Search Results: ‘petters’

Tuesday was a day for Q and As with Norm Coleman, Michele Bachmann and Tom Petters. Coleman in the Harvard Crimson: “No regrets.” Bachmann in City Pages: “I’m proud.” Petters in federal court: “I apologize.” Al Franken got in on the game this morning on Minnesota Public Radio, where an interviewer said it sounds like he’d [...]

Ballot referendum measures in Minneapolis and St. Paul will be decided by voters next week, but the cities’ daily newspaper editorial boards say today how those votes should go. The Star Tribune says to vote yes on eliminating the city’s tax board, and the Pioneer Press says to vote no on instant-runoff voting. So remember: [...]

While Rep. Michele Bachmann eventually backed off her infamous statement about “un-American views” she feared Barack Obama held, she’s standing by someone with sharper views. Next month, she’s headlining a fundraiser for Bradlee Dean’s Christian punk rock band and ministry, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide. Here’s a rundown of his recent statements, including his belief that Obama is “not American” and “unpatriotic to the max.”

St. Paul set the standard at last year’s Republican National Convention for dealing with protesters and reporters during a so-called “National Special Security Event.” That Minnesota hotdish of pre-emptive detention and prior (physical) restraint on the media is getting re-warmed as Pittsburgh prepares to host the G-20 Summit later this week, writes Nigel Parry at [...]

A former crack user says she kicked her addiction because she found Jesus at Minnesota Teen Challenge. A man says that God healed his liver after a prayer service at the Christian drug treatment facility. While its clients sing its praises — some claiming it saved their lives — should such an overtly religious program be receiving taxpayer funding? According to state records, MNTC has gotten more than $2 million from the state of Minnesota since 2007.

U.S. Sen. Al Franken, calling himself “a voice for the overwhelming majority of Americans who aren’t lawyers” on the Senate floor Wednesday night, continued his harsh critique of the U.S. Supreme Court, lambasting its recent record of overturning its own precedents:
Again, I think that this is judicial activism. In fact, I think it’s judicial activism [...]

When Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty shared the stage last night at a University of Minnesota forum called “Creating a 21st Century Intelligent Health System in Minnesota,” the former U.S. House Speaker didn’t give a clinic on bedside manners. But Minnesota’s current lame-duck governor did give a diagnosis to explain unilateral cuts to funding for [...]

In what could be the last time the forces of Al Franken and Norm Coleman clash within the same room, the drama at yesterday’s state Supreme Court hearing didn’t disappoint.

Last fall, Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign made a $9,200 charitable contribution to the faith-based drug treatment program Minnesota Teen Challenge in an effort to wash its hands of tainted contributions from Frank Vennes, Jr., a convicted money launderer and associate of alleged Ponzi scheme operator Tom Petters. But, the Minnesota Independent has recently learned, the donation was given back. Teen Challenge returned the check on Oct. 3, but Bachmann’s campaign waited nearly three months to disclose the fact to the Federal Elections Commission.

AIG chief Edward Liddy mentioned, while sitting in his congressional hot seat Wednesday, that AIG insures oil rigs. If Norm Coleman was watching at home, perhaps he turned to his wife and said, “Honey, that’s what you do!” Allegations of unreported monetary gifts — cloaked as payments from a Coleman contributor’s marine-exploration firm to the insurance company where Coleman’s wife works — remain alive (if dormant) in Texas and Delaware courts. And Coleman still wants to use campaign cash to fight them, aides say.