State senator says he won’t meet with groups that backed his opponent
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 11:55 am
- 11 Comments
Republican Sen. Scott Newman of Hutchinson told the Minnesota Nurses Association late last week that they would not get a meeting with him because they endorsed his DFL opponent Hal Kimball, according to DFL-leaning blog, Bluestem Prairie. In fact, Newman’s office said that no groups who supported his opponent will get a meeting and, according to the Associated Press, Newman said he will not speak to the media regarding his office policy. Update: The Star Tribune spoke with Newman who said the policy was a mistake.
In an email to Minnesota Nurses Association’s Eileen Gavin, Newman’s legislative assistant said the group would not get a meeting:
Hi Eileen-
Unfortunately, Senator Newman will not see any organizations that donated to/supported his opponent Hal Kimball. After some careful checking, I discovered that the MNA had donated to Kimball’s campaign. Your association will be unable to schedule an appointment with Senator Newman.
Kim Kelley
Legislative Assistant
The Associated Press attempted to follow up on Bluestem Prairie’s reporting, but was told that Newman would not speak with the press over the issue. “[Kim] Kelley says Tuesday she can’t comment on her e-mail and says Newman won’t be interviewed about it,” the AP reported.
But, according to the Star Tribune, Newman said it was his new legislative aid who made a mistake.
“It’s clearly my responsibility,” he added. “But this is a brand new [legislative assistant]. . .what she put out is not – it is not my policy.”
“If this nursing organization wants to see me, they will see me,” said Newman. He said he was unsure whether similar emails were going to other groups. “I certainly hope not, but I don’t know,” he said.
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Comment posted January 25, 2011 @ 12:03 pm
Apparently he is not a believer in “government by, of an for the people” . I guess his teeny brain can’t handle any challenges. If he had a moral center, he should be ashamed, but I think we see where his moral center is located…. somewhere to the right of a John Bircher….
Comment posted January 25, 2011 @ 1:20 pm
What a ***. Blaming an aide AFTER the story went public. This guy is not fit to hold public office in our state.
Comment posted January 25, 2011 @ 2:18 pm
The aide was so new she didn’t know you can’t actually ‘say’ that’s the policy, even if the Senator told you that was the policy.
Does anyone think that assistant came up with the policy on her own?
She was just unaware that when it comes to such indefensible policies, you’re just supposed to do it, not admit it in public or put it on paper.
Glad he at least walked it back. Now we’ll see the Senator really means its not his policy or just that it’s not an official public policy he will admit to having.
Comment posted January 25, 2011 @ 3:31 pm
Sen. Scott Newman I hope you read this. This is the actions of a child, not an adult. I can not think of an insult worthy of this policy. You should be ashamed of what you have done but I am sure you will deny this and try to blame others for your actions. Sir, my 4 year old has more maturity than you do.
Pathetic, just simply pathetic, nothing more than that.
Comment posted January 25, 2011 @ 5:19 pm
Either he does not have his own office under control or he gave his staff the impression that this was his policy.
This is not the first sign of the mentality of the people republicans draw to them, but it is the first blatant case of rejecting representational government that I have seen in recent years. I do not expect my interests to be represented by republicans anyway, but it is not something they usually say out loud.
Comment posted January 25, 2011 @ 6:27 pm
As others have stated the real surprise is that she documented the policy. Republicans don’t believe in democracy, they talk a good game, but spend an inordinant amount of time trying to keep people from voting and participating in the process. From the proposals on Voter ID to bashing Unions (union members support Democrats) its all about twarting the democratic process.
Comment posted January 25, 2011 @ 6:48 pm
Hmmmmm!! I wonder why Unions vote for Democrats???? Hmmmmmmmm?????
Comment posted January 26, 2011 @ 2:48 am
Henk
You forget of course where the Democrats engage in the very sorts of supression and participating in the process.
Too many examples but the most blatant would be……
The Stadium Issue.
Do not just blame Republicans for doing this.
Comment posted January 26, 2011 @ 2:51 am
Oh and as an aside.
Speaking as a Registered Nurse, Trade Union activist from a family of such and former member of the MNA
I have lost any and all respect for the MNA
For a whole slew of reasons. Not the least their part in loosing us the opportunity to have a Single Payer Bill, via the John Marty Bill.
Comment posted January 26, 2011 @ 6:20 pm
The offending Newman office’s communication mentioned DFL opposition candidate last election, Hal Kimball.
Kimball on his “Blue Man in a Red District” website has interesting observations on the timing of the original Newman office’s email, and the inexplicable delay on Neman responding, such as he did. In the process, Kimball noted several press attempts for clarification that went unanswered until the ultimate Newman answer, i.e., the staff person was thrown under the bus early this week when the original SNAFU was on Thursday of last week.
Readers should check out the Kimball site, via a google of the site name.
My experience has been that when Kimball presents factual recitations, his facts are not “Bachmann facts,” but real facts instead.
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