Thursday, February 06, 2014

Oligarchy for a Better Minnesota

Who runs Minnesota? Less people than you think, actually. It became clear when Gov. Dayton jettisoned Yvonne Prettner Solon for  his current chief of staff, Tina Smith, who will now be Dayton's running mate. The invaluable Bill Glahn noticed:
The announcement itself occurred at a most unusual location, state headquarters of the AFL-CIO labor union.   The state AFL-CIO donated more than $500,000 to Democrats during the period 2007-2012.  Ms. Smith herself has long been associated with Planned Parenthood, a six-figure Democrat donor organization in 2012.

Planned Parenthood has a seat on the board of Alliance for a Better Minnesota.  ABM sits at the heart of the Democrat money machine.  ABM’s executive director, Carrie Lucking, is the better half of Dayton Deputy Chief of Staff Bob Hume.

WIN Minnesota is the primary fundraising arm of ABM.  WIN’s 2007-2012 donations of $1.9 million rank the group as the state’s 4th largest.  ABM’s Executive Director, Adam Duininick, is married to incoming chief of staff Jaime Tincher.  Adam, of course, is also Chair of the big dollar Democrat PAC 2014 Fund and a member of the Met Council.

WIN’s former head, Ken Martin, is now the head of the state’s Democrat party.  His wife, Jennifer O’Rourke, now serves as yet another Deputy Chief of Staff to Gov. Dayton.

Bringing it all back home, WIN board member and the state’s No. 1 political donor, Alida Rockefeller Messinger, is Gov. Dayton’s ex-wife.  And it turns out that Mrs. Messinger recommended Tina Smith for the job in the first place.
If you had this amount of nepotism and self-dealing going on in any other place, it would be a scandal, and rightly so. It takes a lot of big brains to keep a guy like this in office:

What am I signing, Radar?
This is your Better Minnesota, people. Meanwhile, read the rest of Bill Glahn's piece. If you're not reading Glahn regularly, you're not informed.

6 comments:

Unknown said...
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Gino said...

to be fair: MN isnt as big as CA or IL, so there are not as many well-connected people to pass the money among.
its a bizness first, after all, and sometimes nepotism is the only viable option.

Mr. D said...

I dunno, Gino — we have about 5.4 million people living in Minnesota. We don't need a bunch of Borgias and their bug-eyed figurehead running things.

Gino said...

its not just that they're running things. they are pulling in large amounts or personal cash as well.
( a good story for the press: how much salary are these wives receiving? there's your campaign issue if you want to use it.)
MN is just a fifedom for them, and it will continue.

Mr. D said...

its not just that they're running things. they are pulling in large amounts or personal cash as well.
( a good story for the press: how much salary are these wives receiving? there's your campaign issue if you want to use it.)


It's a **great** story for the press, but in a hardly surprising turn of events, it's one that no one in the local media will bother with.

Gino said...

righto. you hit the hanging curve ball.

and my other point: it wont become a campaign issue because the GOP doesnt know how to fight properly, or as is too ofetn the case, is unwilling to.

so, yer stuck with it.