The Late Debate with Jack & Ben

After the Supreme Court struck down major portions of the Voting Rights Act as unconstitutional this morning, State Representative Ryan Winkler took his rage to Twitter:

Wow. "Uncle Thomas"? Wow.

For those of you who grew up in a post-racial America, Winkler was referring to black Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who sided with the majority on the Voting Rights Act ruling, as an Uncle Tom. As Wikipedia defines it, an Uncle Tom is "an epithet for … a black person who behaves in a subservient manner to white people…".

Wow.

After Rep. Winkler got into a Twitter argument with the Late Debate's Jack Tomczak, the story was picked up by the local press.

Jennifer Brooks and Rachel "Sinkholes" Stassen-Berger for the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Later, [Winkler] tweeted: "Deleted Tweet causing offense regarding Justice Thomas. I apologize for it, but believe VRA decision does abet racism."

And then the story was picked up by the national press.

Victor Morton for the Washington Times:

However Mr. Winkler, whose site says he has an undergraduate history degree from Harvard and a law degree from the University of Minnesota, seemed to dig the hole deeper in a subsequent tweet, in which he said the racism of the term “Uncle Tom” was disputed and unknown to him.

The story even made it to the Huffington Post and the top of the Drudge Report.

Rep. Winkler has apologized.

KSTP-TV:

"In expressing that disappointment on twitter, I hastily used a loaded term that is offensive to many. My words were inappropriate and I apologize."

This afternoon, Rep. Kurt Zellers announced in Maple Grove that he would run for governor of Minnesota. His campaign released the following video centered on the fact that Zellers took on Governor Dayton once before and prevailed.

Zellers said that he would seek the Republican Party's endorsement, but wouldn't shy away from going to a primary without it.

Kurt Zellers, current state representative and former Speaker of the Minnesota House, will make an announcement about his political future on Sunday at 3pm from Maple Grove.

It is very likely that Zellers will be announcing a gubernatorial campaign. His fundraising arm "Volunteers for Zellers" purchased the domain name "ZellersForGovernor.com" two days ago on June 18.

"ZellersForSenate.com" is not registered by anyone.

This invitation was e-mailed out this morning:

Jack is a movie optimist; he looks forward to movies expecting them to be good.

Ben is a movie pessimist; he expects most movies to be terrible and disappointing.

We're going to start watching movies this summer with the goal of writing seven-word movie reviews. First up: the Superman reboot "Man of Steel".

Seven-Word Movie Reviews

Jack: "Too much. Too new. Too loud. Wasted."

Ben: "Alien fight. Earth just in the way."

Should you see it?

Jack: Yeah.

Jason Lewis, host of the political radio talk show "The Jason Lewis Show" heard locally on Twin Cities News Talk AM1130, announced this evening on his show that he would not be running for any political office in 2014.

Jason Lewis from his show:

We have one political party: the Establishment Party. And that, my friends, is the reason that I have chosen not to run for political office. That I have chosen to stick right here where I am liberated and can speak my mind and not have to carry the Party line.

As many of you know, I've been toying with the idea – and it actually became much more than toying. This is the most serious I've been about running for public office since I actually ran for public office all the way back as a youthful indiscretion in 1990. I've been talking with people for weeks and months; many of them haven't been talking back, but I've been talking with people.

And I've come to the conclusion that at this point in time that what I would have to leave on the table, the price of this would be too great for my family, too great for my profession. I've sort of climbed atop a perch I don't want to give up, I'll be the first to admit that, but I was willing to do it. But, when it comes to family and what's best for them, that was a different calculation: the time way from home. The time way from the people I love. I didn't not enter that lightly.

And then I would be remiss if I didn't simply tell you the truth, and the truth is that for all the talk on talk radio, for all of the talk about changing the country, there is an amalgamation of special interests in this country to whom Big Government has been good, whether it's Big Government of the Right or the Left. They don't want to change.

They jump from political office to political office. They're career politicians. Worse than that, they're career staffers that go from one – you know – from Tim Pawlenty to whoever else they can get to pay them. We are governed in so many ways my a mercenary of public bureaucrats, of staffers, of congressional staffers, of committee staffers, and they don't care about ideology.

And I've got news for you: The people that fund so many of these campaigns that raise the money necessary to defeat somebody who is going to be awash in cast like, say, Senator Al Franken, they don't care about ideology either.

They care about access.

They care about access. They will only fund you if you can win, because what they're paying for is not a Barry Goldwater firing that shot across the bow in 1964 or Ronald Reagan in 1968. The establishment money wants access. And so they want you to be malleable. They want you to make certain you're not too far out there.

They want you to have a good shot of winning and the only way to win is to get on board with immigration reform, subsidizing student loans, Medicare Part D, war in Syria, going after the NSA leaker, all of the things the political parties agree on. And they are Legion.

The biggest lie is that there's a polarization of the body politic. Special interests have homogenized the parties. There's not a dime's worth of difference between them except in degree; except as to how fast the country will be bankrupt – not whether or not we're going to be bankrupt – Detroit comes to mind.

So, there's good news and there's bad news. The bad news is, depending on your point of view – those of you, many of your e-mails were encouraging me to throw my hat in the ring – that bad news is it's not the right time for me. It's not the right time for the country to take the message of real change; we still haven't gotten there yet.

There's still more education that needs to be done and hopefully I'll continue to do it here. 

And it's not the right time for my family.

Here are three updates about upcoming elections in Minnesota.

First, Republican State Senator John Peterson is jumping into the Sixth Congressional District race for Michele Bachmann's seat.

Sherburne County Citizen:

Pederson said, “I am very humbled by the great deal of unsolicited encouragement I have received from supporters to pursue this congressional seat. I am always grateful to be able to meet the residents I aspire to serve and I am looking forward to getting this campaign started.”

Pederson has won four elections in the last six years in this Congressional District, two for the St. Cloud City Council and two for the Minnesota State Senate.

Second, Republican State Representative Mike Benson is running against Rep. Tim Walz in Minnesota's First Congressional District.

Rochester Post-Bulletin:

In a recent interview with the Post-Bulletin, the two-term state representative said he was prompted to run because of concerns about the growing number of federal mandates and regulations being forced on the states.

"I don't want my legacy to be that I was willing to accept that the better days of America are behind us, and I don't think they have to be," he said.

Benson, who represents District 26B in the Legislature, becomes the first Republican to announce a 2014 run against Walz, 49, a former Mankato high school teacher who was first elected in 2006. It appears he may soon have plenty of company, with several Republicans expressing interest in taking on Walz.

Finally, the Democrat–Farming–Laborer Party of Minneapolis failed to endorse a candidate in the race for mayor of Minneapols. The culprit: pizza.

Olivia LaVecchia for the City Pages:

On the fourth ballot, Andrew continued to hold his lead on Hodges, 51 percent to 45 percent -- still short of the 60 percent required to win endorsement. But then all of Hodges's supporters walked out (a move that other candidates, including retiring Mayor R.T. Rybak, have pulled before). While they snacked on pizza outside the Convention Center, back inside, the fifth ballot tested if there were still enough delegates to reach quorum and proceed. Not long before midnight, the ballots came up short, and as a result the day reached its seemingly foregone conclusion: There would be no endorsement.

So everyone continues to the general. The ranked preference ballot in Minneapolis makes it easier for an independent candidate (and Late Debate guest) like Cam Winton to get more votes than the five DFLers in the race with him.

In April, Rep. Kurt Zellers started a border beer rivalry on the floor of the Minnesota House in a debate over a proposed alcohol sales tax.

That's like promising a case of Summit to the party and showing up with that bathwater called Leinenkugel's. It's not a fair deal at all. Good Minnesota beer for Wisconsin bathwater, no sir.

The booze tax ultimately failed, but the feelings of the Chippewa Falls brewery were still bruised. (Brews'd?)

This weekend, Zellers made amends by visiting the Leinenkugel's Brewery for atonement over cold ones.

Ross Evavold for the Chippewa Herald:

When contacted in April by the Herald for a reaction to Zellers’ apology, Jake Leinenkugel laughed it off, and issued an invitation to the Zellers to visit him at the brewery.

“He came home and said we were invited, and I said, ‘We’re going,’” Kim recalled.

So the couple each enjoyed a Summer Shandy in the company of the Leinenkugels on Saturday. They posed for photos under a Leinenkugel’s tent and in front of Duncan Creek, which cuts through the brewery property and doesn’t in the least resemble “bathwater.”

It didn’t take long for the Zellers and the rest of their contingent — including Rep. Joe Hoppe (R-Chaska) — to fit right in with the thousands of Leinenkugel drinkers that surrounded them.

In fact, one of Kurt Zellers friends was heard to exclaim after taking a sip from his cup of Leinie’s, “Best beer in the world.”

This time, there were no dissenters.

Rhonda Sivarajah, Chair of the Anoka County Board and former candidate for lieutenant governor of Minnesota, announced this morning in Ham Lake that she would be running for Minnesota’s sixth congressional district made open by Michele Bachmann.

Sivarajah also launched a website at RhondaForCongress.com.

Anoka County Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah will be making an announcement Wednesday morning regarding her future. I am assuming that she will declare her candidacy for Minnesota's open Sixth Congressional District.

The announcement will be made tomorrow at 9:30 am at the Victory Auto on State Highway 65 and Constance Boulevard in Ham Lake.

Apparently, it's Bicycle Awareness Week in Minneapolis because three stories involving bike chains popped up in the news this weekend.

First up, bicycle groups are trying to get more women to bike to work. The whole story is unintentionally hilarious, but here are my highlights.

Just 25 percent of Twin Cities bike commuters are women. While that is on par with the national average of 24 percent, it marks a decline from the 33 percent the Twin Cities recorded in 2008, according to some counts.

Advocates say three major factors keep women off the roads: safety, gender roles and certain stereotypes of the male-dominated biking community, such as skintight jerseys and shorts.

Male bicyclists in "skintight jerseys and shorts" isn't a biking problem, it's a national scourge. What part of biking through Uptown makes you think you're competing in the Tour de France? You're 45, you wear spandex, and America is ashamed of you.

Because many women are responsible for child care and domestic responsibilities, they run multiple errands at places such as the dry cleaner, library or grocery store on the way to and from work. As a result, women view biking to work as unfeasible…

That's because biking is unfeasible. Bicycles are only a mode of transportation if you have no real responsibilities in life.

But, bicycles do have a plus-side. Let's say you want to drive home after tying one on. You can legally get home on a bicycle!

Two-wheeled tippling is legal in Minneapolis, but not without risks. One study conducted by Minneapolis found that bicyclists were impaired by alcohol or drugs in nearly 6 percent of the nearly 3,000 bicyclist-motorist collisions that occurred between 2000 and 2010, including 12 fatalities.

The other 94 percent of bicyclist-motorist collisions were the result of jerk-ass bicyclists in spandex thinking traffic rules don't apply to them and obnoxiously getting in the way of a far more powerful car.

So you can bike drunk. And thanks to the people at Pedal Pub, you can get drunk while biking. But some people have a problem with that.

“Everyone’s welcome in the neighborhood, but we ask that you respect that we live here,” Cowles said. “It’s a safety concern and a noise concern.”

Cowles is one of a growing number of neighbors who aren’t having quite as much fun as the 16 people riding the rolling bars. For months, a Facebook page has been taking complaints. On the page, there’s a picture from a bike that wasn’t able to get out of the way of an ambulance and home video of just how noisy they can be.

Someone finally figures out how to have a great time on a bike and the No-Fun Police show up to try to stop it.

However, not many from the No-Fun Police came out to protest the 4th annual Northeast Pedal Pub races. The video from WCCO only shows three people protesting, so maybe it's not actually news.

Well, what have we learned:

Don't bike to work; there's no shower and you can't run errands.

Do bike to the bar; you can legally bike back home if you're in Minneapolis.

Tom Emmer, former state representative and candidate for governor, announced in Delano this evening that he would be running for Minnesota's sixth congressional district made open by Michele Bachmann.

He released a video on YouTube at the same time as his announcement in Delano.

Emmer also launched a website at EmmerForCongress.com

This doesn't make sense.

Tim Pugmire reporting for Minnesota Public Radio:

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton is defending Minnesota's recent income tax increase on top earners as lawmakers in neighboring Wisconsin consider a plan to cut income taxes.

He also suggested that Minnesota could be looking at its own tax cuts in the coming years.

[…]

"We have a formula that works for us, a high-value, well-educated people, and very productive people," Dayton said. "We'll keep working on that. But if we get some surpluses in the next year or two, which looks promising so far, and we get the school debt paid off, there's nothing I'd rather do than reduce taxes."

Governor Dayton sees a tax cut in the future? When does he think that will happen?

Dayton said a tax cut could be up for consideration as soon as next session, but more likely in 2015.

Susan Perry reporting for MinnPost:

In a provocative commentary published in the June issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, anesthesiologists Dr. Michael Joyner and Dr. David Warner propose increasing current taxes on alcohol and tobacco and implementing new taxes on fatty foods and sugary beverages.

The taxes would significantly lower the burden of alcohol-, smoking-, and obesity-related disease in the United States, they write, and the extra revenue could be used to fund a variety of health-promoting projects.

Such so-called sin taxes are “thoroughly American,” they add.

First, taxes are a punishment. Doctors and politicians want to control your lives. As we're learning from the IRS scandal, what better way to control you than through our insanely complicated tax code.

Second, the extra revenue from sin taxes doesn't go to fund "health-promoting projects". That money end up in the general fund like all the rest and gets spent on sports stadiums, and Malls of America, and Destination Medical Centers.

Third, how are sin taxes "thoroughly American"?

According to the doctors, taxes on alcohol, tobacco and unhealthful foods should be attractive to people on both ends of the political spectrum. The taxes should appeal to liberals because they help promote behaviors that reduce socioeconomic and racial health disparities. But they should also appeal to free-marketers.

“From a market perspective,” the doctors write, “the Pigovian tax argument that individuals who engage in behaviors that increase costs to society in the form of increase medical costs should bear an increased individual responsibility for funding these costs should also be attractive to conservatives.”

Sin taxes are extremely regressive; the poor pay a higher share compared to their income. Liberals say they hate regressive taxes, but for some reason they keep increasing those sin taxes. Fair share much?

As for conservatives, I don't think these doctors understand that government control of free markets is frowned upon.

Minnesota's super-rich governor says he plans on going with contributions only for his re-election campaign in 2014.

Baird Helgeson reporting for the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

“I am not going to self-finance to the amounts that I have done in the past,” Dayton said referring to the last governor’s race and his bids for U.S. Senate that drained millions of his personal fortune.

Mark Dayton spent a lot to get elected to the governor's mansion and the U.S. Senate. Brian Bakst of the Associated Press says Dayton spent "$3.9M into 2010 race and nearly $12M into 2000 Senate race".

The left loves to portray the right at the part of the rich. But Mark Dayton's political career is a perfect example of why the opposite is true. Dayton has been able to self-finance multiple state-wide campaigns and win. Liberal independent expenditure groups are extremely well-funded by unions and Dayton's ex-wife, Alita Messinger.

The Democrat Party is the party of the rich. The left in Minnesota has far more money to spend than the right does. Governor Dayton will probably not have a problem spending only what gets donated to his campaign.

Possible Republican sixth district candidate Tom Emmer was seen in Elk River yesterday with Rep. Nick Zerwas and a camera crew according to the Elk River Star News. (hat tip: Tom Scheck)

The Delano man took a walk yesterday along Main Street and Jackson Avenue in Elk River with a film crew in tow. He made stops at the Olde Main Eatery – a familiar stop for Bachmann – and River’s Edge Commons Park.

Now, this video crew is probably just for a campaign ad, but what if Emmer is starring in a reality show?