On March 12, 2015, Catherine Reichert with MPR’s Poligraph posted the an examination of the Minnesota Republican Party’s new ad campaign. After review, it was found to be misleading.

You can read her post here.

Minnesota GOP · Minnesota Republican Party · MN GOP ad campaign misleading

Sen. Hann gave the above statements at a May 19, 2014, press conference.  There, he states that there had been no new sign ups through MNsure.

In June of 2014, MPR published an article on Minnesota’s rate of people without insurance dropped substantially due to the new health care law. Here’s a link to this article.

And, here’s a chart from that article:

Looks to us like reality shows that people without insurance got insurance in 2014.

David Hann · MNsure · number of uninsured · Sen. Hann · uninsured

Fellow elected officials, let’s keep it clean. Let’s focus on our ideas.

I recently read with interest state Senate Minority Leader David Hann’s March 7 commentary regarding political cronyism. For as long as the article was, I failed to see one positive suggestion about what he or his party would do differently. And while I disagree with most of his criticisms, he did manage to accentuate one critical point, although I doubt it was his intention. Minnesotans are generally tired of this sort of rhetoric.

Hann went to great lengths to portray the party opposite as nothing less than crooked. I am certain that the average Minnesotan sees through this and that he is playing only to his own base. And I say this because my conversations with folks across our state prove to me that the repeated negative politics is driving people further and further away.

All of us, as elected public officials, need to take a step back and re-evaluate. And I am well aware that it is happening at every level, from local to state to federal offices. The constant bombardment from politicians about how abysmal the “other guy” or the “other party” is has destroyed people’s confidence in government. Not every politician does this, but it is certainly happening enough to generate feelings of disgust.

What has happened to the days when we tried to sell something based on its merit? As a consumer, I want to hear about the positive features of your product, and why it will work best for me. I really don’t care what your opinion is of a competitor’s product. Can we not apply this principle to politics? (more…)

David Hann · Erik Simonson · Rep. Simonson · Sen. Hann

“Just 10 days ago the Speaker of the Minnesota House, Kurt Daudt, the highest ranking Republican elected official in the State of Minnesota, laid out hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending for things like tax cuts, transportation infrastructure, nursing home funding, and K-12 higher education spending. And while his math didn’t quite add up, the fact of the matter is that there hasn’t been a single bill introduced by Republican House members to cut spending this year. Clearly, Speaker Daudt and House Republicans agree with DFLers that we should use this surplus to invest in the critical unmet needs facing Minnesotans throughout the state. 

“Now today the Chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota is calling on the legislature to send every surplus dollar back to Minnesota residents in the form of a $350 per person check.  Not only is this shortsighted, it ignores recent history that proves that the Ventura rebates helped create the financial difficulties we faced during the early 2000s. If we do as Chairman Downey is suggesting and return every dollar of the surplus to Minnesotans we will not be able to make the investments in Minnesota that even Speaker Daudt and House Republicans agree need to be met – like repairing our roads and bridges and investing in our education system throughout the state.

“The fact is that Chairman Downey should do his job of building the party to win elections and focus less on taking positions such as this which are squarely at odds with the highest ranking elected Republican in the State of Minnesota. His insistence on ideological purity pits him against fair-minded Republicans who are trying to do the job they were sent to do in St. Paul. Who’s in charge here the Speaker of the House or the Chairman of the Republican Party? What kind of dynamic does this create when elected Republicans of the Minnesota House have to choose between the Republican State Party Chair or governing in the best interests of the constituents who elected them. Are Republicans in the Minnesota House going to put their oath to Minnesotans ahead of their oath to the Republican Party? 

“It is unbelievable that a party that still owes $1.5 million dollars in debt, including some $300,000 to vendors who worked in the 2014 election, would spend six figures on advertising to persuade legislators – presumably from their own party – to return the surplus and put us back on a path to financial instability.  It is the height of hypocrisy that the party of ‘fiscal responsibility’ would go further into debt to beat members of their own party into ideological submission.”

Keith Downey · Kurt Daudt · MN GOP · Republican Party of Minnesota · RPM

Paul Gale Comedy recently posted the video below in support of National Women’s Day. It’s a great, tongue-in-cheek parody of something 51% of the population faces. Something our State Senator, David Hann, doesn’t believe exists.  (Or, if it does, it’s because women have babies.)

Enjoy!

income inequality · National Women's Day · Paul Gale Comedy · war on women