With just over a week until the Minnesota Primariy Elections, Sunday's Saint Paul Pioneer Press gave a black eye to the Minnesota Virtual High School by revealing they recently terminated Shelley Madore, a candidate for Congress, after she reported taxpayer fraud at the charter school. Madore's campaign provided little comment about her charges or the school's reactions, noting the investivation was on-going.
FEC filings by Madore's opponent Powers, including his late-filed Personal Finance Discolsure have omissions and/or inconsistencies that might well be a telling story in and of themselves, but what is there reveals he has ample personal assets to loan his campaign $35,000 dollars, giving him the edge in money raised and cash on hand - though both campaigns are struggling to attract donations with so much press attention on other Minnesota races. Twin Cities media in particular has focused on both Tarryl Clark's high-profile, possibly quixotic bid to unseat Tea Party diva Michelle Bachmann and the hotly-contested 3-way gubernatorial primary contest, devoting scant coverage to the Congressional primary on the other site of the metro.
The Pioneer Press story characterizes both 2nd District Democratic campaigns as limping into the primary. The Star Tribue ran a brief article in late July describing Madore's opponent as having a "sketchy résumé" in their first coverage of the primary in months.
Madore's campaign has made little reference to her opponent's extended unemployment or his campaign's reliance on his life story to influence voters rather than policy statements, preferring to highlight concrete differences such as Powers
failure to hire union workers back when he ran his small business versus her solid voting record as an effective state legislator and endorsements from local and national organizations.
Teacher's unions seem particularly delighted to have a candidate with experience in both the legislature and public education on the ballot: Madore counts endorsements from the National Education Association (NEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and Education Minnesota among her growing list.
Voters along the south Twin Cities Metro have a choice between the former legislator/watchdog and an unemployed former contractor who "fell into politics" (after falling from a roof) in the looming August 10th primary, after which the winner will challenge the incumbent Representative John Kline (R-MN) in the November 2010 election."When I shared it, I was terminated..."
Former MN Representative
Shelley Madore
former MN State Rep. Shelley Madore
FEC filings by Madore's opponent Powers, including his late-filed Personal Finance Discolsure have omissions and/or inconsistencies that might well be a telling story in and of themselves, but what is there reveals he has ample personal assets to loan his campaign $35,000 dollars, giving him the edge in money raised and cash on hand - though both campaigns are struggling to attract donations with so much press attention on other Minnesota races. Twin Cities media in particular has focused on both Tarryl Clark's high-profile, possibly quixotic bid to unseat Tea Party diva Michelle Bachmann and the hotly-contested 3-way gubernatorial primary contest, devoting scant coverage to the Congressional primary on the other site of the metro.
The Pioneer Press story characterizes both 2nd District Democratic campaigns as limping into the primary. The Star Tribue ran a brief article in late July describing Madore's opponent as having a "sketchy résumé" in their first coverage of the primary in months.
"His only income in 2009 was $28,000 in unemployment insurance, according to a financial disclosure report filed in Washington."
24 July 2010
Madore's campaign has made little reference to her opponent's extended unemployment or his campaign's reliance on his life story to influence voters rather than policy statements, preferring to highlight concrete differences such as Powers
failure to hire union workers back when he ran his small business versus her solid voting record as an effective state legislator and endorsements from local and national organizations.Teacher's unions seem particularly delighted to have a candidate with experience in both the legislature and public education on the ballot: Madore counts endorsements from the National Education Association (NEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and Education Minnesota among her growing list.
Let me clarify my use of the word "quixotic" since I've been asked.
ReplyDeleteI support Tarryl Clark's campaign whole-heartedly, both philosophically speaking and financially - I am a Clark donor from before when she won the party endorsement.
Nonetheless, with the national focus that Bachmann's rhetoric has garnered she's also become so high-profile that her fund-raising out-strips Clark's by a substantial margin. Should that matter? No. But if there was no value in repetitious advertising would Budweiser be the King of Beer in the USA? I think not.