#mark dayton

Nina Golgowski at HuffPost:

A Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker was fatally shot and a second wounded early Saturday morning by a gunman impersonating a police officer at their homes. An ongoing manhunt was underway Saturday for the suspect, who had flyers for the “No Kings” political protests in his vehicle, authorities said. State Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband, Mark, were fatally shot in “what appears to be a politically motivated assassination,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said at a press conference. Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife, Yvette, were also shot multiple times at their home and have undergone surgery, he said. “This was an act of targeted political violence,” Walz said, sharing that “we are cautiously optimistic” Hoffman and his wife “will survive this assassination attempt.”

A suspect wanted in the attack was identified Saturday afternoon as 57-year-old Vance Boelter. Authorities, speaking at a press conference, said it’s not yet clear whether Boelter, who reportedly had some local government work experience, personally knew the victims. Walz’s office appointed Boelter in 2019 to serve four years on the Governor’s Workforce Development Board. In 2016, he served on the Governor’s Workforce Development Council under then-Gov. Mark Dayton, The New York Post reported, citing documents. [...] The shootings occurred in a timespan of less than two hours at the lawmakers’ respective homes in Brooklyn Park and Champlin, north of Minneapolis, authorities said. Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said his officers found Hortman and her husband shot around 3:30 a.m. The police were “proactively” checking on the couple after being contacted by Champlin Police following the earlier shooting at Hoffman’s home.

2 Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota were shot at by a violent right-wing killer who was motivated by anti-abortion animus: one was killed (State Rep. Melissa Hortman [D], along with her husband) and one was shot at (State Sen. John Hoffman [D] and his wife).

See Also:

Twitter

Governor Dayton Proclaims “Taylor Swift Day” in Minnesota

August 31, 2018

Proclamation marks the pop star’s two shows in Minneapolis this weekend, a first for any artist at U.S. Bank Stadium

ST. PAUL, MN – In honor of the pop icon’s back-to-back performances at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis this weekend, Governor Mark Dayton is proclaiming Friday, August 31, 2018 as “Taylor Swift Day” in Minnesota. The two Minneapolis shows are just two of 56 dates on Swift’s 2018 ‘Reputation’ world tour. One of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Songwriters of All-Time and the youngest artist to win Album of the Year, the 28-year old singer-songwriter’s music and record-breaking career has inspired many fans in Minnesota and around the world.

Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 14 to pursue a career in music. Her rise to stardom began just two years later in 2006. At the age of 16, Swift released her first album, the self-titled Taylor Swift, and sold over 7 million copies. In the same year, she became the youngest artist to single-handedly write and perform a number one song on the Hot Country Song chart when “Our Song” rose to the top of the Billboard list.

To-date, Swift has released six studio albums and sold more than 40 million copies, making her one of the world’s best-selling artists. A talented storyteller often inspired to write by her personal life, Swift’s song lyrics resonate with young girls and women and drive her popularity in Minnesota and around the world. Swift’s successes include 10 Grammy Awards, 19 American Music Awards, 23 Billboard Music Awards, 20 Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Awards, and one Emmy. Swift is also a two-time Billboard Music Award Woman of the Year, and the first artist to have four albums sell over one million copies in one week in the United States.

Time Magazine recognized Taylor Swift as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in both 2010 and 2015. Time Magazine also named Swift as the sixth most powerful woman in the world in 2015. Most recently, Swift was named one of Time Magazine’s 2017 Persons of the Year for her role in the #MeToo movement.

‘Reputation’ is Swift’s fifth concert tour. She last performed in Minnesota during the The 1989 World Tour in 2015.

As the Minnesota Supreme Court is set to hear an appeal of Governor Dayton’s line-item veto of funding for the legislature, we thought we’d share the text from our copies of the 1858 Minnesota Constitution (top), and the 1876 amendment that created the line-item veto (bottom).  

Kaili Joy Gray at Daily Kos:

Right-wing media outlets are trying to manufacture a meaningful connection between the alleged gunman who killed Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman on Saturday and the state's Democratic governor, Tim Walz. They are wrong. Multiple media sources have identified the alleged perpetrator of what Walz called "a politically motivated assassination" as Vance Boelter, an employee of a private security group in the Twin Cities. The New York Post described Boelter in a headline as "former appointee of Tim Walz," reporting that the suspect served as a member of a panel called the Governor's Workforce Development Board until 2023. Other right-wing media outlets quickly pushed the message that Boelter was somehow tied to Walz, with Breitbart publishing a sensational headline: "REPORT: Gov. Walz Appointed Alleged Assassin of Minnesota House Speaker to Workforce Board." Blaze Media, founded by former Fox News host Glenn Beck, took it further in its headline: "Suspect tied to Walz? Democrat governor may have appointed alleged Minnesota shooter to state board."

And Elon Musk shared a baseless tweet that the violence was perpetrated by “the left," adding his own commentary, “The far left is murderously violent.”

But Boelter's service on the workforce board does not shed any light on his beliefs, nor does it indicate any personal connection to Walz. (The Post also notes deep in its article that Boelter "last registered to vote in 2004, as a Republican.") As law professor Quinn Yeargain explains, every state is required to create such a board thanks to a federal law called the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which was passed by wide bipartisan majorities and signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2014.