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DAYTON FAMILY THROWING STONES FROM GLASS HOUSES
By Luke Hellier | July 28, 2010
Mitch Berg at Shot In The Dark Blog dug in pretty deep to find out where Alliance for a Better Minnesota’s (ABM) campaign cash came from. Berg found that members of Mark Dayton’s family were the largest contributors to ABM front groups WIN Minnesota and the 2010 Fund.
The Dayton family is essentially using ABM as their own front to attack Tom Emmer (which his campaign as responded to here).
One has to wonder, does the Dayton Family really want to make Mark Dayton’s strange and erratic behavior as a US Senator as part of this campaign?
There are several examples:
1. 2004, Mark Dayton closes his Senate Office. 534 other congressional offices remained open. At the time, the Star Tribune said:
“We join the Capitol Hill security chief, the Homeland Security leadership, the mayor of Washington and, apparently, every other member of Congress in scratching our heads at Mark Dayton’s preemptive shuttering of his Senate office. What can he really be thinking?” (The Star Tribune)
2. 2006, Dayton’s strange behavior continues as he decides to attack the state of South Dakota.
Dayton told FORTUNE magazine the Mayo Clinic is ‘worth a hell of a lot more than the whole state of South Dakota. (Time Magazine April 2006)
3. In 2006 Dayton insults Christian lawmakers when he said, “Giving a Bible to a politician is akin to giving a blowtorch to a pyromaniac.” (Mark Dayton, Congressional Record – Senate, S5467, June 6, 2006)
4. 2005 Dayton told reporters about how he had blown up a rat in his microwave.
5. In January of this year at Dayton’s formal announcement the story was not about his getting into the race, but his strange and erratic behavior following the event.
Today, Senator Mark Dayton launched his campaign for Governor in Saint Paul. Several members of the media were interested in asking Dayton about his campaign but the question time was abruptly cut off after three questions.
When asked by a reporter why he wouldn’t answer any more questions he responded by saying “You have my story for the day.”
You can view the videos from KSTP & KARE11 here.
6. 2009, Dayton told the Star Tribune that he had a case of “mild depression” that led him to drinking again.
The story reported:
Dayton spoke to a Star Tribune reporter Sunday morning, but would not fully elaborate on the revelations. Asked when he started drinking again, how much and whether he drank at work as a U.S. senator, Dayton refused to answer.
“I don’t think there is anything more to say,” he said of his drinking. “That’s what I’m disclosing. I’m not going to say anything more about it.”
He also declined to offer many details on his lifelong depression, which he characterized as mild.
The Senior Editor of the Cook Report responded to the story:
“It looks less like he’s trying to protect his privacy and more like he is trying to hide something,” said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor of the Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C. “Until he provides additional clarification, it will be an issue for the duration of the race.”
The Star Tribune also talked to friends of Dayton who said they had been worried about his mental illness:
In 2006, Time magazine dubbed him “The Blunderer,” naming him one of the five worst U.S. senators that year and citing his “erratic behavior.” Opponents — and even some supporters — have long whispered of his possible struggle with mental illness.
The story also said that there were further questions that went unanswered:
Among the unanswered questions: How did Dayton’s drinking mix with his antidepressants and what led him back to sobriety?
Physicians say that mixing alcohol and antidepressants can worsen the medication’s side effects, such as drowsiness, and counteract the medicine, sending someone into a deeper depression.
The entire Star Tribune article can be read here.
At the time I wrote:
All politics aside speaking from personal experience (I have close family members that have battled alcoholism) this was a very brave and courageous act by Sen. Dayton. But is it really that courageous that his family is now using its massive fortune for negative attacks on Tom Emmer?
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