January 2022 Newsletter
Dear Mom
by Al Brown
It was a wonderful Christmas. Turkey and ham were served with not a single helping of politics. I suspect we were just worn out.
No one wanted to fight, not even the siblings. All in all, it was a delightful conclusion to a lousy year.
I’m sure that will change as we enter 2022, but the Pandemic has taken its toll.
I’m not sure how much either party should count on anger in 2022. I suspect the GOP knows this. I watched a Dec. 14 clip of Trump and Bill O’Reilly where Trump scolded followers for booing when he admitted to taking a booster shot. The Malignant Mango has moved on from his bleach cure.
Given how little interest family members from both parties have with the Jan. 6 attempted coup, I’m not counting on the results to win in 2022 or 2024. The sources of information are too fragmented and diluted to maintain the national outrage Baby Boomers once took for granted in an era of Television news. It’s not there in our click-news, social media world.
Democrats will have to show again and again what is at stake. A woman’s right to choose. Voter’s rights. We must show what is at stake and what we have done for voters.
Those bridges that keep collapsing up and down the country’s interstates will finally get fixed. Clean water will flow in once neglected neighborhoods.
Six million children were removed from poverty in July 2021 alone with the expanded Child Tax Credit and COVID-related economic relief, according to the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University.
Six million.
Unfortunately, that will be lost if we fail to live up to what could be the greatest legacy of this presidency. We must pass the extended child tax credit as soon as possible and return those checks to American families. Otherwise, they will not remember we succeeded …
They will remember we failed to live up to a promise and hunger returned because of it.
And not just hunger.
Your granddaughter is talking about adding another great-grandchild to our very middle-class family.
That tax credit is part of the reason why.
Child care costs as much as their mortgage. That tax credit may very well determine whether she and her husband can afford to have another child in the next two years.
Not every benefit is determined by class, and frankly, I’ve had about enough of pitting one economic class against another.
That tax credit will hit a lot of family pocketbooks in 2022.
America needs those children. We are seeing a steady decline in the US population that many predict will lead to economic stagnation. It is especially concerning in the US where we seem determined to cut off needed immigration.
Democrats have control of the House, the Senate and the Presidency. We must come together as a party and pass the Child Tax Credit in 2022 as soon as possible.
That’s where we begin to Build Back Better … for the millions of children lifted out of hunger in 2021 as well as middle-class families essential to this country’s future.
Love you,
Your Democratic son
CHAIR’S LETTER
Mark Liebow
2022 will be a redistricting year and an election year. While we won’t be voting for President or for a U. S. Senator, we will have a chance to replace Jim Hagedorn, our awful member of Congress, and will be electing a Governor/Lieutenant Governor ticket, Attorney General, Auditor, Secretary of State, a state Senator, and a state Representative, as all members of the Minnesota House and Senate will be up for election after redistricting. Our area will be important in both statewide and legislative elections. Replacing Carla Nelson with a DFL Senator would help the DFL as it tries to flip the Minnesota Senate to DFL control. Getting another DFL state representative in place of Nels Pierson makes it more likely the DFL continues to control the Minnesota House of Representatives. A strong DFL vote locally helps our statewide elected officials get re-elected.
Precinct caucuses will be Tuesday, February 1, just a month from now. We still need people to help with caucuses, especially as caucus conveners. We will train you to be a convener. If you can help, let us know at sd26mn.dfl@gmail.com. There is a separate article about caucuses in this newsletter.
We have reserved Mayo High School for Saturday, March 26 for our organizing unit convention, under whatever new title we have after redistricting. The delegates to that convention will be elected at the February 1 caucuses. We are currently an endorsing and an organizing unit, the only one in southern Minnesota. If we are still that after redistricting, we will also endorse candidates for the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives at this convention. If not, there will be a separate convention for endorsing those candidates.
We will need new leaders to step up for this new decade. Please consider taking a leadership role in your local DFL unit. I do not plan to run for re-election and the Vice-Chair position has been vacant since early 2021. Our treasurer does not plan to run for re-election and the Secretary’s position is vacant, since he resigned last fall.
While it is theoretically possible that the Minnesota legislature, which has primary responsibility for redistricting, could come up with a map that could pass both the Senate and the House and be signed by Governor Walz by February 15, the deadline set in law for doing so, it seems increasingly unlikely. If that doesn’t happen the redistricting panel created by the Supreme Court will issue maps that day. The four groups of plaintiffs in the case have all submitted their proposed maps and their responses to the other groups’ maps. There will be oral arguments on the maps January 4 and the panel will then come up with its own map.
If you want to tell Jim Hagedorn (via his staff) you’re not happy with him, Indivisible Rochester has a protest every Monday 11-11:30 AM at his Rochester office (corner of Salem Road & Greenview Dr, SW, Rochester-just west of T.J. Maxx Plaza).
PRECINCT /TOWNSHIP CAUCUSES WILL BE TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1 AT 7 PM
Registration for caucuses starts at 6:30 and the caucuses themselves start at 7. Caucuses are a great chance to do grassroots democracy with your neighbors. As usual, at caucus DFL precinct or township chairs and two vice chairs will be elected, delegates will be elected to the next-level convention(s), and resolutions that may become part of the DFL platform or Action Agenda will be debated and voted on. It does not look as if there will be a preference ballot for the Governor race unless a DFL opponent to Governor Walz emerges in the next few days.
If you’re not able to come, for whatever reason, here’s the form you should fill out if you want to run for delegates or for a precinct/township leadership position. https://dfl.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Adopted-7-August-2021-Rev-A-Page-A-3.pdf
If you want to submit a resolution, here’s the form for that.
https://dfl.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Adopted-7-August-2021-Rev-A-Page-A-1.pdf
(We’re in Congressional District 1 and our organizing unit is SD26. If you live in Rochester, find your precinct at https://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us. If you live in a township or a different city, list that is the space for Precinct).
Email completed forms to me at mark.liebow@gmail.com.
Caucuses traditionally held in Chatfield, Eyota, and Stewartville will be held there this year. All other caucuses for Senate District 26 DFL will be held at John Marshall High School (1510 14th St., NW in Rochester). To find the exact room for your caucus, check the Secretary of State’s website (sos.mn) or the DFL’s website (dfl.org) after mid-January and enter your home address.
POLITICAL UPDATE: FEDERAL AND STATE
A statewide poll last month (https://kstp.com/politics/surveyusa-poll-gov-tim-walz-leads-all-gop-challengers-but-many-undecided/6326078/) found Tim Walz’s approval rating at 55% with 41% disapproving and 3% not sure. He did slightly worse on his handling of the economy, with 52% approving, 42% disapproving and 7% not sure. Not surprisingly, this carried over to head-to-head comparisons with Republican candidates for Governor.
Walz: 47% Walz: 48% Walz: 47%
Paul Gazelka: 34% Scott Jensen: 36% Michelle Benson: 35%
Other Party: 5% Other Party: 5% Other Party: 4%
Undecided: 14% Undecided: 11% Undecided:14%
Polls with less well-known Republican candidates showed similar results. These results are slightly worse than Mark Dayton had in March 2014, the closest comparison I could find.
There’s no talk anymore about a special session before the regular session begins on January 31.
The same poll found President Biden’s “overall approval rating is 48% with 48% also voicing disapproval. On the handling of the economy, Biden is much lower at 42% approving with 53% disapproving.” Nationally, 538.com lists a composite of Biden’s national poll ratings at 43.7% approval and 51.7% disapproval.
Jim Hagedorn continues to take bad votes, but isn’t voting in person. He is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for his use of public money in office.
In December, funding for the Federal Government was extended through January, the debt ceiling was raised, the defense authorization bill passed, and lots of judges and administration officials were confirmed. Biden has appointed and had confirmed more Federal judges in his first year in office than any President since Reagan. The Build Back Better (soft infrastructure) bill is still in the Senate, as are voting rights bills. The January 6th Committee in the House continues to expose how bad the plot to keep Biden’s election from being confirmed was, recommending Mark Meadows, Trump’s last Chief of Staff, be prosecuted for criminal contempt of Congress. Congress will start again this week.
TIM WALZ WILL BE THE GUEST SPEAKER AT THE SENATE DISTRICT 26 DFL CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 10
Our next Central Committee virtual meeting will be Monday, January 10 from 7-9 PM on Zoom. Governor Walz will join us from 7:30-7:55. DFL meetings are public, so if you want to “attend”, register for the meeting on our website or using a Facebook post. Besides hearing from the Governor, we will talk about caucus and unit convention plans, discuss whether we can put on events this winter, hear about our fundraising mailing/emails, and receive officer’s reports.
The current Central Committee will serve through March. New precinct/township chairs will be elected at caucuses February 1. New officers and directors will be elected at the unit convention March 26. All of them will take office at the April Central Committee meeting, currently scheduled for April 11.
DONATE TO SENATE DISTRICT 26 DFL AND YOU COULD GET IT BACK
Your donation to Senate District 26 DFL helps make the DFL a bigger presence in Rochester. The Political Contribution Refund program starts again each year, so even if you made contributions and got a refund in 2021, you can get a refund for your 2022 contribution.
While one-time donations are welcome, we especially need monthly donations. We have a year-round office, which is expensive, but is crucial in a battleground area like Rochester. We don’t get money from the national Democratic Party. The state DFL contributes $500 a month, but that’s less than 1/3 of our rent. We rely on our local supporters to keep us going and to get the DFL message out. We need the money and you want an active DFL. If you give, there will still be an office for DFL in-person events and meetings when those are possible, DFL participation in events and parades that require entry fees, technology that makes the DFL work better, and outreach into underrepresented communities.
Donate to Senate District 26 DFL and you can get up to $50/person or $100 per married couple back from the state of Minnesota if you are eligible to vote in Minnesota. Do it now. Make your donation via ActBlue (https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/senate-district-26-dfl-party-1?refcode=sd2). If you prefer to write a check, make it payable to Senate District 26 DFL and send it to:
P.O. Box 9044
Rochester, MN 55903-9044
After you send us a donation, we’ll send you a receipt. Send the receipt and the form needed to claim the reimbursement (https://www.revenue.state.mn.us/media/59866) to
Minnesota Revenue Political Contribution Refund
St. Paul, MN 55146-1800.
File a claim and you’ll get a check back in a few weeks.
If you send a check, please include whether you are retired, self-employed or employed. If employed, include the name of your employer and your job title. The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board requires us to collect that information. If you use Act Blue, the appropriate information is collected.
KEEP UP ON WHAT’S HAPPENING POLITICALLY WITH FREE EMAILS
The Minnesota DFL has several free email publications:
Weekdays-In The Know-A news digest divided by topic.
Mondays-DFL Party Monday Memo- Talking points about current issues and key “stories to share”
Wednesdays-DFL Toolkit- Key stories with suggested social media posts and graphics.
Fridays-DFL Dispatch- Newsletter with a deeper dive into some topics, some within the DFL
To subscribe, email Brian Evans (bevans@dfl.org) and let him know which publications to which you want to subscribe.
ROCHESTER DFL OFFICE
The office, at 1500 1st Ave, Suite A, in Rochester does not currently have scheduled office hours. We monitor telephone messages regularly. If you have a question or concern, call us at 507-536-9785 and we will get back to you.
SD26mn.dfl@gmail.com AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA
This is a monthly newsletter. However, events often happen on short notice, so we may not be able to include them in the newsletter. Check our website and Facebook pages for the latest news.
Official communications come from SD DFL (though the full address is above). Watch for them.
We tweet from @sd26dfl and have a website at www.senatedistrict26dfl.com
We have a closed Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/144866495637545/
We share an open Facebook page with Olmsted-25 DFL and Senate District 25 at
https://www.facebook.com/sd26sd25olm25/?fref=ts
Our Instagram account is at dflsenatedistrict26.
Our office is unstaffed for now because of the pandemic but you can leave a message at 507-536-9785. We are monitoring the messages.
The Minnesota DFL’s website is at www.dfl.org. If you go there, click on the I am a … and choose Voter, you can enter your address and find out who your DFL elected officials are. If you click on Click here to join in the Senate District 26 box, it will take you to a secondary website that is currently out-of-date, but should be synchronized with our primary website soon.
The 1st Congressional District DFL also has a website at https://www.dflcd1.org/
