MARK DAYTON CENSORS BLOGGER

Mark Dayton

Mark Dayton or one of his staffers seached through my Facebook profile. It's like eavesdropping. You might find things you don't like. I don't know what he was upset about, since there were no names mentioned. There were no campaigns mentioned by name either. He somehow just assumed we were talking about his campaign. The reason we were talking about it is because we were wondering why his campaign was not going well and we were concerned about it.

Here's what the comment thread said. It started out wondering why only a few people came to the candidate's Meet & Greets. This is a reasonable question for supporters who are putting their time and money into a campaign. We want to know that the staffers are doing their job. Don't tell us it's none of our business. Perhaps Dayton should find ways to improve instead of rebuking criticism. Perhaps he should hire a motivational presenter to come in and teach the campaign how to be enthused and how to look and act enthused at events.

1st Person:  It doesn't look like very many people come to a certain candidate's Meet and Greets. Just a handful of mostly seniors.

2nd Person:  If it's the same one I'm thinking of, I saw it too....

1st Person:  All the pictures are like that. There aren't any with more than a dozen people. The campaign definitely needs revamping. It needs energizing. Someone on that staff is not doing their job.

2nd Person:  Don't know what's going on, but its NOT working. If I were to say one thing to them: This isn't theory and sitting in a classroom, kids, this is the REAL world. This race is going to get alot tougher.

1st Person:  I know. It's not looking good at all. His main campaign manager never seems to show much enthusiasm.

2nd Person:  Very unprepared and incompetent, but it might look good on a resume one day.

1st Person:  Enthusiasm is so important. I went to one event that he couldn't attend, but he had two staffers or volunteers there. It was the MYDFL convention. The two girls who were there on his behalf did a terrible job. I wanted to shoo them away and do it myself.

2nd Person:  Thats how I feel about the staffers. A race like this needs experienced, seasoned strategists. Makes me sad... :(

3rd Person:  I would love to be at all of them , but as you know I cannot drive, I am their in Spirit ...

1st Person:  I haven't been to any of them either. I'm sure they don't miss me.

4th Person:  Nothing wrong with us seniors. WE vote.

1st Person:  Yes, seniors always get out and vote. Kudos to us! And we're the largest percentage of the voters now.

After the Dayton campaign found this thread, I received this email from Dayton:

Since you asked how you can help my campaign, you can best do so by being consistently positive in your public comments about it -- or else, not commenting at all. In particular, your public criticisms of my staff are most unhelpful and most unwelcome.

My staff members are very dedicated women and men, who are doing their very best to help me win. I am a public political figure, and it is appropriate to criticize or attack me publicly. However, they are not public figures; and it is harmful and inappropriate, when you are critical of them.

Sincerely, Mark Dayton

Notice that when he's censoring, he signs with his full name, first and last, as opposed to his many, many previous emails to me in which he was just Mark when he signed.

And why does he think we were talking about his staff? Again, no names were mentioned. No candidate was mentioned. No campaign was mentioned. If he had kept quiet, no one would have known, and then he could train his staff to do better.

Listen, his staff includes some really great people. I can't say enough good things about their personalities and characters. But it takes enthusisam and motivated people to win a campaign. Is the campaign depressed because the candidate is depressed? The candidate sets the tone for the whole campaign. I can certainly attest to how down in the dumps depression can bring a person. It's like there's a big black cloud hovering around you.

I don't always feel like that though. Only when Dayton is reprimanding me. When he used to smile at me or grin when he saw me, like I did when I saw him or even thought about him, I would grin a great big grin that wouldn't go away. Seriously. It was almost like being back on the West Bank in 1968.

And now look what happened. War. Chaos. Insecurity. Rejection. Bleakness. No serendipity to be found. This is definitely not a viable situation. My stomach has sunk to the ground. I feel nervous, very very dreadfully nervous. Can't sleep, can't eat. My nerves are shot.

And then another email from him:

I welcome your continuing support – which is certainly your prerogative -- as long as you leave my staff entirely out of your comments. You are, of course, entitled to say whatever you want about me. Everyone else does!

No he's not welcoming my support...he's only saying that because it is my prerogative...neither he nor his campaign will even talk to me anymore.

Oh whine whine whine. And here I've been telling people that Mark Dayton never whines about anything. Some of his Facebook supporters disagree. Some think he whines about Pawlenty constantly. He talked about how horrible Pawlenty is that he rarely took time to discuss issues and what he was going to do to fix Minnesota should he get elected governor. A few too many people complained a few too many times. They didn't like that he wouldn't answer them. Instead, he just kept posting news stories about Pawlenty's latest misdeed. It was pointed out by one of his FB friends that we on his FB page already know how horrible Pawlenty is. She wanted to know what he was going to do about various issues should he be elected governor. Some people got so fed up with him that they said they weren't going to support him anymore.

So now he set up his FB wall so that no one can comment on anything. Then he set up another fan page where people are supposed to join that and then make comments about the issues. Except he has over 3,000 people on his Mark Dayton FB page and only 312 have joined his fan page. He'll get more, but not nearly as many. Being a complete dork about FB does not get you more supporters.

I don't know if it's Dayton making all these faux pauxs on FB or if it's his staff. At one point his staff had emailed me and said they don't have anything to do with his FB; he does it all himself. Then some time after that, when one of my posts was deleted, his deputy campaign manager emailed me and said that staff deleted it. Two different stories. Here's the email I received from his Deputy Campaign Manager.

Dear Colleen, Mark shared with me the Facebook message you sent to him this morning. Your subsequent comment on Mark's FB wall, which I also deleted, makes any reply to your message irrelevant.

Notice that she says "which I also deleted." This means that his staff most certainly does have access to his FB page. For him to say they don't, then, is a blatant lie.

And what was it that was so necessary to delete? Why, it was a post in praise of his AFSCME on the Hill speech, which was an excellent speech, full of fire and passion. I was so proud of him for that speech. And my comment included the link to the video of the speech.

Doesn't he want to win the election???

After Dayton attempted to censor me, I shared it with another commenter. Here's what he had to say:

Freedom of speech is a given right. Don't like what's said about you, correct it or get the **** out of the way for someone else who can. You being chastized was most inappropriate. Imagine when the race gets really hot, then what?

And someone else privately sent me this email:

Said it before and I'll say it again: This is not a campaign for someone like Mark Dayton to run by a bunch of wet behind the ears college kids. Period. Where are the folks from his prior campaigns, is what I'd like to know. They were apparently very successful, and now he's got this? Mark's too smart for this. I like Mark alot. I feel like a traitor in my thoughts of supporting Paul, but I will do what I have to, to make sure we have a Democrat as our next governor.

He's either got some huge strategy or has made a huge mistake somewhere along the line. Time will tell. For him to write this to you really isn't appropriate. Keep doing what you're doing... my 2 cents worth.

And my response:

Thank you for your input. I agree that his staff is unseasoned. I think that he should give his supporters the same consideration that he gives his paid staff. After all, those of us who aren't paid are doing it from our hearts. I don't believe in censorship and I'm really surprised that Mark is trying to tell me what to write. If I can't say anything good don't say anything at all? I've said so many good things about him that I feel ridiculous. You're not a traitor in thinking of supporting Paul. Paul can win. I doubt if Mark can win the general election. The Republicans have way too much stuff on him. I feel bad about saying that, but it's true. And furthermore, I shouldn't be voting for someone just because I have a big crush on him. On the other hand, it's better than some people voting merely on name recognition. At least I know that if Mark did get to be governor, he'd be a darn good one.

People tell me that it's his loss. He didn't appreciate all I did for his campaign. He'll never know exactly how much that was. I guess I'm not rich enough for him to notice. I'm no Rockefeller, nor Lodge, nor Cabot, nor Ordway.

I just have strong Mayflower and Revolutionary War roots. My forefathers had surnames like Alden, Howland, West, Peabody, Bosworth, Baker, Burr, and all the earliest names from the earliest settlers. But no Daytons. No millionaires that I know of. How could they be? They all had a dozen kids.

As far as I can tell, all Dayton's millions does for him is make him lonely and ridden with feelings of guilt that he has so much more than others. Well give it all away, then, for crying out loud. I'll bet he couldn't survive without it, though. He wouldn't know how. Besides, he never earned it anyway. He got it handed to him on the proverbial silver platter. Big deal. He's just a spoiled rich kid. A Preppie. Yale. I'm not impressed by any of that. I used to be impressed with him personally, though. A lot.

Okay, so I guess it's all water under the bridge now, except I'm stuck under the water, tangled up in the pilings. I know I will drown soon. I guess I handled the entire Mark Dayton encounters wrong right from the beginning. Everything would have been fine had I not gone off so bad about him deleting my pictures from his FB album. Guess I was really jealous because there were so many pictures of him with others, and him with a woman here and a woman there, but he deletes mine. I was devastated. When I saw that, I burst into sobs. I knew then he didn't like me. Now I know he hates me.

So I guess that's why there's a war now.

Regardless, I am glad to see that there are more people coming to his Meet & Greets now. How do I know? I keep track through the photos on his Facebook page and on his website. It's very hurtful for me to look, but I can't seem to help it.

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