Minnesota Independent

Supreme Court denies Emmer, GOP petition

By Andy Birkey | 11.23.10 | 7:30 am

Ninety minutes after hearing oral arguments, the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected a petition by the Republican Party of Minnesota and Tom Emmer for Governor to force counties to undergo a reconciliation in search of “phantom votes.” The Emmer team argued that election officials improperly counted votes on election night, but the opposition argued that officials have followed the letter of the law.

Bachmann on her claim about Obama India trip: I never said I believed it

By Andy Birkey | 11.22.10 | 1:27 pm

In an interview with the BBC on Friday, Rep. Michele Bachmann responded to criticism she’s received over her claims that President Barack Obama spent $200 million a day during a recent trip to India. Bachmann defended the statement, saying she was just quoting a newspaper and that she never said she believed it.

Counties, Dayton and Ritchie file documents refuting Emmer’s claims

By Andy Birkey | 11.21.10 | 1:20 pm

Ramsey, Anoka and Hennepin counties as well as Mark Dayton’s legal team and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie have filed paperwork arguing against the Republican Party of Minnesota’s Supreme Court challenge alleging phantom votes and asking for a reconciliation of voter sign-ins with ballots in all 4,130 precincts in the state. All parties argue that precincts followed procedures that have been in place since 1982.

Emmer wants recount rules changed

By Andy Birkey | 11.19.10 | 2:00 pm

The Republican Party of Minnesota and Tom Emmer for Governor want changes made to the recount rules ahead of the State Canvassing Board meeting on Tuesday. Specifically, Emmer wants Rule 8 changed to make inspection of challenged ballots the job of the five-member canvassing board and not the 87 county auditors.

Witnesses for Emmer complaint are for most part Republican activists

By Andy Birkey | 11.18.10 | 2:47 pm

In a petition filed by the Republican Party of Minnesota and Tom Emmer’s gubernatorial campaign with the Minnesota Supreme Court, election judges from around the state submitted affidavits stating that reconciliation between registered voters and ballots was not done correctly in their precincts. The GOP said improper record keeping on election night resulted in thousands of “phantom votes” while the Dayton campaign called the complaint a delay tactic. The vast majority of the witnesses in the complaint are Republican activists or are connected to the tea party movement.

Emmer files petition with Supreme Court, Dayton camp calls it delay tactic

By Andy Birkey | 11.18.10 | 10:00 am

The Republican Party of Minnesota and Tom Emmer’s gubernatorial campaign filed a petition Wednesday with the Minnesota Supreme Court alleging that more people voted in the 2010 election than registered. The GOP claims it has information from election judges who “did not witness” other election judges counting precinct sign in sheets and that “tens of thousands”of “phantom votes” exist. The recount team of Mark Dayton said that votes have been reconciled twice in post-election reporting, and that the GOP is engaged in an eleventh-hour “hail mary” to postpone the recount process.

Gubernatorial recount to start Nov. 29

By Andy Birkey | 11.16.10 | 11:30 am

With a recount looking more and more likely, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has laid out a plan for the canvasing operations. The recount of the governor’s race is set for Nov. 29, which will follow the Canvassing Board’s decision on whether a recount will happen. That board is scheduled to meet on Nov. 23. Leading up to those meetings, counties are prepping for the recount and dealing with an enormous number of data practices request from the campaigns. DFLer Mark Dayton leads Republican Tom Emmer by more than 8,700 votes.

Meet David Barton, Bachmann’s Constitution class teacher

By Andy Birkey | 11.16.10 | 9:27 am

Rep. Michele Bachmann announced last month that she wants to hold “Constitution classes” for new members of Congress in the hopes of preventing them from being “co-opted into the Washington system.” She’s already announced several people she wants to teach the classes, including Pastor David Barton, a controversial figure whose ideas about the constitution and the founding fathers have drawn sharp criticism from both the religious and secular communities.

Americans for Prosperity protests lame-duck Congress in Washington

By Luke Johnson | 11.16.10 | 8:00 am

Conventional wisdom says the lame-duck session of Congress will not produce any legislation of consequence. Regardless, speakers and activists at an Americans For Prosperity-organized protest outside the U.S. Capitol railed Monday against the prospect of the outgoing Democratic Congress trying to pass anything.

National Organization for Marriage’s anti-DFL text raises questions of legality

By Andy Birkey | 11.15.10 | 1:48 pm

In the final days of the 2010 campaign, text messages were sent out accusing Mark Dayton and the DFL of Catholic bashing. It has been revealed that those text messages were sent out by the New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage, and the manner in which they were sent out is raising questions about the legality of unsolicited texts in campaigns.