Sen. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, told Senate colleagues on Wednesday night that she is planning to file an ethics complaint against Sen. Gretchen Hoffman, R-Vergas, after Hoffman accused Goodwin of calling people suffering from mental illness “idiots and imbeciles.” In fact, Goodwin was referring the history of the treatment of the mentally ill in Minnesota and progress made since the state referred to them as “idiots and imbeciles.” Hoffman refused to apologize Wednesday night.

Goodwin spoke on the Senate floor about the historical treatment of the mentally ill in Minnesota.

Following that, Sen. Hoffman sent out a tweet, stating that Goodwin was calling those with mental illness names:

Goodwin was incensed over that characterization. “I expect a public apology,” she said. “I have worked with children with mental illness. [Hoffman] clearly understood what I said. This is just plain mean-spirited and I expect an apology and I will file an ethics violation.”

She also noted that GOP party vice chair and Senate Republican Caucus communications staffer Michael Brodkorb retweeted Hoffman’s tweet. “I guess the ethics violation goes to two places.”

Here’s her call for an apology:

After the dust-up, Brodkorb also tweeted for Goodwin to apologize, but he has since deleted that tweet.

The Minnesota Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness also watched the debate. “Having listened to the debate, Sen. Goodwin was providing history not making disparaging remarks — actions speak louder than words.”

Hoffman was not prepared to make an apology and sent out this statement:

I look forward to sitting down with Senator Goodwin to discuss my concerns regarding remarks she made on the Senate floor today during a lengthy debate on Health and Human Services finance bill [sic]. Until I have an opportunity to speak with Senator Goodwin directly and share my experiences as a registered nurse, I have no further comment.

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.

“We’re receiving reports today from election judges stating they did not reconcile the ballots cast with the number of signatures on the polling roster on Election Night 2010,” said GOP chair Tony Sutton. “These reports raise concerns about the instructions and written guides given to election judges by the Secretary of State’s office as to the statutorily required reconciliation procedures for Election Day but more importantly, raise serious questions about the integrity of the result of the election.”

Added Republican Party of Minnesota Deputy Chairman Michael Brodkorb, “Our petition today is simply asking the Supreme Court to confirm that the number of votes matches the total number of voters on Election Day, as required by state law and that election officials follow the clear statutory remedy for the removal of phantom votes before the results are certified.”

Dayton recount spokesman Ken Martin said the petition to the Supreme Court amounted to nothing more than a “Hail Mary” and that the timing shows that the ultimate goal is to delay the recount.

“There are six days now until the State Canvassing Board meets and in the eleventh-hour the Emmer campaign launched a hail mary pass,” said Martin. He said there is no way for the Supreme Court to rule on the petition and for a reconciliation to occur before that meeting.

“We respect their right to ask for info, but my question is why now? And if they are doing it now six days before the State Canvassing Board meets, does it in effect mean it’s gong to delay the process? And that’s our greatest concern,” said Martin.

He said that the reconciliation occurred on election night when election judges are required by law to count the number of votes cast and match them to the number of voters signed into each precinct. If there are more votes than voters signed in, judges are required to discard that number of votes at random.

Martin added that during the county canvassing, which is also required by law, the votes are again reconciled with the voter sign-ins.

“This whole process has worked,” he said. “We live in a state that around the country election observers have a great sense that the Minnesota system is the finest in the nation.”

“Our perspective is that the Republcan Party is calling into doubt the integrity of our election system,” he added.

Here’s the court filing:

20101117PetitionwithSupportingAffidavit

“By citing polling results from Decision Resources which are not publicly available, it is obvious that Tom Horner and Bill Morris colluded and shared information. We believe that the poll referenced by Horner is an illegal corporate contribution to the Horner campaign on behalf of Decision Resources, which is prohibited under 211B.15, Subdivision 2.,” said GOP chair and deputy chair Tony Sutton and Michael Brodkorb.

The GOP uses a speculative tweet by Horner on June 7 as proof that the campaign knew the poll results before they were released.

“Must be bad Emmer poll coming,” Horner wrote. “GOP stepping up attacks. Must be spinning their candidate’s collapse. Can we get a preview? How bad is it?”

Horner’s campaign says the poll was released to media on June 6 before it was released to the campaign on June 7.

Here’s Horner’s statement on the poll and the complaint (via MPR):

The Minnesota Republican Party is in full desperation mode. Their candidate is sinking, and instead of acknowledging their blunder in selecting an extremist candidate, they choose to go on the attack.

Minnesotans want more from their candidates this year. They want candidates who are addressing the issues of jobs, education and Minnesota’s budget deficit. The survey is available to the Minnesota Republican Party. Perhaps they should use it to understand their candidate’s shortcomings in the eyes of Minnesotans.

The Horner campaign learned last week of the survey being conducted by Decision Resources Ltd. Decision Resources was contacted by Stephen Imholte, campaign manager, who asked when the data might be available.

Imholte was informed that it was being released exclusively to the Pioneer Press on Sunday, June 6. Dr. Bill Morris provided the Horner campaign with data only after the survey information had been released to the newspaper. Before releasing information to the Horner campaign, Dr. Morris confirmed that the same data were being released to the Pioneer Press, and other campaigns and candidates at their request.

After the Pioneer Press news article was posted on the newspaper’s web site, the Horner campaign released its own commentary on the findings through Twitter, Facebook and to other news media. It developed its analysis from the data provided by Decision Resources after release to the news media.

Decision Resources routinely conducts in-house surveys and occasionally releases findings to the news media. This survey covered a range of topics on Minnesota issues and the Minnesota gubernatorial race. The survey was not specific to any candidate but was a general overview of Minnesota issues. While the principals of Decision Resources are supporters of Tom Horner, the Horner campaign was not involved in any way in the design of the survey and had no knowledge of the findings until after its release to the news media.

If the Republican Party sincerely believed there was a violation, it would have asked for this background instead of wasting the time of the Minnesota Campaign and Finance Disclosure Board. Instead, the party of no ideas now also seems to have no campaign strategy or message for Minnesotans.

—Tom Horner, Independence Party candidate for governor

—Joseph Basel, conservative activist who pleaded guilty Wednesday for his role in using false pretenses to enter Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in January

—Michael Brodkorb, Deputy Chair, Republican Party of Minnesota

—Peggy Flanagan, director of Wellstone Action’s Native American Leadership Program, former Minneapolis School Board member

—Rep. John Lesch (DFL-St. Paul), District 66A

—Sen. Al Franken, Democrat, U.S. Senate

—Lynne Torgerson, independent candidate for U.S. House, 5th Congressional District

—Rep. Erik Paulsen, Republican, U.S. House of Representatives

—Alliance for a Better Minnesota

—Minnesota AFL-CIO

—Michael Brodkorb, deputy chair of the Minnesota GOP

—Marty Seifert, GOP gubernatorial candidate

—Tim Pawlenty, Republican governor of Minnesota

—Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Democratic candidate for governor

—Jim Meffert, Democratic candidate for U.S. House (3rd Congressional District)

— Greg Knutson, GOP House candidate (District 5A), Hoyt Lakes

The flap erupted following Peterson’s comments to Politico regarding conspiracy theorists in his district.

“Twenty-five percent of my people believe the Pentagon and [then-Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld were responsible for taking the twin towers down,” he told the online news organization. “That’s why I don’t do town meetings.”

The GOP is also vowing to run a credible candidate against Peterson in 2010. Last year Peterson, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, won re-election over GOP challenger Glen Menze by a 72-28-percent margin. By contrast, Seventh District voters narrowly preferred John McCain over Barack Obama.

“Peterson was out of touch long before he insulted the voters of the Seventh District by saying 25 percent of them were conspiracy theorists,” said Michael Brodkorb, deputy chair of the Minnesota GOP, in a statement announcing the ad campaign.

Peterson has apologized for his remarks. The DFL released a statement of support today for the 10-term congressman and criticized the GOP for its attacks.

“Their salvo against Representative Peterson is just the latest in a string of spurious attacks against out elected officials that show the Republican Party grasping at straws to score political points instead of working together to tackle our biggest problems,” said DFL chair Brian Melendez, in the statement. “Maybe someday, instead of attacking the elected leaders who are actually working to solve those problems, the Republicans will start working for Minnesotans too.”

Here’s the GOP ad:

Through its new site, RitchieFacts.com, the GOP claims Ritchie is a partisan, that he thought Norm Coleman would try to win the U.S. Senate election at any cost, and that Ritchie “partnered with liberal attack blog” The Uptake, the nonprofit news site that offered free, live web video of the U.S. Senate recount proceedings.

GOP deputy chair Michael Brodkorb — who, prior to starting his current job, leveled some of the same charges at his own attack blog, Minnesota Democrats Exposed  — said in a statement Thursday, “Over the next 16 months, we are going to hold Mark Ritchie accountable for his actions, and we are going to make sure Minnesotans know the truth about his record.”

GOP party chair Tony Sutton, also in a statement, said, “With secretaries of state from all over the United States convening in Minneapolis this week, I hope they aren’t looking to Mark Ritchie for leadership. I want the visiting secretaries of state to know the truth about Ritchie’s record. Mark Ritchie is not a subject matter expert on fair and open elections.”

One top Republican, Politics in Minnesota’s Sarah Janecek might take issue with that. In naming Ritchie 2008 “Politician of the Year,” she wrote, “We dare anyone to find one public statement made by Ritchie during the recount that was partisan in favor of Franken. It cannot be done, because Ritchie didn’t do it, and we — and many others — were carefully looking for one. Our historically partisan Democrat Secretary of State proved to be a nonpartisan statesman.”

Despite the word “facts” in the GOP website’s name, nearly half of the sources at RitchieFacts.com are from opinion pieces; the most-cited source is the much-criticized Wall Street Journal editorial, “Mischief in Minnesota?”

The DFL offered a response to the attacks today.

“The eight-month Senate election that just wrapped up showed that Minnesota’s elections are transparent, accurate, and fair. Minnesotans are indeed proud of our elections system and with the election officials entrusted with conducting it,” said DFL party chair Brian Melendez. “Our state and its citizens are facing real problems, but our election system isn’t one of them.”

Melendez continued, “As the Republicans were spinning out their smear campaign, Secretary Ritchie organized a day of democratic participation and brought citizens together with elected officials to take on some of the difficult issues facing our state and nation,” he said. “And while the Republicans focus on petty attacks, our DFL leaders are focused on jobs, on health-care reform, and on helping Minnesota’s communities and citizens cope with the consequences of Governor Pawlenty’s unallotments.”

Johnny Northside. Photo: evilpinkpony

The former head of a Minneapolis neighborhood group is suing a local blogger over online words he says cost him a job. Jerry Moore, who used to run the Jordan Area Community Council (JACC), contends that he lost employment with the University of Minnesota because John Hoff and six others defamed him via slanted posts at Hoff’s blog, The Adventures of Johnny Northside.

With the future of JACC itself the subject of current court action, Moore’s suit says Hoff’s participation in matters he chronicled makes him “disentitled” to free-speech protections.

(An example of Hoff’s crusading work is yesterday’s “exclusive video” post titled “Fire At 3020 6th St. N., Former Crack House.”)

Hoff also let the comments section of his blog become a “defamation zone” for anonymous commenters, Moore claims. The lawsuit, filed Friday, also names five of them, as best it can, as “John Doe” defendants.

Journalist Anna Pratt, at her Prattles blog, sees parallels to DFL activist and political consultant Blois Olson’s 2007 suit against blogger-turned-Minnesota-GOP second-banana Michael Brodkorb. (That case was dismissed.)

Meanwhile, Hoff — who made news last February by publicizing state Rep. Jim Abeler’s comments about North Minneapolis kids using wooden nickles to plug bullet holes — has a movie in the works, also called “The Adventures of Johnny Northside.” Here’s a trailer for it:

The Adventures of Johnny Northside Movie Trailer from Gabriel Cheifetz on Vimeo.

• WCCO’s Pat Kessler raised the “who’s a journalist question” Monday night, noting that the access battle is a bipartisan issue. He interviews The UpTake’s Jason Barnett and Minnesota Democrats Exposed’s Michael Brodkorb about their disappointment that the DFL majority seems opposed to “more transparency, more bloggers in, more access to the process,” as Brodkorb put it.

• WCCO’s Esme Murphy strikes the same chord, then posts the Society of Professional Journalists’ statement on yesterday’s proceedings:

“It’s our understanding the first three of the proposed rules are already tossed out, which is a good thing since they triggered the strongest response. However, SPJ is concerned about the rules that continue to try to narrow the definition of what a journalist is and who should be allowed to document the workings of state government.

The Minnesota Legislature does the people’s work during committee meetings and formal House and Senate floor sessions. Minnesota SPJ understands the difficulty in maintaining decorum and a productive environment in such open, public forums. However, this is precisely the job legislators were elected to do. Public scrutiny comes with the office. SPJ takes the position that transparency is the only way elected representatives can maintain credibility with their constituents. As such, the best approach is one that adheres to the most noble aspects of the First Amendment that recognizes the need for openness and accountability from government.

It’s difficult to understand why the proposed rules place conditions on what should be a simple process of access. SPJ prefers to define ‘journalist’ in the broadest of terms and we believe it’s time for the legislature to do the same. The public loses whenever elected officials choose to exclude people who wish to document what happens in a public meeting, working on public policy in a public space. If there is an issue of decorum, safety or logistical space, elected leaders have appropriate methods in place. Rather than create additional rules that imply a person’s credentials will be issued based on where a person works or how long a person will be reporting at the Capitol, SPJ would encourage legislative leaders to lessen the rules to allow more people to report in new and innovative ways to reach more of the public. The Legislature should establish equitable rules for all media, with no bias awarded anyone based on medium, method or viewpoint. If this proposal reflects the Legislature’s attempt to do that, they have missed the mark.”

• TPT’s Mary Lahammer expresssed “great outrage” over the House rules that limit “where, when and what [the media] could record in a public building involving publically elected people.” She writes, “True the media landscape is changing and that makes a lot of us fearful too, but fear never leads to good decision making.”

• MPR’s Bob Collins writes of the “big chill at the Capitol,” noting that there’s “virtually no reasonable case to be made that inviting a few bloggers in to inspect the workings of elected officials would cause an undue burden on the lawmakers who, for the record, asked for the job.”

After state GOP chair Ron Carey aped party blogger Michael Brodkorb’s terminology for The UpTake as a “partisan, liberal” blog, the citizen journalism outfit issued a press release correcting an error Carey made — and thanked him for tuning into the same video feeds of Minnesota recount proceedings that media outlets like Fox News and the Pioneer Press have used. A release issued by The UpTake late last night notes that it has been providing an “unedited switched video feed” of the State Canvassing Board’s meetings, but that Carey was incorrect in stating that the organization is the “Official Communicator” for the Minnesota Secretary of State.

“The UpTake is providing this service because the Capitol staff who normally provide both the video feed and webcast were not available,” the release states. “The UpTake volunteered to contribute equipment and technical personnel to continue to provide both. The office of the Secretary of State accepted the offer.  This conversation was transparent and also streamed live online.”

It includes a note of gratitude to Carey for tuning in: “We are extremely pleased that the Chair of the Minnesota GOP watches The UpTake and was able to enjoy today’s State Canvassing Board hearing through our live coverage,” Jason Barnett, Executive Director of The UpTake, said.

Earlier: GOP attacks on The UpTake: Another attempt to smear the process that may deal Coleman defeat?