Senate District 53, Wards 1 - 5 + North Oaks

Gotta love those Canadian Mounties. The Pink Panther, Too.

Last night I attended a get together of the chairs and associate chairs of SD53, Wards one through five, plus North Oaks. The SD53 officers decided that the areas in the district should get together within their areas to get to know each other and to plan campaign strategies and activities. This was a great group of people. I'm glad to be a part of it.

Our District 53 candidates, Sandy Rummel and Chris Knopf, were in attendance, as well as their campaign managers. I met new people as well as those I already knew, such as Mark Schwartz, Dick Ottman and Mike Spellman. Mike is the new SD53 chair and is the one who led the meeting. He's an excellent speaker and makes great use of gestures, vocal variety and pauses. It was a joy to listen to him.

Emily Waymire was one of the new people I met. She is very dedicated to the DFL party. It was a pleasure to meet her.

Here are the topics from the agenda at last night's meeting:

1) An opportunity for us to meet our precinct chair and associate chair colleagues.

2) Solicit feedback on improving caucus participation and campaign grassroots execution.
3) Introduce any participating candidates, elected officials or SD officers.
4) Review of Precinct Officer Duties handout.
5) Distribution of precinct maps, list of caucus attendees and delegates, door knock route sheets.
6) Lawn sign distribution and recollection procedures.
7) Our community outreach and image.
8) Ideas on building our campaign volunteer base or improving party activities.
9) SD 53 Calendar of meetings, parades, and other party events.
10) Describe Role of Precinct Group Chair. Elect Group Chair.
11) Discuss most effective ways to stay in contact and be most effective as a team.
12) Discuss sharing contact email and phone information.
13) Social time.

J. P. Barone is the CD4 chair as well as a chair for one of the SD53 wards. He was not in attendance last night. However, I did run into him in the skyway in St. Paul a couple of days ago and had the opportunity to speak with him for several minutes. I commended him on his great oratory skills. What a nice man, too! CD4 is in good hands with him at the helm.

Next Tuesday evening SD53 will be meeting at Lino Lakes City Hall. I look forward to it.

I BET YOU THINK THIS BLOG IS ABOUT YOU, DON'T YOU

Me and my daughter Jennifer, about 1987.

This morning I went before the SD53 nominating committee. They said, "Ok, you're in." That was easy. I guess there's never enough volunteers. They'll tell me at the SD53 convention which position they'll give me. Probably assistant chair or even a CD4 director. Or maybe Affirmative Action Officer. Or all of the above. Somebody told me it's good to keep busy.

Afterwards I went to see GYM again. I also went on Thursday, at which time I met my trainer Tyler. I'm not sure where I got the name Nate. Tyler gave me an assessment and then discussed the results. Apparently the strongest part of my body is my biceps. That's from lugging kids around for forty years. Tyler said I could probably beat a lot of people arm wrestling. I'll bet I could beat Brian Klaas. All he ever lugs around is campaign literature. (I can say that cause I know he'll read this.)

I did a mile around the track today easily. Then the weight machines. And the stationary bike. Next the pool for an hour. Sometimes I have to push myself to actually go to Lifetime Fitness, but once I'm there, I feel pretty good. Somebody asked me if I get bored just running around in a circle on the track. No, I don't; I'm too busy daydreaming while I'm running. 

It was crowded there today. They were having an open house. I could have brought a guest or two.

After leaving GYM, I went to the grocery store. I looked for shelled pumpkin seeds. They always have them at the other Festival Foods. Not at this one, though. The stock boy didn't even know what they were. I was shocked. This was in the Burbs, too.

I came home and went on my computer. New blog posts at MN Moderate to Liberal Political Roundtable. Holly's making anti-Dayton posts. She thinks he's a freeloader and riding on the shirttails of the DFL party. Holly, Holly, Holly. Tsk tsk tsk. Dayton a freeloader? That's funny. I like Holly but don't agree with her on this one. The DFL endorsement process relies on delegates. There are very few delegates compared to the number of voters in Minnesota. The democratic process would include these voters. ALL the voters. So as far as I can see, Dayton can do no wrong by going straight to the Primary. It's the logical thing for him to do. It works for him. It works for the voters. Will it work for winning? That remains to be seen. 

What else is going on? There's an elusive something that is just out of reach. I don't know what it is. It'll come to me eventually. Meanwhile, it feels sad.

I'm still reading Rob Hahn's book. I like it. He's got quite a main character in this story. His name is Kelly and he's a newspaper reporter. He has to figure out whether the priest committed the murders.

Someone ripped the campaign bumper sticker off my car today while I was at the grocery store. Good thing I have a spare. 

I think I almost have the PowerPoint to YouTube figured out. The Geek Squad was no help at all. They know nothing about PowerPoint, apparently. I still have to figure out how to get three sound files to play more than once without having to reinsert them into the slides.

My life has been running about as smoothly as a pig on stilts lately. Hopefully that will change soon. 

Next I'll be blogging about the gubernatorial candidate interviews on Radio KFAI. Watch for it coming soon. Probably tomorrow.

Meanwhile, kudos to the legislators for moving the Minnesota Health Plan along. It's looking good.

Caucus: SD53, Ward 5

Me:  Back Row on Left

Not only did I attend my precinct caucus in White Bear Lake last night, but I was the convener as well. I haven't been very involved in politics at all since the late 1960's. I've been raising four kids, pretty much singlehandedly, for forty years. Now they're all grown and out of my home. My empty nest syndrome made me look for something to occupy my time. Sure, I keep very busy with a full time job, fighting HCV and being active in Toastmasters. I also belong to DAR, Mayflower Society and Red Hat Society. This year I'm the Eastern Division Governor in District 6 Toastmasters and hold a club officer position in Golden Rule Toastmasters Club. I also just joined Lifetime Fitness. Still, I figured that I have time to do just a wee bit more. Thus it was that I started involving myself in this year's election.

I really had no idea what I was doing as a convener. It's a good thing I was given all the paperwork by the SD53 chair as well as a short training session. My nine years of Toastmasters experience also helped, especially since it turned out that I was also the precinct caucus chair as well as the convener. I tried to get someone else to do it but they all said no, although some had experience at it. Every one of the 15 people who showed up for my precinct voted aye for me to be the chair. They said it loud and forcefully. There were no nays. Thus it fell upon me to be the chair and conduct the meeting.

We voted in 8 delegates, including myself. Yes, folks, I volunteered again. People tell me that I need to learn to say no. I'm spreading myself rather thin. I need to take time for rest and relaxation.

There were three resolutions that passed. Two were on environmental issues and the other was regarding the Supreme Court decision on making corporations into individuals.

Next I asked for volunteers to chair and co-chair the precinct for the next two years. No one said a word. So guess what? I'm now the precinct chair. Finally a gentleman agreed to be a co-chair. No one agreed to be on any of the committees. So guess what? Yup, I'm now a committee member as well. What have I done?

On the other hand, it's great meeting new people and getting to know some better. My old school chum Tom Snell was there. I didn't realize he lived in my district.

It was nice seeing Chris Knopf again. He's running for Representative in Senate District 53B. Hopefully he'll be able to beat Carol McFarlane. I graduated from White Bear High School with her. She's very nice, as everyone says, but she's Republican and always votes with Pawlenty. She's got to go. Chris Knopf is a fantastic guy and will do a great job.

David Schultz sent a cohort to speak for him. I thought she was too pushy and didn't have much of a personality.

As I was on my way out the door, who do you think I ran into? None other than Matt Entenza! I said, "Hi, Matt," and he came right up and shook my hand and asked me what I was doing there. I like him more all the time. He's friendly and has a nice voice. Maybe I should blog for him once in awhile. I really don't know very much about his goals as governor, even though I've been to most of the forums and debates.

Sandy Rummel was there and came right over to give me a big hug. No wonder I come to these events. Lots of people I meet there make me feel good. When you're fighting a chronic illness that is slowly destroying a major organ, it's good to feel good.

There were quite a few uncommitted votes on the ballot. I strongly suspect that most of those votes will be going to Mark Dayton in the primary.

I ATTENDED MY FIRST PRECINCT MEETING LAST NIGHT

Last night I attended my first precinct meeting. I live in White Bear Lake, so this was SD53. The meeting was at the other end of the precinct from where I live. It was at City Hall in Lino Lakes. I'm glad I went. I met some great people.

Paul Gardner was there. He's a Representative from Shoreview. He represents Shoreview, Circle Pines, North Oaks, Lexington, Blaine and Lino Lakes. On his website, he talks about how difficult it's going to be to balance the budget this year and that hard choices will have to be made. I highly recommend that people in his district reelect him.

Paul Gardner

Sandy Rummel was also in attendance. She's the state senator from District 53, which includes my city of White Bear Lake. I will definitely vote for her. Find out about Sandy at her website.

Sandy Rummel

At the meeting last night, Sandy told us that our state infrastructure is crumbling. That includes our roads, bridges, highways, schools and so much more. Many people don't understand that Pawlenty is not lowering taxes. He's just renaming them and passing them down to lower levels of government. Our state is in a terrible mess. Minnesota cannot afford a Republican governor. This mess simply cannot go on. I cannot emphasize this enough.

We had two guest speakers last night. The first was David Schultz. He's running for Ramsey County Attorney. (Susan Gaertner is not seeking reelection.) I really liked what David had to say. First, he's very much in favor of stopping scams and abuses against seniors. I was recently at a DAR meeting when we had the Minneapolis Postal Inspector give a presentation on how prevelent scams toward and fraud of seniors is. The second issue that Schultz talked about was ex-prisoners and how they have such a difficult time starting over. It's very hard for them to even get a job, even though they've already paid their debt to society. I met a homeless veteran who told me the same thing. Veterans with a felony, even though they served their time, find it almost impossible to get a job. They can't even get all their VA benefits. This is unacceptable. I'm glad that David Schultz wants to do something about it. He definitely meets the vision of reNEW Minnesota. Here's his website.

David Schultz

The second guest speaker was Tom Rukavina. He's been a state representative from the Iron Range for 12 terms (going on 24 years now). He's also a gubernatorial candidate. Tom spoke about his take on what's happening at the legislature and on the terrible problems that legislators are having with Governor Pawlenty. He also spoke of mining on the Iron Range and of the Ford plant. Rukavina knows labor issues inside and out. He seems to have a plan to fix Minnesota's budget crisis. I'll need to sit down and talk with him more about it. It was great to see his staffer Orrie Salper with him last night. (Orrie reminds me very much of my oldest son's long time best friend Nick. They both have that same infectious smile.) Here's Tom Rukavina's website.

Tom Rukavina

Here's a picture of Rukavina's staffer Orrie Salper. Orrie's the one on the left.

I really liked the way Tom and Orrie made sure they came over to where I was sitting to say hi. I felt bad for Tom, though, as he was really feeling under the weather. (And now I feel sick and have a fever so am staying home today.) He drove all the way down to the Cities, though, so he could attend the meeting.  You gotta like Tom Rukavina just because he's such a likeable guy. Some politicians don't seem to relate all that well to their supporters. Some don't even reply to emails. Tom Rukavina always does, though. I think he genuinely likes people. Sometimes I get the feeling that the candidate I support doesn't even want me to be such an adamant supporter. I don't think he even likes me. After all, I am bossy and opinionated and probably embarrass him with all my blogs and posts. Ever feel like you want to crawl in a hole and hide?

I learned a lot about how the DFL party process works at the meeting last night. I volunteered to be a convener at the caucus on February 2. I also plan to be a delegate. It's great to be involved, especially since I need something to keep me busy. It's just me and my cat now, you know, as my youngest son moved to Connecticut. Besides, it's kind of exciting to help elect people who can turn our state around.

My cat Amy, otherwise known as Kit E. Khat.

I might start calling her Mogen David because she whines so much.