Chris noted that Senator Norm Coleman had met with Senate District 16 leadership, and was considering backing down on his position, after hearing the full story. Chris said that Coleman told Senate District 16 Leadership that he was unaware of the full story about Mark Olson when he took the public position he did.
There is no confirmation of this from the Coleman campaign. If it's true, it would be a major flip-flop.
An anonymous email to members of the MN GOP Senate Caucus, GOP Leadership, Senate Caucus, and "anyone else working against the SD16 endorsed candidate"fowarded to and posted on Chris Kumpala's What the Republic Can Do blog:
Senator Senjem, and Mr. Carey,
For the party of local control (at least the Republican Party once was, but it seems much of the 'Platform' gets thrown under the bus at election time) you seem to be sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. No matter Mark Olson's past - he is the endorsed candidate of SD16. He was legitimately selected by the seated Delegates and Alternates of SD16. These delegates and ONLY these delegates were selected by their neighbors to represent the areas interests in SD16. Please respect the process and SD16's wishes by graciously and cheerfully accepting Mark Olson into the Republican caucus come next year. I believe that it is the Party's responsibility to support the endorsed candidate, lest one can be REMOVED from the party. Please note your recent actions are easily deemed - not supporting the endorsed candidate Mark Olson. If you didn't notice there is some 'ire' against the Party and RINOs demonstrated at the State Convention. You may think you can get the candidates elected while ignoring the conservative base - I'm afraid you will be sorely mistaken come November. Just so we're clear here... bud out of Senate District 16. Those of us who have lived in the area know both candidates very well. We chose the best candidate and we will stand behind him. If you continue to meddle in our district, look for us in your district when you are up for re-election. We'll be watching your votes and your personal behavior for information for letters to the editor in your local papers.
Have a Great Day!
Ron, please extend my apologies to the unfortunate MNGOP fund raiser who called earlier today... I did not mean to take out my disgust at the party on him - but I must insist on directing my financial support directly to the truly 'conservative' candidates.
Signed --------
Chris Kumpala put that sentence in bold face, so I assume he's okay with snooping into elected officials "personal behavior" and shaming GOP senators and other politicians during an election. If not, Chris can correct me.
For a few days, Brodkorb hoodwinked the media and even liberal bloggers into believing that the Minnesota GOP may not support Rep. Mark Olson. Now some folks are beginning to tell us it aint so.
No one condones domestic violence. No one. There is never an excuse, even if one's tossing a Bible.
But how can Senator Coleman play standard bearer and cheer on the Senate Republican Caucus when Coleman himself has an "unconventional marriage"?
It's more likely that all of this faux outrage is coming from Norm Coleman's campaign. It may not have originated with Senate GOP Caucus... more on that later....
A comment on Hal Kimball's post sums it up:
What’s also amazing about Norm’s position is that he knows nothing about the other candidate the republicans put up. Nobody does.
She has never run for an office before or held any kind of public position.
She is listed as an “activist” but nobody knows what she was being an activist for.
So for all Norm knows she could be a complete wacko. Whatever she stands for is good enough for Norm because he knows better than the local 150 people who took the time to attend the convention.
Think of how bad she must have been for the 150 people to say “We’ll take the wife beater”.
I thought Norm’s pitch was that you should have some record of public service before you ran for a Senate seat. I guess that only applies to people running against him.
For 18 years Olson has been the laughing stock of the house. Now all of the sudden the Republicans are shocked at the idea of him running. MDE suddenly is offended by Olson. The Senate caucus is shocked!
Where the hell have these enablers been the last 18 years?
Where was the outrage the 1st time Olson assaulted a staffer? Or the 2nd time?
What did they say when he wore a gun on the house floor?
Where was the outrage when he was the only member of both bodies to vote against bills containing things like a task force to catch child pornographers?
The list goes on and on. He for ships being able to dump bilge water in Lake Superior, He stands alone against early childhood education. Hell he’s against public education period.
No matter to these guardians of republican purity, they don’t care how he votes or how many lives he destroys with his nonsensical bills and rhetoric. Now they are offended because he finally got arrested and convicted for what he was well known for.
Your reap what you sow, and for 18 years the Republican party has stood shoulder to shoulder with Olson.
Olson better that anyone else including Norm, represents the Republican Party in SD 16 and the Republicans here aren’t going to let a bunch of RINO’s tell them who they can endorse.
Lloydletta links to Olson supporter Chris Kumpula's account of the SD 16 convention.
Chris Kumpala's blog has the pledge signed by Olson and Krueger and a link to an interesting Polinaut post about Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem's flip-flp on Olson:
The miracles of audio tape gives us some detail into Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem's thoughts on Mark Olson.
When asked about Olson's candidacy on July 22nd, Senjem said this:
"Well, we welcome Mark. I mean democracy is a wonderful thing. If people want to run for office, they have that opportunity. Mark will go through the process now, through the endorsement process. We'll see where that leads. Certainly if he emerges he's our candidate and certainly we're riding with him."
After MinnesotaDemocratsExposed raised concerns about Olson's candidacy on Wednesday, Senjem said this:
"Character and integrity in this case rise above party and process. And we felt that Mark, given his circumstances in life, specifically his conviction for spousal abuse, really didn't pass the test if you will for the kind of candidate we wanted."
Update:
Senjem just told Tim Pugmire that he hadn't thought much about Olson's candidacy at the time. He said upon further reflection, looking back at the court records and thinking through the implications of Olson actually winning led the caucus to come to the conclusion to exclude Olson.
If there's any doubt that the MN GOP stands by Rep. Mark Olson, listen to "Chris" and MN CD6 Chair Mark "Swannie" Swanson on the Jason Lewis radio show Friday:
Whatever their reasons, the GOP delegates of District 16 have put their state party -- and particularly the Norm Coleman reelection campaign -- in an awkward spot. How can Republicans fault DFL Senate candidate Al Franken for writing jokes they deem antifemale when they have put their official arms around a candidate convicted of assaulting his wife?
Brodkorb breathlessly delivers the judgement of Norm Coleman:
ST. PAUL – The following is a statement from U.S. Senator Norm Coleman regarding the Minnesota state Senate Republican Caucus’ decision not to support disgraced state Rep. Mark Olson. “I stand firmly with the members of the Senate Republican Caucus who today announced that they will not support Mark Olson for the open Senate seat of Betsy Wergin. His endorsement by the party is a matter that is of great concern to me. In particular, given the circumstances behind Mr. Olson’s decision to not seek re-election to the Minnesota House of Representatives – a decision that I believe was the right decision – I believe the fact that he is our party’s endorsed candidate for Senate District 16 is simply unacceptable and unsupportable.
“The Senate Republican Caucus has made the appropriate decision in rejecting the candidacy of Mark Olson. I understand there are other candidates who may remain eligible to run in the September Primary, and I would hope that they continue their efforts to become our party’s standard bearer. “In the unfortunate event that Mr. Olson succeeds in the September Primary, I would ask that our party refuse to offer any type of assistance to his campaign. While the loss of a State Senate seat is unfortunate, I join Senators Senjem, Fischbach, Gimse, Hann, Koch and Michel in the strong belief that we must maintain and uphold our beliefs that violence of any kind, whether it is in word or in deed, should not be rewarded with our party’s
Even right-wing GOP blogger Swiftee piles on in the MDE comments:
We’re Rebublicans. We expect our leadership to maintain the highest standards in their professional and personal lives. If Olson has gotten his life together, great. He has my firm wish for success as a private citizen…but he has proved that he hasn’t learned a frickin’ thing.
If he wants to continue a career in politics, he’s going to have to go Democrat, ’cause we won’t have him.
You know this is all just a show of mock outrage when Swiftee (who actually wears a wife-beater) shares in the mock outrage (that's Swiftee giving the finger on the left.) Good 'ol GOP "Family Values"!
You know this is all just a show of mock outrage when Swiftee (who actually wears a wife-beater) shares in the mock outrage (that's Swiftee giving the finger on the left.) Good 'ol GOP "Family Values"!
