But on Thursday, members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota showed up at McCollum’s St. Paul office to praise her efforts on the health-care front. In honor of the July Fourth holiday they brought a replica U.S. flag emblazoned with the stories of union members’ frustrating encounters with the current health-care system.

“It’s time to declare independence from the tyranny of living under a broken health-care system,” said Rick Varco, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota’s political director.

McCollum wasn’t on hand to accept the flag. That duty was left to Josh Straka, the lawmaker’s district director.

Varco believes the July Fourth holiday was a natural fit for highlighting the nation’s dysfunctional health-care system. “There’s that line in the Declaration of Independence about a ‘long train of abuses,’” he says. “That’s what the American people have suffered from this health-care system.”

The health-care debate is reaching a critical juncture in Washington. Committees in the House and Senate are in the midst of tough negotiations over the details of possible legislative action. President Obama has stated that he hopes to have a bill on his desk by October. In some instances, SEIU and other liberal interest groups have attacked Democratic legislators for being insufficiently committed to the cause.

But Varco insists McCollum doesn’t deserve such treatment. “We were out in Washington, D.C., last week meeting with members of Congress and Congresswoman McCollum was just on fire,” he said.

On Wednesday night, McCollum hosted a town-hall meeting at the Highland Park Pavilion on the topic of health-care reform. Roughly 100 people showed up to share their thoughts on the subject. Advocates of a single-payer system were well represented in the crowd.

When McCollum stated at the beginning of the event that a public option for health-care insurance is “not socialized medicine,” she received a tart response from one member of the crowd. “Yes it is,” he stated, “and it’s good.”

Varco is not troubled by McCollum’s failure to sign on to the single-payer bill, however, even though SEIU supports the legislation.

“We think that the president is right when he says Americans don’t want to be forced to give up their health-care plan,” he said. “Competition with a strong public plan is the best way to get us towards quality affordable health care for everyone.”

Barb Davis White

Barb Davis White is running an underdog campaign to unseat Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison on a platform of opposing same-sex marriage, abortion and immigration reform in a district with large numbers of LGBT residents, pro-choice voters and immigrants. As if those hurdles weren’t enough, the money just isn’t coming in for the Republican candidate.

Her campaign was cited by the Federal Election Commission for failing to file campaign contribution information by the Aug. 28 deadline. The campaign finally complied after prodding from the FEC.

Here are some highlights from Davis White’s report.

Davis White took in $11,043 during the July/August period, bringing her total for this election cycle to $43,437. Only 13 individuals have contributed more than $50 to the campaign, and only two of those contributors came from the district — one from Minneapolis and one from Columbia Heights.

Ellison took in more than 10 times as much during July/August, $186,244, and $1,144,557 for the campaign cycle from 100 times more contributors: 1,107 gave more than $50.

While the number of Davis White contributors is few, many among those 13 have interesting backgrounds. Here’s a snapshot of some of her contributors.

Barb Anderson is a volunteer coordinator for the Minnesota Family Council. George Anderson is her husband.

Carleton Crawford is the chair of the 5th Congressional District Republicans.

Sandy Keith is a former DFL legislator, lieutenant governor and Minnesota Supreme Court justice turned Republican activist. He sits on the board of the Center of the American Experiment.

Cushman Minar is the owner of Minar Ford, a business where he brought his faith to work every day, resulting in a lawsuit:

“Ira Chemers joined the New Brighton-based car dealership chain in 1996 as a lease renewal manager. By 1999, he had worked his way up to general sales manager, second only to the owner. Owner Cushman Minar was a devout Christian who held optional daily prayer sessions for employees and started management meetings with Christian prayer, according to the case documents. Chemers claimed Minar went further, trying to convert non-Christian employees. Chemers, who is Jewish, said Minar showed contempt toward his faith and ignored his requests that meetings not be started with Christian prayer. Minar fired Chemers in 2000, and Chemers claimed in his subsequent suit that Minar once proclaimed, ‘I want everyone in this organization to be a Christian. Not all will be Christian, but that will be their demise on Judgment Day.’”

Paul Sjolund was a contributor to MFC’s lobbying at the Capitol in 2004. He also signed a pledge to abolish public education. “I proclaim publicly that I favor ending government involvement in education.”

Michael Wigley is a founding member of the Freedom Club, founder and chairman of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, and serves on the board of the Center of the American Experiment.

Stewart, who is black and is considered a rising star in the DFL Party, said the Web site was “an inside blogger joke that was never meant to be made public.

A partner in the St. Paul

Indeed, it was such a delicious “live by the sword, die by the sword

“I don’t see Keith making much change in Washington,

Travel executive Tammy Lee, the Independence Party’s choice in the Fifth Congressional District, says she will bring both government and private sector experience to the job