SD 16 Republicans Dump Mark Olson

SC Times:

Krueger defeats Olson in Senate 16 race... 1,708 votes to 1,437...

Olson, true to character, leaves the door open for a write-in campaign :

He hasn't decided whether there will be a write-in campaign, he said, but he wouldn't be the one to start it.

"I'm not initiating a write-in campaign, but I'm absolutely amazed how many people have brought it up to me," he said late Tuesday.

Two defeated, one more to be defeated in November:



UPDATE: Aaron Landry at MN Publius has this hilarious screenshot of Michele Bachmann's teenager pal and Olson's legislative assistant, Ryan Flugaur's comment on Brodkorb's blog:



(Cross-posted at the Dump Bachmann Blog)

Skyweb Express (Taxi 2000) Scrubs Website

The new Taxi 2000 website is all videos, simulations and a rehash of the usual phony claims. Missing are names of people involved in the bogus PRT enterprise. Catch a glimpse of the old website in this video:

Michael Brodkorb Exposes Himself

Last week, Republican Party consultant Michael Brodkorb (Minnesota Democrats Exposed) was all over the internet last week warning Democrats not to engage in finger-pointing in the wake of the 35W Bridge collapse. Brodkorb now joins the chorus of mouth-breathers who are scapegoating Congressman Jim Oberstar for his advocacy for bicycling:

What do you think? Should we be focused on bike trails or highways?  In my opinion, it's all about priorities. In the aftermath of the 35-W bridge collapse, I think the public will be closely monitoring state spending and watching how politicians spend the taxpayers' money.  What should come first?  More bike trails or highways?

Nevermind that one of the first people on the scene of the bridge collapse was a bicyclist. (Listen to him tell how he rescued victims).

Bicycling is a viable mode of transportation.

If MDE wants make an issue out of a ridiculous mode of transportation, he need not look further than that perennial time-waster beloved by the right-wing of his own party "Personal Rapid Transit" (PRT).

For over thirty years, the Minnesota Legislature dinked around with PRT. In recent years, PRT lost the support of most DFLers and the cult has only a few acolytes remaining among extremists in the MN GOP (Michele Bachmann, Mark Olson) and the lunatic fringe in the Green Party (Dean Zimmermann, Michael Cavlan)

Michael Brodkorb claims he doesn't know anything about PRT. I suggest he ask The Taxpayers League's President Phil Krinkie who told me he was an ardent supporter of PRT in 2006. Here's a list of representatives who voted for one of Rep. Mark Olson's PRT amendments voted down 26 to 107 on April 12, 2006:

Anderson, B.
Bradley
Buesgens
Demmer
Eastlund
Emmer
Erickson
Hackbarth
Heidgerken
Holberg
Hosch (DFL)
Knoblach
Krinkie
Marquart (DFL)
Nelson, P.
Nornes
Olson
Ozment
Smith
Soderstrom
Sykora
Urdahl
Vandeveer
Wardlow
Westrom
Wilkin


And Michael Brodkorb can see for himself what a joke PRT is in this You Tube video featuring the Bible-hurling Rep. Mark Olson:



Ken Avidor blogs about Bible-hurling Republicans who promote Personal Rapid Transit.

Strib Says It's Up to You to Dump Mark Olson

Got my internet back, but not my computer... I'm borrowing a laptop.

The Star Tribune thinks Rep. Mark Olson didn't do enough to get expelled from the legislature.

Maybe the readers of Dump Mark Olson can help the Minnesota Legislature's Ethics Committee by providing more reasons to expel Rep. Mark Olson.

Already a reader has sent me an interesting story about a snarky land deal Olson was engaged in a while back (more on that later).

Of course there's the ongoing attempt to defraud investors and taxpayers with the PRT scam.

If you have anything else to add, send me an email at ken.avidor(at)gmail.com.

All correspondence will be kept confidential.

Another PRT Puff Piece

The publicity barage continues. This puff piece in CNN Money.com reads like it's transcribed from the same press release as the others.

I thought this was interesting:

So why aren't cities already filled with PRT tracks and pods? "The real problem was political, not technical," recalls John Edward Anderson, a former professor at Boston University who has worked on PRT for almost 40 years. Chicago, Minneapolis, and Seattle killed PRT projects, fearing opposition from transit drivers and the embarrassment of failing with an untested system.

So, Anderson isn't saying he was a professor at the U of M anymore?

Anderson forgets a few more things. He fails to mention Raytheon going way over budget, that he was sued by his own company, that he picked three of worst politicians in Minnesota to lobby for Taxi 2000... maybe he's going senile?



Ken Avidor blogs all about Personal Rapid Transit