Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer (R-Big Lake), the former Secretary of State, was in Minneapolis speaking about past vote fraud and the perils of future vote fraud. Despite zero evidence of voting irregularites, Kiffmeyer continues her crusade to protect our voting system from imaginary enemies. Listen to Kiffmeyer rant about students, non-citizens, felons and ACORN who are "cheating the vote."
Minnesota is a difficult state for Republicans to get elected. First, we're pretty liberal. Second, we have paper ballots and verifiable voting records. In other words, it's virtually impossible to manipulate vote totals like Republicans did in 2004 in Ohio. Third, we have same day registration. It's easy to vote and we have the highest turnout in the nation. High turnout negates the Republican's ability to turn out their base.
So Kiffmeyer has been working for years to change all this. And she doesn't appear to be stopping any time soon.
Ladies and Gentlemen, yours truly - the ol' TwoPutter - is hosting tonight's "Minnesota Matters - Friday Edition" on AM-950 KTNF, The Progressive Talk Station! The show runs from 6:00 to 7pm. So, tune in your radio today to AM-950, or listen live on your computer, here. I'll be joined in-studio by Dusty Trice, and perhaps even a special guest!
We're going to be talking a little about Afghanistan (we'll be talking a LOT about Afghanistan in the future), and quite a bit about the ongoing Mary Kiffmeyer Banking Scandal.
We'll definitely play "False Or False Witness!" where one lucky caller will have to correctly identify if a quote I read was actually uttered by Michele Bachmann (answer "False Witness!") or if yours truly, the ol' TwoPutter, simply made it up (answer "false"). The fabulous prize awarded, courtesy of show sponsor Common Good Books, is one copy of Bill Prendergast's exceptional comic book: False Witness! The Michele Bachmann Story (Volume 2)!
And we might even get a call or two with an update or three from the NetrootsMN Conference in St. Paul! I'll be there tomorrow morning at the AM-950 table, and in the Legislative Update in the afternoon. Haven't registered yet? No problemo, you can do it at the door!
So, again, tune in the radio today to AM-950, or listen live on your computer, here.
Oh, and here's a hint, for tonight's "False Or False Witness!" game:
I've often said that the reason republiCons lie to reporters, is because they can. Big E, in a story here on MnProgressiveProject.com demonstrates Kline lying on Esme Murphy's show last weekend; that's NOT the first time a republiCon has lied to Esme - Norm Coleman, a/ka "The Fourth Most Corrupt Senator," lied to Esme as documented here last February.
Not to be outdone in blatant mendacity, Mary Kiffmeyer wrote a Letter To The Editor last Saturday, November 14th. The scandal over a failed faith-based banking venture that lasted a mere six years in Otsego was at issue. While the whole letter needs to be fact checked (and, it will!), one claim clearly stood out:
"I personally did not own or operate a bank nor do I own a "holding company". My husband Ralph and I, along with over 85 other small investors from the community put money into a start-up community bank in 2003 by purchasing shares of stock,..." Mary Kiffmeyer, 14 Nov. 2009, CitizenNewspaper.com
Sources of Compensation
Name Of Source
Riverview Community Bank - Director and Owner
Now, keep in mind that Mary Kiffmeyer certified that the required information provided to the Campaign Finance Board was "complete, true and correct" - under penalty of law.
Everybody catch the disconnect? In March 2009, under penalty of law, Mary Kiffmeyer reported she owned a bank; in November 2009 she wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper saying she didn't.
Was Mary Kiffmeyer lying then, or is she lying now?
I'm guessing now; reporters like, say, Esme Murphy, don't do squat when GOPers like, say, Mary Kiffmeyer, lie to them.
Forget what the STrib/Pipress did. Why is a state legislator sitting on the Bd of Dirs of a bank subject to state regulation?
Sounds like a good point. How does Mary Kiffmeyer get away with this? Is there a legal precedent for this type of situation, does this represent some degree of disregard for the rule of law, or is it somewhere in between?
Ladies and Gentlemen, yours truly - the ol' TwoPutter - is filling in for Matt Martin and guest hosting today's "Minnesota Matters Show" on AM-950 KTNF - The Voice Of Minnesota! Joining in-studio will be intrepid field reporter and fellow blogger Dusty Trice, and a very special guest: Taxpaying Liberal! The show runs from 6:00 to 7pm. So, tune in your radio today to AM-950, or listen live on your computer, here.
Obviously, the Mary Kiffmeyer Scandal will be a major focus of tonight's conversation, especially with not only the Strib scrubbing Kiffmeyer from their story, but the Pioneer Press doing some scrubbing, too.
And we might just play "False Or False Witness!" where one lucky caller will have to correctly identify if a quote I read was actually uttered by Michele Bachmann (answer "False Witness!") or if yours truly, the ol' TwoPutter, simply made it up (answer "false"). The fabulous prize awarded is one copy of Bill Prendergast's exceptional comic book: False Witness! The Michele Bachmann Story (Part 1).
The call-in number to participate in the on-air conversation is 952-946-6205!
So, again, tune in the radio today to AM-950, or listen live on your computer, here.
(Eric Zaetsch at Developers Are Crabgrass posted this one today; he graciously agreed to reposting here at MnPP, in it's entirety - TwoPuttTommy)(EZ's original post updated; link at bottom of second page)
The Mary Kiffmeyer - bank closure story is reported first here, with a follow-up account, here.
I want an investigation. The rationale for wanting detail of the failure of Riverside Community Bank, headquartered in Otsego with an Anoka branch, to be fully investigated is basically that one might infer the Pawlenty appointed Commerce Dept. boss had a neck problem from looking the other way on this purported "Christian" governed bank, for the last half year or so (or perhaps longer); with Uncle Sugar now (via the FDIC) on the hook for a reported $20 million. What would losses that way have been if the operation was anesthetized and put under a half year ago?
As everyone knows, in this digital age, space is at a premium on the world wide web. Well, at least it is, over at Strib. According to Strib Reporter Chris Serres, he originally filed the story containing the reference to Mary Kiffmeyer, but the Keffmeyer connection was cut in order to meet the space limitations of the print story. Go that?
The Strib won't expand on stories on the web; the web serves to replicate what appears in print - and that policy means that, as Taxpaying Liberal noted here on MnPP, Kiffmeyer's name got scrubbed.
And as Taxpaying Liberal noted, bad news does indeed get dumped late on Fridays in the hopes that the embarrassing story is gone, come Monday.
But, the bad news for Mary Kiffmeyer, is that is NOT going to happen. Strib Reporter Chris Serres also told me he recived a lot - LOT - of calls and messages over the weekend, and that Mary Kiffmeyer's name will not - NOT - be left out on upcoming Strib stories regarding the failure of Mary Kiffmeyer's Riverview Community Bank.
It was interesting to note that on today's Strib webpage, the story that was dumped on a Friday is one of the "most emailed" today.
And judging by the number of bloggers that wrote about Keffmey's bank failing over the weekend, bloggers won't let this story escape public notice, either.
Scrubbing at the Star and Tribune covers Kiffmeyer's bank
Friday nights are when the FDIC does its work. It Friday nights when the FDIC moves in on banks that are no longer solvent and takes them over. They do this on Fridays for a reason, they know that that's when there's the least amount of reporters on duty and nobody watches the news on Friday nights. Friday nights are the night to revile stories that you don't want covered.
Minnesota Majority, a right wing Republican group founded by former Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, is at it again. Kiffmeyer became infamous for insisting that election judges display posters warning of terrorists in polling places on election day 2004 when she was the MN SoS. Minnesota Majority have lived up to their founder's incompetence.
Plaintiffs in the suit are Minnesota Majority, Jeff Davis, Dan McGrath, Jean Sanford, David Fitzsimmons, Representatives Matt Dean, Tom Emmer and Mark Buesgens and Senators Warren Limmer and David Senjem.
The lawsuit is based upon research recently conducted by Minnesota Majority. We compared the Minnesota Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) to the official 2008 State Canvassing Board Report (SCBR) and discovered a discrepancy of over 400,000 votes. Further investigation revealed that voter history updates have not been posted in over 800 precincts spanning 25 counties. Both the SVRS and the SCBR were provided by the Minnesota Secretary of State's office. In late April, Bert Black, legal counsel to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, told Minnesota Majority that SVRS voter history updates pertaining to the 2008 general election had been completed by all counties, but the data on the SVRS disk provided showed that not to be the case.
Kiffmeyer, Emmer, Davis and the rest of these clowns have repeatedly attacked Minnesota's election system shrieking "The SkY Is Falling! Vote Fraud! The SkY Is Falling! Vote Fraud! The SkY Is Falling! Vote Fraud!" without ever proving a single instance of vote fraud. Their solution to this non-existent problem is to push through Voter ID bills.
Their real intent is vote suppression.
Maybe after this lawsuit is thrown out, we could all meet and I'd be glad to buy them all a steaming hot cup of Shut the **** Up.
Steve Andrews asked his wife several months ago who was going to do something about their friends and neighbors in Big Lake being represented in St. Paul by officials with extreme views.
Her reply: "You are."
And so began Andrews' journey toward becoming the DFL-endorsed candidate for the House District 16B seat against incumbent Republican Mark Olson. Andrews won the endorsement on the first ballot at this past Saturday's SD16 DFL convention, facing one other candidate.
In a vacuum, the race shouldn't be a competitive one. The district has voted reliably Republican for several years, giving Olson 58% in 2006, a big Democratic year. But that was before Olson was caught up in a domestic violence complaint, got himself kicked out of the Republican House caucus, and drew an intra-party challenge from former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer. The district, which covers a swath of the I-94 corridor between the Twin Cities and St. Cloud, may just be ready for a change.
Former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer announced this weekend that she will run for the Minnesota House seat currently occupied by Mark Olson, who was convicted last summer of domestic assault.
Olson was later expelled from the House Republican caucus, and now may run as an independent for re-election.
WCCO cites Kiffmeyer as saying "We've got to move into the issues...We've got to get out of the other stuff. The district needs to move forward now and we're not doing that."
"Other stuff," huh? The team here at Minnesota Monitor has compiled some great quotes from the former Secretary of State, who lost her 2006 bid for a third term to Mark Ritchie. In a January interview with Paul Schmelzer, Kiffmeyer said of the idea of a separation of church and state:
MK: The quote from Thomas Jefferson, the firewall that was created was from the government intruding on religion. That was a quote taken out of his letter to the Baptist Society that said, don't worry, the government won't intrude on your religion, because there's this wall of separation. It was a separation and a wall to keep the government from messing with religion. Obviously, how do you keep people of faith from never having an opinion from government? What segment of society are you going to say shouldn't? Because I would say, other than the atheists-which, by the way, that's a religious group, too-
PS: It is?
MK: Atheism is a belief that there is no god. So really, between atheists and Christians and all these others... how many people are left then to have an influence on government if it's to go the other way? So the wall of separation was intended to say, "you can have freedom to flourish in your religion, OK, and the government won't mess with your religion."
You have the freedom. But there's no such thing as an unlimited freedom. In other words you can't cry "Fire!" in a theater. That's the most common example... Slander is another one; there's laws against free speech so you can't slander. Except, by the way, for politicians. You can slander politicians with impunity. So you can slander us.
So slandering politicians is okay, you can't cry "Fire!" in a theater, and the separation of church and state was simply to prevent government from messing with religion. Not the other way around, and certainly not to prevent one religion, perhaps one that counts a voting majority among its members, from messing with other religions. Gotcha.
At least two other Republicans are seeking the seat, as well as two DFLers. As of last night, Kiffmeyer had not yet filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board.
The GOP made absolutely no effort to hide the fact the new secretary of state's every move would be scrutinized, and transgressions, real and imagined, would be used for political fodder.
The writing was on the wall before he even took the oath of office.
But in his first year on the job, Ritchie has handed the GOP a golden opportunity to scream bloody hypocrisy from the rooftop of the State Office Building. Sadly, it appears they're justified in their outrage.
In short, two Republicans who attended an official Secretary of State Office function wound up receiving e-mail from the Ritchie campaign. Then, after preaching transparency as a candidate, officeholder Ritchie was less than forthcoming in his explanation of events. Now he's gone into hiding from the Capitol press corps.
What in the world are Minnesotans supposed to think?
It doesn't look good. In fact, coming from the elected official who voters expect to be the least partisan, it's downright atrocious.
Ritchie's move was either sinister or naïve - and it was absolutely beyond stupid. It's political idiocy of the highest order.
It doesn't matter what Kiffmeyer did while she was in office. Voters fired her. She isn't accountable to the public unless she wins another election.
Ritchie, however, should be taken to task.
We'll see what Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles comes up with. Then it's up to Ritchie and the DFL-led Legislature to implement his recommendations without hesitation and pass additional legislation, if necessary, to clear up any ambiguity in the rules regarding e-mail addresses given by citizens at official events.
Voters expected better from Ritchie and better from his party. Now it's time for them to own up to problems, fix them and move on.
It's called responsibility and should be the watchword for our elected officials of both parties. Politics as usual is really getting quite old. We can do better and deserve better.
Steve Andrews asked his wife several months ago who was going to do something about their friends and neighbors in Big Lake being represented in St. Paul by officials with extreme views.
