Comments on: MARK OLSON DEFEATED IN PRIMARY BY ALISON KRUEGER

By: Yarg

Yarg — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:37:56 +0000

One little point that the Olson camp has yet to point out. He is still on probation.

By: RigthlyProud

RigthlyProud — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:47:21 +0000

Mark has a “support group” of fellow crazies up in SD 16 who are probably prodding him on in this futile effort. They are officers in the BPOU organization. I remember a few years back when it was one of the most respected BPOU organizations in the state! Now it’s an ineffective, impotent circus, and the State Party can’t do a thing about it. The area needs new leadership. I wish I lived in the district!

By: Stefanie of Becker

Stefanie of Becker — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:09:45 +0000

Now he is starting a write-in campaign. He is really starting to creep people out. It will be a mission of mine in the upcoming weeks to educate various non-political aquaintances of mine who normally would not vote to make sure they know how important it is get and vote for Alison Krueger, or even Lisa Fobbe if they are so inclined. We have got to keep this man away from representing us.

By: Stefanie of Becker

Stefanie of Becker — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:10:13 +0000

If anything, Mark Olson vs. Alison Krueger sparked an interest in local politics that just would not of been there for many (me included). As a regular reader of a local newspaper, I could not help but find the extremely petty, middle-school like banter in the Letters to the Editor (almost always by Mark Olson, his wife, or supporters) very disrespectful to the local citizens, the very people he represents. And that ad Mark and his wife took out…Oh my…. Although I never considered myself that particularly interested in local politics, reading that garbage week to week encouraged me to take a second look at the importance of the primary. I am so glad that I took the time to vote yesterday for Ms. Krueger.

By: Heidi Olson

Heidi Olson — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:05:55 +0000

M.J. sounds like someone I know. Someone who thinks integrity counts…I wonder…

By: M.J.

M.J. — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:05:11 +0000

The Senate Republican caucus can say what they want, I am the one with the pen that marks the ballot. Not everyone is led by popular opinion especially when the vote is anonymus. Why can’t you just admit that people will vote the way they want to vote? Mark ran a good race. He campaigned hard – harder than he has in a long time to his credit – but he was beaten. Stop licking your wounds and move on. As for SD12, I am not familiar with the incident to which you are referring,so I can only speak to this district and this particular BPOU. I will say this, a BPOU that is functioning properly will be able to withstand any pressure from the outside because the BPOU is not beholden to those in the Senate Caucus. The BPOU Executive Committee members were elected to represent regular,everyday voters like me and answer to the same.

By: Yarg

Yarg — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:32:53 +0000

Hey Rusty…I didn’t realize that there were 1700+ people in the Republican Leadership who live in SD16 and all showed up to vote for Alison. Incredible. Wow! Amazing! Maybe they h have black helicopters and secret handshakes and a ….a….password!

By: Rusty

Rusty — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:22:52 +0000

“The voters of SD16 have elected the person they want to represent them”

Not reallly – I think the senate republican caucus elected the person THEY wanted – to heck with the local bpou. This sets a horrible prescedent but it is not the first time. Look how they interfered with SD12 last election. That bpou is fractured and I doubt will ever heal. Way to go senate leadership – how many seats have you lost in the last 4 years?

By: M.J.

M.J. — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:06:31 +0000

I feel bad for Olson. If he had heeded the advice of many friends that told him repeatedly to take a term off and fix his family he would have been spared the public rejection and humiliation that losing the primary to some one that wasn’t actively campaigning has brought him. If you are looking for a place to lay the blame for his loss, here’s a thought- maybe his legal problems really were an issue for most voters. Here’s another thought- maybe the constant grousing and complaining and fingerpointing in the local editorial section digusted more people than just me.

It seems to me that with all the help that the HD16B Executive Committee gave Olson that he should have won handily, unfortunately, it only highlighted this BPOU’s impotence. I am generalizing here as I am sure not everyone on the BPOU is ineffective. At least I hope not.

As for “finding support out here to work for her” the BPOU is in place to do that very thing. If they will not help her win, they should step down and then grow up. A bunch of spoiled children that won’t help if they can’t have their own way aren’t really much help anyway. There have been few candidates that I have supported 100% but I have voted for them anyway. Such is the nature of politics and humans. No perfect humans = no perfect candidates.

The voters of SD16 have elected the person they want to represent them and that person is Krueger. With that decision made, we need to move forward and leave all this ridiculous business behind.

Krueger is not the opponent, the DFL is and with the general election rapidly approaching, we would do well to remember it.

By: Heidi Olson

Heidi Olson — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:59:41 +0000

Mplssteve thanks for reminding me how stupid blogs are. At least I sign my real name.

By: MplsSteve

MplsSteve — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:04:02 +0000

Heidi-

It’s OK to talk that way on here. None of us are gonna try to assault you.

By: Heidi Olson

Heidi Olson — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:07:52 +0000

Ryan is a great guy and has worked very hard for several candidates. Poor choice of words though. It’s hard to campaign against as much outside money as Allison had, especially when local papers don’t publish your supporter’s letters, etc. Waiting til the last weekend to send hate mail out is sleazy and not how I want to be represented. I can connect the dots and see many ties to the Integrity Counts facade. I have a conscience, unlike several women around here.

By: Heidi Olson

Heidi Olson — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:01:59 +0000

No one should be proud of the way that Allison allowed the Senate Victory Fund to trash old friends like she did. I feel bad for her. What goes around, comes around. Mark has never campaigned that way. She will have a very hard time finding support out here to work for her, but when you are owned by big money from somewhere outside the district, you don’t need local help.

By: eric zaetsch

eric zaetsch — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:41:08 +0000

Jim Abeler did well in 48B, as GOP incumbent, but disliked by some hardliners – as part of the vengeance effort over the one veto override. He IS the GOP candidate now, not the endorsed choice, but THE CANDIDATE. Some in that party will cut off their nose to spite their face. But why expect the GOP to be any different than the DFL, where the Sixth District bosses are running Elwyn Tinklenberg, whose cries for a helpful and capable staffer were answered recently by, who else, Jim Oberstar.

By: gopgal

gopgal — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:00:31 +0000

Hey Flugar, look at it this way, now that you don’t have a job you might find more time to affix a few more bumper stickers to your car, oh wait, if you can find room!

By: Swiftee

Swiftee — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:22:33 +0000

“Ryan Flugaur, the most â€œeloquentâ€ writer of the first response to this article, is was Rep. Mark Olsonâ€™s Legislative Assistant. Draw your own conclusions.”

Say, Ryan?

Good luck with the job hunt…just let us know if you need a reference!

HAHAHAHA!

By: Steph

Steph — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:24:20 +0000

It is heartening to see that a domestic assault convict isn’t able to win a Primary election. Very sad that he was able to win that endorsement.

But the endorsement was bestowed by those with the same level of tact and morals as Flugar, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.

And don’t worry too much about Ryan Flugar, he is bound to grow up. Some day perhaps.

By: Chestnut

Chestnut — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:32:43 +0000

Good riddance! Adios, Mark!

By: Margaret

Margaret — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:42:37 +0000

It was like 45% to 55%. 10 points is pretty decisive. While I had absolutely no dog in this hunt or maybe a little bit of a pox on all your houses I can’t help but feel that this, in combination with other skirmishes is going to feed some major changes in the state GOP after the election. I’ll be following your blog and commentary closely then to figure out what’s going on.

I don’t have as wide an experience in electoral politics as most of the people here but from what I’ve seen primary/endorsement fights seem to generate high levels of animosity that can last for years, regardless of the merits of either side. These people are neighbors and go to the same churches. I sure hope they can sort out their problems and soon.

One last thing–everybody loves a horse race but it should be pointed out that even if the seat goes DFL in the fall, there would be no effective change in government. At the end of the day, it’s still Larry Pogemiller’s shop (assuming that somebody else doesn’t take the leadership). While everybody was congratulating Sejem et. al. for their principled stand against Olson, the bottom line was that the outcome of this race wasn’t going to change the color of the sky.

By: RigthlyProud

RigthlyProud — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:33:21 +0000

FYI – Ryan Flugaur, the most “eloquent” writer of the first response to this article, is Rep. Mark Olson’s Legislative Assistant. Draw your own conclusions.

By: Swiftee

Swiftee — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:32:02 +0000

I have to admit.

While it doesn’t surprise me in the least that most Democrats would vote for a scumbag that steals from kids and writes stories about his 12 year old son’s passion for beastiality (they don’t call it the party of scrubs for nothing), I am surprised that there are any Republicans that would vote for a lowlife that mistreats his wife.

Shame on you.

By: I.R. Informed

I.R. Informed — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:45:00 +0000

Congratulations to the Senate Republican Caucus for all their phone calls, mailings, and lit drops on behalf of a candidate who said she would not contest the endorsed candidate.

While you celebrate your victory by 300 votes, think about how you are going to patch the SD 16 Republican Party together now. I am sure the BPOU leaders (or as you like to refer to them “out of touch extremists”) are going to be pleased as punch to jump on the Krueger band-wagon.

For being a “Personna Non Grata” Olson faired pretty well against the machine who worked against him.

Upward and onward!

By: Leroy Jenkins

Leroy Jenkins — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:43:02 +0000

This shows once and for all that Ron Carey should be allowed to hand select candidates for every race in the state, and that local bpou’s should stay out of politics, and concentrate on raising funds for whomever Ron is gracious enough to let them vote for.

Local control is such an antiquated concept for republicans.

By: RigthlyProud

RigthlyProud — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:08:13 +0000

Congratulations to the primary voters of SD16 who rescued the district from the hands of the out of touch Republican BPOU leadership!

By: RigthlyProud

RigthlyProud — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:05:32 +0000

Now there is a fine example of intelligent political discourse! Ryan really needs to stay off the serious blogs and keep his writings confined to junior high bathroom stalls.

By: Ryan Flugaur

Ryan Flugaur — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:11:10 +0000

Fuck You Brodkorb.