lists of attendees to government sponsored events. That too would seem to be a violation of the data practices act.

Let’s assume this explanation is true. Which vendor is the state doing business with?

What are the relationships between Ritchie, the vendor and Ritchie’s campaign?

How was the vendor selected, and under who’s authority? Is there a conflict of interest?

What are the financial details of this sale of “public data”? How is the money used? What public interest is served?

Are there records of financial transactions to support this explanation?

By: Ghost of Matt Entenza

Ghost of Matt Entenza — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:20:12 +0000

And, I forgot to add that MDE was an integral part of each of these stories….

By: Ghost of Matt Entenza

Ghost of Matt Entenza — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:12:56 +0000

What we have here is a case of liberal hubris.

Entenza exhibited it when he lied about paying a private investigator to dig dirt on Hatch.

Dean Johnson exhibited it when he lied about conversations with Supreme Court justices.

Mike Hatch exhibited it when he called the reporter a Republican whore and lied about it.

Mark Ritchie has now exhibited it.

These four all have such large egos they think they can lie and get away with it.

By: Brock Sampson

Brock Sampson — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:03:29 +0000

Thank for keeping the pressure on Ritchie. He needs to step forward now and say how this happened.