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WILL ALLIANCE FOR BETTER MN BECOME THE NORM AT THE DFL?
By Andy Post | December 13, 2010
Updated: Ken Martin has made his bid for DFL Chair official.
The Alliance for a Better Minnesota (ABM) played an influential role in electing Mark Dayton. Their biggest impact was spending millions of dollars against GOP candidate Tom Emmer, most of which was devoted to personal smear ad campaigns over the course of several months leading up to the election. In true fashion, only after months of ads had run did Mark Dayton call for a ‘cease fire’ in the negative attacks.
This week, ABM behind-the-scenes coordinator and former John Kerry campaign organizer, Ken Martin, was floated as a possible replacement to DFL Chair in a story by MPR, Brian Melendez, as Melendez announced he will not seek another term. If he ends up victorious, will the DFL Party operate like the Alliance did?
Ken Martin
Martin oversaw the two front groups that funded ABM this election cycle, Win Minnesota and 2010 Fund. The funding for these two groups has become controversial in its own right as it accurately reflects the Dayton Family Affair that helped get him to the governor’s office. Below is a breakdown of some of the major contributors to the two funds that were feeders into the ABM bank account per a simple CFB search. Dayton’s son-Andrew, cousin-David, aunt-Mary and ex-wife-Alida Messinger together contributed well over $1 million this election cycle.
WIN MN and 2010 Fund Contributors 2010
Messinger (a Rockefeller) is no newcomer to the MN political scene. In 2008, she gave at least $1 million to pass the arts and crafts amendment which raised the sales tax on Minnesotans. Even after Mark Dayton’s Senate win in 2000, she gave millions to Minnesota-based liberal causes in other election cycles.
DFL’ers will choose their next state chairman in February at their State Central meeting.
Tags: 2010 Election, DFL, Education Minnesota, John Kerry, Mark Dayton, Uncategorized
Topics: 2010 Election, DFL, Education Minnesota, John Kerry, Mark Dayton, Uncategorized | 20 Comments »
20 Responses to “WILL ALLIANCE FOR BETTER MN BECOME THE NORM AT THE DFL?”
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December 13th, 2010 at 7:43 AM
The Republicans had their privately financed thoroughly deniable attack dogs as well. On balance, I think the fact that both sides had them, along with the fact that both candidates had issues in their past they didn’t really want to make the front and enter issues of this campaign resulted in a kind of mutually assured destruction sort of approach where both sides had powerful weapons in their arsenal but neither side wanted the risks of all out war.
Republicans, always looking to rationalize their inherent need to see themselves as victims, have been searching for something Dayton criticize for, while hoping to no one notices that they did pretty much the same thing and did when they had the chance. Individuals contributed money to these entities on both sides, in some cases a lot, but it’s the Republicans who are opposed to campaign finance reform. The rules are what they are and both sides have to abide by them.
December 13th, 2010 at 8:25 AM
Listen, this is all part of so-called “campaign finance” reform. They (congress) passed laws to limit what campaigns can do, limit who can and how much they can contribute to individual candidates. Then they act all surprised and indignant that thousands of other organizations have formed to get involved. These organizations are not subject to the limits that are imposed on candidates’ committees. Unions, of course, are given special treatment and can basically do anything they want.
Yes, the system is a mess. It’s the way they designed it. Primarily, it promotes and protects incumbents which is just one reason why incumbents are so angry if they happen to lose. (See Oberstar, James)
December 13th, 2010 at 8:31 AM
The media-imposed stigma associated with what is commonly called “negative ads” is also to blame. The so-called “independent” committees do the heavy lifting in the “negative” department so that the candidate canjust throw up his hands and say (through a wide grin) that he had nothing to do with it, he doesn’t approve of these awful ads, etc.
Here is the reality. It isn’t negative to give the voters the facts about a candidate. It isn’t negative to explain to the voters what kind of havoc a candidate’s policies will cause if enacted.
For the most part, if you tell the truth about a DFLer, the state controled media will condemn you in a second as running a negative campaign. Bah on them.
December 13th, 2010 at 8:56 AM
The Republican party showed a little more decency. They did not hammer on Dayton’s problems, only his poor record in the Senate. I guess that was a mistake.
December 13th, 2010 at 10:01 AM
Republicans have been whining for a while now about the supposedly negative campaign conducted by Mark Dayton, or more precisely, Mark Dayton’s surrogates, conveniently forgetting the negative campaign conducted by their own surrogates. It’s as if Republican feel there is something wrong when Democrats campaign effectively and well.
I don’t recall that Republicans had much to say about Mark Dayton’s record in the senate. Mostly they wanted to talk about Time Magazine’s offhand comments. The Minnesota Republican Party is perhaps the last institution in America to take Time Magazine seriously. Certainly the voters of Minnesota don’t, and believe me, that’s to their credit.
December 13th, 2010 at 10:11 AM
I feel they should have brought up the fact that he is an alcoholic and has mental difficulties.
December 13th, 2010 at 10:21 AM
Andy, your post would be stronger if you mentioned that the “smear” ad run against Emmer was an ad that pointed out his habit of drinking and driving combined with his effort to lower penalties after DWI arrests. This would allow people to decide for themselves whether it’s a smear to point out something that is of concern to many Minnesotans and hypocritical about Emmer’s time in the legislature.
December 13th, 2010 at 1:24 PM
Ed, your comment would be stronger if you’d mentioned that Tom Emmer would have derived no personal benefit from the proposed legislation he offered, inasmuch as his cases had already been adjudicated well over a decade before. Unless you have evidence that Emmer has been drinking and driving in the past decade. Do you?
December 13th, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Ed likes to post comments on MDE and create a “controversy” just so he has something to post on his own blog. It also drives traffic to his blog.
I pity Ed, struggling with a failing blog, desperately doing what he can to keep it alive.
December 13th, 2010 at 3:08 PM
Jorgie, of course, Emmer and the GOP should have told the voters about Dayton’s regular visits to psych wards. They should have demanded that he disclose his medical records. The voters have a right to decide for themselves if a candidate is mentally fit for the office he seeks where there is a longstanding history of mental illness and alcoholism.
As usual, the GOP chickened out. It drives me crazy that the GOP is so often more afraid of being attacked by the media than it fears losing elections. The truth is that the drive by media will ALWAYS attack the GOP, no matter they do or say. SO DO THE RIGHT THING.
December 13th, 2010 at 3:11 PM
Hector, of all the keystrokes you have wasted on pure stupidity, you’ve finally written an accurate statement, ie. no one gives a damn about Time Magazine or what it writes.
December 13th, 2010 at 3:19 PM
I can’t imagine the DFL getting any more dirty than it already is. Only differnece is we know up front the type of scum that soils the halls around there.
Know this, the libtards are going to orgainze and orgainze fast and work hard. Not to improve the state but to gain back power. The Republicans need to get beyond the go along to get along mentality.
December 13th, 2010 at 3:27 PM
Precisely, the GOP has to develop a killer instinct.
December 13th, 2010 at 3:52 PM
Not implying that the DFL is dirty or anything but Elizabeth Edwards just registered to vote in Hennepin, Ramsey and St Louis counties, all on the same day!
December 13th, 2010 at 4:03 PM
Scott, good one. I imagine that Byrd and Kennedy are already registered in those counties, too. ACORN did the applications.
December 13th, 2010 at 5:23 PM
There are two things I am fairly well known for in DFL circles: My utter lack of any sense of humor at all, and the fact that I have prehensile toes.
I wonder, am I the only person around here who knows how elections work. The voter rolls are routinely culled for deceased voters.
December 13th, 2010 at 5:30 PM
You are not unique, pal.
Most liberals lack a sense of humor.
It is just one reason why most normal people can’t stand being around liberals.
December 14th, 2010 at 9:27 AM
One of the suits challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare has been upheld. Evidently, there are still a few federal judges that own a copy of the Constitution and can actually read it.
The Regime’s spokesmouth, Mr. Fibbs, is downplaying the new court ruling. Nevertheless, we all know that the matter will end up before the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, the Congress of Clowns needs to defund, repeal, and otherwise gut the legislation.
December 14th, 2010 at 10:50 AM
Just wait, the guy that ran Alliance for a Better Minnesota now wants to be chairman of the DFL.
December 14th, 2010 at 11:03 AM
The DFL is just a wholly owned subsidiary of the MEA so they should just let the scumbag teachers run it all.