Report on the MN BPOU Chair Caucus Annual Meeting - April 16, 2011

The MN BPOU Chair Caucus exists to 1) establish lines of communication between all MN GOP BPOU Chairs, and serve as a repository of information, matreails, and best practices for every BPOU; 2) help strengthen every MN GOP BPOU; 3) remain neutral in all Republican Party and public elections and to strive to support all endorsed Republican candidates. BPOU Chairs are free to support and endorse candidates of their choosing. The Caucus, however, shall remain neutral; 4) to strive to uphold the platform of the MN GOP.

Jim Newberger (Becker County), MN BPOU Chair Caucus Lead, called the meeting to order immediately following the State Central Committee meeting on April 16, 2011.

The agenda was a follows:
Welcome
Pledge of Allegiance
Prayer
Explain Chair Caucus
Introduce Guests (Tony Sutton)
Election of new leadership (one year terms)
Other Business
Adjourn

MN GOP Chair Tony Sutton spoke about the importance of the BPOU and grassroots activities. There is a need to train BPOUs to raise money...they have to ASK...in person if at all possible. There will be training available in the near future.

Presidential election years bring new people to the caucus -- people who have never shown up before will come because they want to defeat Obama in 2012. It's just the way things work. Volunteer organizations are a revolving door and you will lose 50% of your volunteers. Let people leave graciously and thank them for serving.

Collin Peterson in CD7 only got 55% of the vote -- he's vulnerable in 2012.

• Democratic-Farmer-Labor COLLIN C. PETERSON = 133,096 votes or 55.20%


• Republican LEE BYBERG = 90,652 votes or 37.60%


• Independent GENE WALDORF = 9,317 votes or 3.86%


• Independence GLEN R. MENZE = 7,839 votes or 3.25%


• WRITE-INS = 193 votes or 0.08%

This is a death struggle for the Democrats and they're going to fight tooth and nail to survive.
Most people are hard-working citizens who believe in conservative values, but then they vote against those very values by voting Democrat.

Once Sutton left the meeting, new officers were elected. Names to follow as soon as I receive them.

Other discussions surrounded ideas for fund-raisers and how we could share ideas.

Report on the State Central Committee meeting in Bloomington - April 16, 2011

The State Central Committee convened on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at the Ramada Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. The primary purpose of the meeting was to hear reports from the MN GOP officers, to elect a State Chair, Deputy Chair and Secretary-Treasurer, as well as the election of a National Committeeman and National Committeewoman.

State Chair Tony Sutton appointed Linda Presthus as Credentials Committee Chair, Margaret Cavanaugh as Nominating Committee Chair, and Steve Perkins as Rules Committee Chair.

The rules committee had met on Wednesday, March 30, and the proposed rules were sent to all delegates and alternateson Friday, April 1.

The Nominating Committee met on the evening of Friday, April 15 to interview all candidates and bring their names forth to the convention floor.

The positions of State Chair, Deputy Chair and Secretary-Treasurer are somewhat self-explanatory. Incumbent State Chair Tony Sutten, Deputy Chair Michael Broadkorb and Secretary-Treasurer David Sturrock were re-elected.

There were many candidates for the positions of National Committeeman and National Committeewoman. But what does a Republican National Committeeman or Committeewoman do? This position serves two official roles: Represents the MN GOP on the Republican National Committee (RNC) and serves on the fourteen-member Minnesota Republic Party's Executive Committee. The RNC oversees administration of the national party, elects party leadership (including the Chairman of the RNC) and approves the RNC budget. The State party's executive committee oversees administration of the State Party, subject to decisions of the State Central Committee and the State Convention.

The specific duties of the Committeeman/woman are few -- but with an aggressive, activist Republican in this position, the potential impact is great for the State of MN.

Those running for National Committeeman and the final votes were:
Jeff Johnson = 186
Tom Emmer = 154
Phil Herwig = 2

Those running for National Committeewoman and the final votes were:
Pat Anderson = 180
Janet Beihoffer = 137
Mary Igo = 17
Pamela Punt = 6

Through-out the day, the delegates and alternates heard from MN and U.S. legislators. For the First 100 Days in the Minnesota House, the following actions were taken by House Republicans:

• Budget cuts income taxes and provides relief to all Minnesotans


• Stopping the tax and spend cycle and focuses the budget on where the problem lies ... state spending.


• Froze state employee salaries, will reduce the state employees 15% by 2015, will improve service and transform government for the 21st century


• Passed school choice, giving students stuck in chronically low-performing schools a chance for a quality education


• Reviewed "integration aid" programs and found money being wasted on kindness retreats, six-step hip-hop programs, art consultants and jobs such as "equity coach" and "newcomers teacher" paying upwards of $100,000 and by eliminating the wasteful program, saved more than $100 million


• Helped refocus education efforts on basic per-pupil funding that benefits all children throughout the state


• Passed legislation that will create a new teacher evaluation system based on student academic achievement and locally determined factors


• Replaced the teacher seniority-based retention process with a new evaluation system that will no longer punish new, innovative teachers in favor of length of service


• Repealed Governor Dayton's enrollment of Minnesota in ObamaCare and took powerful steps to protect our citizens from a government takeover of healthcare


• Passed the Health Care Freedom Act with tax deductions to individuals to purchase their health care, eliminate costly insurance coverage mandates, and allows Minnesotans to purchas health insurance products across state lines


• Supports and will legislate for Voter ID to ensure the integrity of MN elections


• Put the brakes on light rail expansion the state cannot afford to build or operate


• Made MN more business friendly by phasing out the statewide business property tax


• Cut the budget for constitutional officers and the legislature, cut the number of committees by 1/3, cut legislators' per diem and ended out-of-state travel reimbursements


• Eliminated state-funded Medical Assistance for legal "non-citizens"

It was an exciting meeting!

Report on the 9th Judicial District Convention - Bemidji, MN - April 9, 2011

Judicial District 9 consists of the following Minnesota counties: Aitkin, Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Crow Wing, Hubbard, Itasca, Kittson, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, and Roseau.

The 9th Judicial District Convention was held in Bemidji, MN on April 9, 2011.

Chair Ron Niemala called the meeting to order at 10:00 am which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and an Invocation.

The Chair then appointed Convention Chairs, with Terry Stone as Rules Chair and Pat Ritter as Credentials Chair. He then appointed Shane B. (not sure of last name) as Parliamentarian and Darrell Carter as Sergeant-of-Arms.

The preliminary and final Credentials Report showed 21 delegates and nine alternates present. Eight of the alternates were seated, creating a voting strength of 29.

The Convention Rules were adopted, and the general meeting proceeded with reports from the Secretary, Treasurer, Deputy Chair and Chair.

The following officers (all incumbents) were then elected:
Ron Niemala as Chair
Terry Stone as Deputy Chair
Grace Shook as Secretary
Paul Ritter as Treasurer

A discussion ensued concerning issues that need to be addressed by the MN legislature. all of the Judiciary changes proposed are currently within the MN GOP Party Platform. Some of the talking points were as follows:

The Judiciary, at this juncture of time, is only accountable to itself. The MN Constitution gives specific oversight to the legislative branch of government to oversee the judiciary. These changes are also about the "checks and balances" in government and the making of each branch of government "equal" rather than one branch more powerful than another.

The judiciary writes its' ow rules (cannons) and self-policies itself. This is essentially the "fox watching the hen house." To maintain a check on the judiciary, it is necessary that the legislative branch of government "oversee" and "keep in check" a judiciary run wild. It is for this reason that we have opposed the following changes to how the judiciary operates, elects and funds its operations. There exists a "de-facto" bias and retaliation within the judiciary whenever a challenge is made at the seat of a sitting "incumbent" judge by a challenger. Retaliations comes in the form of courtroom discrimination against the attorney who chose to challenge the judge on the bench. Impartiality is out the door. The judiciary has, due to retirements and appointments, effectively created a system whereby judges choose their successors, without having to stand for election, by retiring early and having the Governor appoint a replacement, thus avoiding an election. This is a violation of the constitutional rights of the voters of the State of Minnesota, failing to have judges elected rather than appointed.

We need the following to be done:
A. Remove the word "incumbent" from all judicial ballots.
B. Provide that each District Judge stand for election only in the county that he or she serves.
C. Enact a statutory code of ethics for judges and lawyers and an independent board to administer it in order to removed this conflict of interest from the Supreme Court of Minnesota.
D. Require that the Governor fills judicial vacancies with people who will serve out the remaining term of the office and then stand for election.

For more than six years we have endeavored to set a framework that would set in place a "guarantee" that the voters of Minnesota would always have the "right" to vote on judges going into office, not just as retention elections. The opportunity to effectively accomplish this is here NOW. If we wait, will there arise another opportunity to pass such all-important legislation? Do we want to allow the judiciary to continue to ignore the State Constitution and the rights of the people in the manner that it operates from the bench and within the confines of chambers? The time is now to put into place "oversight" of the Judicial Branch of government that the legislature has abrogated for too long.

There are bills that are being introduced in the House and Senate to address these issues. Stay informed and support our Republican representatives who are working to right thing wrong.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:55 am.