I don’t have much personal news to report. I haven’t done any networking lately; and I’m not any closer to my goal of helping to found a political action group of crunchy cons. I haven’t even called Ryan Law, the chairman of the defunct America First Party of Minnesota. His old telephone number doesn’t work, and there are two Ryan Laws in the phonebook. I’ll eeney meeney it when this semester is over, I suppose.
This is campaign season, and the opportunities for networking are out there. The National America First Party sent me a mailing the other day, and a request for donations. I am impressed with what a handful of people and a few thousand dollars a year can accomplish. All the minutes of the various committee meetings are duly posted on the America First Party webpage.Transparency is a sign of professionalism, in my opinion.
But they chose to implode the party rather than allow Col. Bo Gritz to speak at the 2002 convention, and implode it did. If they thought Bo Gritz was too extreme, they should have countered him with ideas. Instead they canceled the convention, burdening the party with a large hotel debt for nothing and driving out half the membership.
No, they won’t be getting any money from me.
The Independence Party has a 5Th Congressional District convention on Tuesday, May 9th. It looks like a worthwhile event. Peter Hutchinson will probably make an appearance, and I’ve heard they will be nominating a surprise US House candidate. That is good, because I won’t be supporting any of the candidates who have declared themselves so far. But alas, I have a final exam that night. Oh, well—business before politics.
The IPMN statewide convention is June 24th, and is being held at a baseball stadium after a Saint Paul Saints minor league baseball game. What a great way to hit your target market of underdog lovers, eh?
The Constitution Party doesn’t have much of a presence in CD 5. I think they just got a district chairman, but I don’t know of any upcoming convention. My girlfriend’s district, CD 6 on the other hand, has always been dynamic for a third party—thanks to present chairman Melvin Niska, and the previous chairman John Robillard (who has since become State Chairman). They hold events regularly, and publish a newsletter called the CD6 “Standard Bearer”. I subscribe even though I’m not in the district because it’s quite good. CD6 has a convention coming up on April 22. I may convince my girl to take me to that.
The CPMN convention is May 20. The speaker is John Lofton, a columnist for the Washington Post. I’m not familiar with him, but I’ve heard he’s an entertaining fellow. So far I’ve only heard of one statewide candidate- U.S. Senate Candidate Benjamin Powers, from Austin, MN. He has an interesting website up http://www.powers2006.info/. I imagine I’ll be endorsing him, after I learn more about him. I imagine he would consent to a quick interview here.
I haven’t paid dues to the CPMN for a couple of years, so I imagine I’m not a dues paying member anymore. I suppose I have to decide between attending the IPMN state convention and the CPMN state convention fairly soon. I can’t attend both, right? If all other things come to weigh with me equally, one fact will then tip the balance- the food at a CPMN convention is always delicious.
Another interview I think I could procure is one with my friend and State Senate Candidate Soren Sorensen. He was mentioned yesterday in his local city paper, The Bemidji Pioneer, because he lodged a formal complaint to the State DFL about the way the Beltrami County DFL caucus was held. The State DFL found error with the county’s delegate selection process, and ordered a new caucus. Beltrami has said it will defy the order.
And that wasn’t the only controversy in Bemidji that night. A staffer from a Gubernatorial campaign devised an anonymous blog under the aegis of writing about the convention but really to smear a rival candidate.
That would make a good interview, I should think.
Hope you'll visit TheAmericanView.com
Posted by: John Lofton | June 22, 2006 at 12:00 PM