House 37A: Republicans pull out all stops to retake a GOP stronghold
Monday, September 29, 2008 at 1:07 pm
- 22 Comments
By most measures, House District 37A should be a lock for Republicans. The wealthy (median income $65,338), suburban district, which encompasses much of Apple Valley, voted for Gov. Tim Pawlenty over Mike Hatch by a 52-41 margin in 2006, while Bush carried the area by a 51-48 spread two years earlier. In 2002, Norm Coleman whipped Walter Mondale by 19 points there in the U.S. Senate race. The one exception to this GOP dominance in recent years is Amy Klobuchar, who took 37A by a 55-42 margin two years ago. “It is a classic, second-ring, suburban district that has historically been very Republican,” says Patrick Staley, chair of the GOP in Senate District 37.
So when Shelley Madore (pictured above) secured the DFL endorsement for the House seat in 37A four years ago, she knew it would be a difficult political contest. The mother of two children with special needs (spina bifida and Asperger’s syndrome), she ran a spirited campaign for the open seat, but ultimately came up 466 votes short of upsetting Republican Lloyd Cybart. After licking her wounds for a few weeks (“you boo-hoo a bit,” she says), Madore began girding for a rematch. In 2006, she avenged the narrow defeat, beating the incumbent by just 195 votes. She was one of a handful of suburban female DFL’ers who eked out surprise victories and helped the party pick up 33 seats.
But that exceedingly narrow margin of victory means that Madore’s seat is one that Republicans will fight vigorously to take back this year. They’re backing political newcomer Tara Mack, currently a legislative aide to state Reps. Matt Dean and Joe Hoppe, for the post. “She brings a good knowledge base on the issues through her work at the Capitol,” says Staley. “I think she has a lot of energy. I think she’s eager to contrast her views on things like education and health care with Rep. Madore.”
Mack is apparently less enthusiastic, however, about talking with reporters. She did not respond to repeated inquiries by the Minnesota Independent via phone and email. The Republican also failed to show up at a candidate forum last week sponsored by MICAH, a religious organization that works on social issues such as housing and poverty. Mack told the Pioneer Press that she was too busy door-knocking to attend, but that she intended to participate in four subsequent candidate forums.
Madore argues that Mack’s low profile is no accident. “They keep her in the closet and they attack me and they’re not giving the voters any opportunity at all to see us together,” she says. “It’s not easy to think on your feet and be able to respond to voters, but I think the voters need to see that.”
The race is attracting plenty of attention from GOP leaders. At a debate sponsored by Politics in Minnesota earlier this month, House Minority Leader Marty Seifert compared Mack to Sarah Palin. As of August, the Republican had raised just over $27,000, a formidable sum for a first-time state House candidate. Mack’s coffers have been swelled with contributions from big-time GOP givers from outside the district such as local TV/radio mogul Stanley Hubbard, Minnesota Timberwolves owners Glen Taylor and former Target chief executive officer Robert Ulrich. Madore, by contrast, despite enjoying the benefits of incumbency, has raised barely half that amount.
The level of vitriol being directed at the freshman Democrat is also unusual for a state House race. Since Madore’s first days in office, a blog written by a local GOP activist has consistently (and often disingenuously) attacked her record — a tactic usually reserved for statewide and federal contests. Emails have recently circulated in the district strongly criticizing her two-year tenure at the Capitol. And phone calls that some Democrats have described as push-polling are also being utilized to denigrate Madore’s political record.
Coming from a phone bank operation in Provo, Utah, the calls state that Madore voted to increase welfare spending by more than $1 billion and backed $170 million in pork-barrel spending. More pointedly, they accuse the freshman legislator of voting to allow sex offenders and other felons to work in child-care centers and nursing homes. (Apple Valley resident Dave Mindeman was among the recipients of these calls and wrote about it in more detail on the mnpACT blog.)
Madore explains that the latter measure was intended to loosen restrictions on hiring of ex-felons so that drug-and-alcohol treatment programs can employ former addicts as counselors. “I think an addict would listen to that person before they’d listen to someone like me,” she says. But Madore acknowledges that the legislation was written more broadly than she would have preferred. “The wording on that should have been changed to say limited to drug and alcohol counselors,” she says.
But perhaps the oddest controversy in the race has been the change of one of the legislative district’s voting locations. In May, the Apple Valley City Council voted, with no debate, to move the polling place for Precinct 16 to River Valley Church. The decision was peculiar because the church — one of the largest evangelical parishes in the area — is not actually in Precinct 16.
But Democrats are troubled by the move for a more pointed reason: Tara Mack’s husband, Justin, is an assistant pastor at the church. River Valley Church’s head pastor, Rob Ketterling, even mentioned the political contest in his blog. “She’s done a great job of balancing her church involvement and also her political involvement,” Ketterling wrote of Mack in July, “and although RVC cannot endorse candidates, I can say she’s a great pastor’s wife!”
Madore is not happy about the move. “It just smells as fishy as can be,” she says. “I know that the DFL is taking this very seriously and they will be watching it.”
Kristi Gottwalt, associate DFL chair in Senate District 37, says that the Secretary of State’s Office has assured the party that the arrangement is legal, but that hasn’t diminished worries about the new polling location. “A pastor has a lot of sway,” she says. “We’ll definitely have poll watchers there because it is a concern.”
Apple Valley City Clerk Pamela Gackstetter says that the move was necessitated by the decision of Kingston Green Apartments, one of the city’s normal polling locations, to not make the space available this year. She notes that the decision was made back in May. “That’s before anyone has even filed for office,” Gackstetter says. “You couldn’t possible foresee who’s going to apply.”
Madore is focusing her attention on talking to as many voters as possible. “I think that the number of Republican votes is tapering out now,” she says. “I don’t think they’re winning new people.”
22 Comments
Comment posted September 29, 2008 @ 4:56 pm
Just one note on the timeline. The City Clerk said that the city polling location decision was made back in May “before anyone filed for office”. That may be technically true, but Tara Mack filed a statement of candidacy with Minnesota campaign finance back in 2007.
Comment posted September 29, 2008 @ 7:46 pm
As the “GOP activist” responsible for that “attack block” I take issue with your phrasing my attacks as “often disingenuous”. I’m simply pointing out her record and how out of sync it is with the residents of this district.
Comment posted September 29, 2008 @ 7:54 pm
I’d also point out that while you attack Tara for having “local TV/radio mogul Stanley Hubbard, Minnesota Timberwolves owners Glen Taylor and former Target chief executive officer Robert Ulrich” as donors what you don’t point out is they represent an extremely small portion of her total campaign funds
However, Madore is a different story. Almost half of her funds come from PACs and lobbyists….many of whom directly benefit from the huge transportation tax increase Madore voted for earlier.
Tara gets lots of small individual contributions from hundreds of people across her district. Madore gets her money from a few PACs and lobbyists. Whose really representing the interests of the district?
Comment posted September 29, 2008 @ 9:13 pm
Deleting comments now too huh??
What do you have to hide??
Hate people pointing out flaws in your writing?
Comment posted September 30, 2008 @ 7:22 am
Kevin: We moderate comments, and it took awhile for yours to appear. But if something’s been deleted, please let me know.
Comment posted September 30, 2008 @ 8:23 am
It’s very odd. I’m an election judge at a church, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the pastor show up on election day to bully voters. On election day, the church is just another building where you go to vote. I really have trouble seeing the issue there.
Comment posted September 30, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
I think the biggest issue is that the polling location is out of district. Makes it decidedly inconvenient for some of those voters with less of a stake in the race to get over there to vote. Mack’s relationship with the church is just the fish-flavored icing on the cake.
Comment posted September 30, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
Rich, although that’s an interesting point, I don’t think it is very uncommon either. Even the church where I work as an election judge is not actually in the precinct that it is the polling location for. I’m just not sure how that “smells as fishy as can be.”
However, read the story: But Democrats are troubled by the move for a more pointed reason: Tara Mack’s husband, Justin, is an assistant pastor at the church.
The story continues with a quote from Gottwalt: “A pastor has a lot of sway,” she says. “We’ll definitely have poll watchers there because it is a concern.”
So, I refer back to my first comment. It clearly seems like Madore and the DFL leadership believes that a pastor is going to be at the poll bullying voters just because he is related to a candidate.
Comment posted September 30, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
I just spoke with Tara Mack and she stated that she DID try to return Paul Demko’s calls/emails. She called but he has no voice mail. And he did reply via email, acknowledging her attempts to call him and stating he’d talk to her before he went forward with the article.
Now he goes forward with the article stating she never contacted him. One more lie in a article full of them.
Comment posted September 30, 2008 @ 3:31 pm
That is not accurate. I called Tara Mack five times, beginning way back on August 13, seeking an interview for this story. I also sent her an email requesting an interview. After my third phone call, she responded by email saying that she’d tried to return my call but the line was busy. I apologized for that and told her I was available to speak anytime. She did not respond to that message. I then sent her another message on Friday. Here’s what it said in its entirety:
>>>>Hey Tara,
I’m going to hold off running something today since we had difficulties connecting. But I want to get a piece up on Monday for sure. I’m probably going to be out reporting most of the afternoon today. Can we talk over the weekend? I’ve got an 11:40 interview on Saturday and am tied up after 3:30 on Sunday. But otherwise I can be available whenever you have time. Thanks.<<<<
She has never responded to that note either.
The fact of the matter is I gave Tara Mack more than a month to respond, and she failed to do so. She had my cell number and my home phone number, both of which are equipped with voicemail.
Comment posted September 30, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
On a semi-related noted, I also contacted Kevin Ecker via email seeking comment for my story. He didn’t respond.
Comment posted October 1, 2008 @ 6:59 am
It seems, like with Palin, the Republicans are trying to keep Mack as far away from the media as possible, and like Palin are running their entire campaign as a smear express, lying and distorting the record of their opponent. Mack refuses to attend any of the public forums where voters can see her in action and has actively avoided any media interviews that may give voters a true look at her. Mack is pooling all her campaign money for what is termed a “Smear Blitz” for the middle and end of October. This will include numerous fliers and mailers smearing the record of Shelley Madore. Meanwhile, Shelley Madore, while also doorknocking and meeting one-on-one with constituents, has weekly “Coffee Conversations” at local coffee houses, attends all the community forums, and makes herself open to all media interviews. In addition, you will not see a “Smear Blitz” from Shelley Madore. In fact, she does not even mention here opponent in her campaign literature. Which candidate is running the more positive, open campaign here?
Comment posted October 1, 2008 @ 8:02 am
Great work. Anyone look at her CFB report? Does the 8/1/08 $1000 individual contribution from Robert Cummins violate CFB limits for an individual?
Comment posted October 2, 2008 @ 3:12 pm
The $1000 contribution that Hal mentioned has been reported to CFB. The person in charge of handling violations is on vacation and will be ruling on the matter during th week of October 6. The person taking the call said that it did look like an over the limit contribution and will be asking the campaign to explain.
Comment posted October 12, 2008 @ 9:56 pm
Looks like the $1000 contribution was not a violation. An amended report shows that it was from Robert Cummins and his wife.
I will not comment on the chances of Madore/Mack winning sense I would be taking sides.
Comment posted October 13, 2008 @ 11:36 pm
I stopped by to see what Madore was all about at one of her “Coffee Conversations”, she sat in the corner with a representative from ACORN, the wonderful organization in trouble for voter fraud. Rep. Madore never attempted to speak to my wife or myself and we were sitting the table next to her. She spent most of her time talking about her campaign signs and how people need to accept the coming of Obama…
I don’t blame Tara for staying away from the papers, going door to door allows her to speak one on one with her voters, no biased filter of the media.
Comment posted October 29, 2008 @ 12:26 am
Bob, in response to your comment from Oct 1st. Maybe Madore isn’t paying for smear blitz materials herself, but that’s because she leaves it to the State DFL Party to pay and mail it for her. I’ve received 3 to 4 mailings per week for the last 4 weeks from them smearing Tara Mack and begging for my vote. If Madore is so intent on running a smear free campaign, then she should tell her party bosses in St. Paul to aim their smear blitz money somewhere else. By the way, I’m all too happy to take the DFL calls coming into my house that are smearing Mack too, I figure the longer I keep them talking on the phone, the less time they have to call anybody else!
Comment posted October 30, 2008 @ 9:19 am
Brent, I live in Madore’s district and the state DFL has not sent out any literature even mentioning Mack, much less smearing her. What you said is called a demonstrable lie. Meanwhile, I have seen, as with Cybart before her, an avalanche of smear mail directly from the Mack campaign, paid for by large corporate donors. Mack is a political cipher, and has none of community experience Madore has. She couldn’t even put together one well-formed idea at any of the forums she bothered to attend. It was an embarrassment.
Comment posted October 30, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
Paul I did in fact respond to your request for comment.
Bob, I live in Madore’s district and I’ve gotten plenty of ads smearing Mack.
And I don’t know what forums you’re watching. Mack offered a variety of ideas. Madore just offered talking points and political BS, which allows her to talk alot without actually committing to anything.
Comment posted October 30, 2008 @ 6:47 pm
Kevin,
All you have to do is look at Mack’s pathetic website to see how little she has to offer. Her website offers little to no real information, she has little to no community involvement, and any expressions she does offer are strictly failed Republican boilerplate. I challenge everyone to visit the website and see just how vacuous it is.
Unlike Shelley Madore, Mack hasn’t even offered to meet with the public on a regular basis to keep them appraised of what is going on at the state legislature. Her forum appearances were so bad even some Republicans in the audience had to turn away in embarrassment.
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