Buesgens faces primary challenge, comparisons to Patrick Henry
Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 2:29 pm
- 2 Comments
Screen shot for Rees' website about Buesgens
Tom Rees,the Republican primary challenger to state Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan, previously served in the legislature from 1979 to 1986, back when state GOPers still called themselves Independent Republicans. Since 2006, he’s challenged (and sometimes ridiculed) Buesgens, a vocal, almost-libertarian and closest thing the Minnesota Legislature has to its own Dr. No.
Rees is also kind of at war with the local Republican Party, according to a bizarre profile in the Jordan Independent.
“I am the real conservative candidate. Unfortunately, as I followed Rep. Buesgens’ career, he appears to be a constitutional libertarian,” Rees said. “While there’s a lot of people who might think that government has no place in people’s lives, I would suggest that as a conservative we should work for competent government and do our best to find those places where government does services more efficiently than the private sector.”
Rees has run into trouble with what some Republican Party officials see as harassing emails and “strange” behavior. He also made a website criticizing the local Republican leadership. His website about Buesgens mostly compares him to Patrick Henry:
- Patrick Henry taught his slaves to read so they could study the Bible ; Representative Buesgens submitted an amendment stating, “XII. Thou Shalt Not Cheat.”
- Patrick Henry was always trying to represent the disenfranchised ; Representative Buesgens backed the wealthy contributors to help them make more money
It’s hard to believe he’s not garnering much support. In 2008, he managed only 186 votes in the primary, compared to Buesgens’ 668 (which together trumps the Democratic primary turnout in the conservative district). He tried out the DFL, but said he wasn’t ready for it and it wasn’t ready for him. So even though he doesn’t get along with the Republican Party, he’s sticking with them.
“The party that I knew changed,” he said. “And other members of the Republican party at the time that I was serving have found they are not welcome in the Republican party.”
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Comment posted July 30, 2010 @ 3:56 pm
Thank you for your story. For the record, in 2008 I did not spend more than $100 for my campaign and did not file with the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board because I did not exceed the threshold. I was in West Africa attending to family business for most of the primary campaign and did not do any aggressive campaigning.
The website you quoted from is:
http://www.legend-in-his-own-mind.com
(I should note that my wife, maiden name Henry, can trace her ancestry back to Patrick Henry so that was the impetus to author the website. Also, in the MN House Chamber is the famous quote by Patrick Henry.)
Your readers might also find interesting my website:
http://www.mnperdiem.com
(There is an interesting comparison to Representative Emmer and his per diem payments if you care to check Emmer’s per diem.)
I expect this year to do better!
Check out my campaign website: http://www.rees-35b.com
Comment posted July 31, 2010 @ 7:24 am
Biscuit is an annoying partisan hack who rarely does anyone any good and makes some really silly speeches on the floor. We’d be better off without him.
As an X-IR voter, I would not mind seeing an X-IR candidate on the ballot. But those featured comparisons stink, and that undermines his credibility.
FWIW, not in his district.
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