March 2022 Newsletter
Dear Mom
by Al Brown
“It’s the economy, stupid.” - James Carville, 1992
Carville had it right thirty years ago. Things haven’t changed much when it comes to the American public. When folks talk about inflation at kid’s hockey practice, you know it’s a hot button.
Even more important in February, when you can’t get tater tots for your hot dish, you feel it in your gut.
It’s clear now that the administration and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell were wrong when they said inflation was transitory in 2021. Interest rate hikes begin in March along with pretty much whatever else it takes to keep inflation at single digits. With a national debt nearing $29 trillion, the Fed can only take it so high.
I didn’t think inflation would last this long because I didn’t think the Pandemic was going to drag on. Silly me. For some reason, I thought people would take a life-saving vaccine when offered.
Powell laid out a reasonable plan subject to change as we muddle our way through. At least, it sounded reasonable to me until I listened to the beating he took from the peanut gallery. I’m not sure how that man keeps such a nice head of hair with that much manure thrown his way.
Maybe it serves as some sort of conditioner.
President Joe doesn’t have as much hair, but he’s getting more of the same conditioner these days. It doesn’t take Fox “anything but news” to tell him inflation is a liability in the next election. Parties in power can only do so much to influence the economy, but they can take all the blame.
I will say this until I run out of breath, which isn’t likely. Pass the child tax credit as soon as possible. Taking the money you gave America’s poor and working families at Christmas was more than a bad idea, it was stupid.
“It’s stupid, stupid.” – me
Democrats can’t do much about the shortage of shipping containers or my brother’s refusal to take the vaccine, but they can put this back in place. They might even pull in the likes of Mitt Romney to make it bipartisan. This is the kind of thing that could save a seat or two in places like Virginia – where we just took a shellacking. It’s the kind of thing that will be important in Minnesota.
Love you,
Your Democratic son
PRECINCT/TOWNSHIP CAUCUSES RECAP
Because of the surge of COVID in January due to the Omicron variant, Senate District 26 DFL chose to do “contactless” caucuses, something the state DFL allowed us to do for this year only.
This meant anyone who wanted to “attend” caucuses could send a “non-attendee” form by email before or on February 1 or drop it off in person at one of the schools where caucuses were to have been held on the evening of February 1. Those filling out forms could indicate if they wanted to be a delegate to the unit convention and could volunteer to be a precinct/township chair or vice chair, a member of the preconvention committees for the unit convention, or an election judge. Resolutions could be submitted using a different form, again by email or in person. All resolutions were deemed to have been passed by the caucus in which the person submitting them would have been and will be discussed and voted on at the organizing unit convention. Election of precinct/township chairs and vice chairs was deferred until after the unit convention. In precincts/townships where more people wanted to be delegates to the unit convention than there were slots, there was to be a random drawing withing ten days of the caucus to select delegates with the other applicants becoming alternates.
We had 336 people submit non-attendee forms in Senate District 26, a slightly smaller number of people attending than in 2020. We elected 304 delegates to a unit convention. Only Precincts 2, 6, and 7 in Ward 4 needed to have drawings to select delegates and alternates. There were plenty of resolutions, submitted, too.
Of the 304 delegates, 182 will be in the new Senate District 24. 19 delegates whose caucuses were run by Olmsted-25 DFL, but who will be in the new Senate District 24 were added for a total of 201.
2022 DFL CONVENTIONS
Redistricting has upended plans for local DFL conventions. If the Olmsted County portion of Senate District 24 becomes its own organizing unit, its convention will be Saturday, March 26 at Mayo High School. Registration will begin at 9:30 and the convention will convene at 11 AM. That convention will elect officers and directors for the unit, delegates and alternates to the 1st Congressional District and state conventions, and members and alternates of the 1st Congressional District and state DFL Central Committees. They will also discuss and vote on resolutions introduced at caucuses, deciding which will be sent along to the state convention, and adopt a new unit constitution. They will NOT endorse candidates for the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate. That will be done at a separate convention whose location, date and time will be determined in consultation with the Dodge County DFL, since each county has some of Senate District 4’s territory.
If the Olmsted County portion of Senate District 24 and Dodge County DFL decide to form a Senate District 24 DFL organizing and endorsing unit there will be a single convention, with delegates from both counties, to handle the organizing unit business as noted above and to make endorsements. However, that convention would probably not happen on March 26.
The 1st Congressional District DFL convention will be Saturday, May 14 at Southwest Middle School in Albert Lea. The DFL candidate for Congress from the district for the full-two year term will be endorsed at that convention.
The State DFL convention is just six days later. It starts in the evening of Friday, May 20 and ends on Sunday, May 22. It will be held at the Mayo Civic center in Rochester. All DFL candidates for statewide office will be endorsed at that convention, but it doesn’t look as if the people now in office, all of whom are running for re-election, face any significant opposition within the DFL.
CONGRESSMAN HAGEDORN DIES
Congressman Jim Hagedorn died on February 17. He had metastatic kidney cancer, diagnosed in 2019, that had recurred in 2021 despite him getting the best immunotherapy treatment available for that cancer. He also had a COVID infection early this year, leading to a prolonged hospitalization in January at Mayo. He was only 59.
Governor Walz can’t appoint someone to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, unlike the U.S. Senate. A seat in the House can only be filled by an election. Governor Walz has issued an order for a special election. By law, the filing period must close by mid-March. If needed there will be a primary election for this seat on Tuesday, May 24 using the 2012-22 Congressional district lines. The general election for the unexpired term will be held Tuesday, August 9, along with the statewide primary election.
The person elected in August will serve until early January 2023. There will be a primary, if needed for the 2023-2025 term, using the new 1st District lines, on Tuesday, August 9 with the general election being held on Election Day, Tuesday November 9. This means that voters in Olmsted County will be voting for someone who would serve out Hagedorn’s unexpired term and may be voting in a primary to determine who the candidates are in November for the next full term on the same ballot.
At the time this was written, no candidates had come forward to run for either the unexpired term or for the next term, but that may change quickly. There has been speculation that Carla Nelson might run, as she ran against Hagedorn in the 2018 primary.
The last Representative from the 1st Congressional District to die in office was August Andresen, who died in 1959 after serving thirty-one years in Congress.
POLITICAL UPDATE: FEDERAL AND STATE
A statewide poll last month (https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/poll-walz-leads-all-gop-challengers-but-race-tightens/) found
Walz: 42% Walz: 43% Walz: 45%
Paul Gazelka: 37% Scott Jensen: 40% Michelle Benson: 37%
Polls with less well-known Republican candidates showed slightly better results for Walz. The Cook Political Report recently rated this race as a Likely DFL win.
The Legislature convened for 2022 on January 31. It’s still in the phase where lots of bills are being heard in committee, but almost none are coming to the floor. This is a bonding year and is also likely to see a supplementary budget due to the huge surplus the state has.
Nationally, 538.com lists a composite of Biden’s national poll ratings at 41.8% approval and 53.6% disapproval, a bit worse than two months ago. There haven’t been polls recently in Minnesota about his overall approval and disapproval ratings.
The 1st Congressional District seat in the U.S. House will remain empty until mid-August following Congressman Hagedorn’s death. Democrats now have 222 seats while Republicans have 211. There are two vacancies.
In February, funding for the Federal Government was extended through March 11, but this is still based off funding approved while Trump was President. Most think this Congress will decide on new spending levels to last through September by March 11. The January 6th Committee in the House continues to expose how bad the plot to keep Biden’s election from being confirmed was.
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 again has scheduled office hours:
Monday-Friday 1 PM-5 PM
Saturday 10 AM-2 PM
Sunday 1 PM-4 PM
We also check telephone messages regularly. If you have a question or concern when the office is not open, call us at 507-536-9785, leave a message and we will get back to you.
Masks are required when in the office with others and social distancing is expected.
DFL SOCIAL MEDIA
We will develop a new unit email address once the unit reorganization is completed.
Official communications come from SD DFL (though the full address is above). Watch for them.
We plan to change the titles of our Twitter account, website, and Facebook group, and Instagram account, but the information below will be valid for a while.
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.
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.
The 1st Congressional District DFL also has a website at https://www.dflcd1.org/
