Non-partisan voting resources are available to Minnesota residents through the League of Women Voters and the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office.
In what critics refer to as “influence-buying,” Comcast pumped millions of dollars into the political system at a time when the company was pushing its merger with NBC-Universal, which was eventually approved.
New radio ads paint Rick Perry as being soft on immigration.
Findings by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board show that the National Organization for Marriage spent $709,000 on radio and television ads during the gubernatorial campaign in 2010. Those ads targeted DFLer Mark Dayton and Independence Party candidate Tom Horner for their support for marriage equality and lent support for the campaign of Republican Tom Emmer who supported a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage.
Common Cause Minnesota had filed the complaints alleging that advertising by the National Organization for Marriage and the Minnesota Family Council on an anti-gay marriage amendment in 2010 constituted lobbying. The board ruled that the ads were too vague to trigger the registration requirement for lobbyists.
Tim Pawlenty is taking heat from the National Organization for Marriage for not signing the group’s pledge to oppose efforts to legalize same-sex marriage. On Thursday, the group announced that Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum had all signed the pledge. But while Pawlenty has hesitated to take the pledge, he gave the Miami Herald a piece of his mind on gay marriage on Thursday.
As heated discussions continue over the national debt, two of Minnesota’s major political parties are wresting with significant debts of their own. According to Federal Election Commission reports filed at the end of July, both the GOP and DFL continue to carry debt from the 2010 election cycle. The Republican Party of Minnesota owes the most — more than $600,000 while the DFL owes close to $300,000. The GOP also had a negative cash-on-hand balance.
Rep. Keith Ellison told student activists last week that conservatives, including Rep. Michele Bachmann, want to keep women barefoot and pregnant. Fox News picked up the clip. By Wednesday, Ellison’s campaign had posted an appeal for funds on his campaign site, saying the “right-wing noise machine” was targeting Ellison.
Several groups working to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage are gearing up their efforts. Gov. Mark Dayton will speak at the first fundraising event for Minnesotans United for All Families, a coalition of groups that oppose amending the Minnesota Constitution to ban gay marriage. An official kickoff is planned next week. Conservative groups have also planned events opposing the amendment, one of which will coincide with this weekend’s RightOnline conference.
Twin Cities Pride is asking the LGBT community for feedback over the decision by Target to stay neutral on an anti–gay marriage amendment that will appear on the ballot in 2012.
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