Minnesota Independent

Bradlee Dean: Kurt Zellers ‘is a liar’

By Andy Birkey | 07.20.11 | 12:17 pm

Controversial preacher Bradlee Dean continues to claim that House Speaker Kurt Zellers asked to be on Dean’s show, Sons of Liberty, immediately preceding Dean’s infamous prayer at the opening of a Minnesota House session, according to an interview Dean did with City Pages reporter Andy Mannix. Zellers has denied that he ever asked to be on the show. Dean also said that Rep. Ernie Leidiger, R-Mayer, who invited Dean to give the prayer but later stated he didn’t know much about Dean, was “behind” Dean’s ministry before he was against it.

Bradlee Dean giving the May 20 invocation in the Minnesota House

Zellers contests Bradlee Dean’s claim that he sought to be on Dean’s show

By Andy Birkey | 06.21.11 | 2:10 pm

Bradlee Dean, an anti-gay preacher, told a radio show last week that House Speaker Kurt Zellers had asked to be on his radio show the week before Dean gave a controversial prayer before the Minnesota House. But according to a spokesperson for Zellers’ office, Dean was not telling the truth. Dean’s prayer, which took a swing at President Obama, was nearly universally condemned by legislators on both sides of the aisle.

Bradlee Dean: A week before House prayer, Zellers asked to be on my radio show

By Andy Birkey | 06.21.11 | 11:48 am

Controversial preacher Bradlee Dean says that House Speaker Kurt Zellers asked to appear on Dean’s radio show, the Sons of Liberty, the week before Dean gave a controversial prayer before the Minnesota House. Dean’s claim stands in stark contrast to Zeller’s words condemning Dean, as well as House leadership’s insistence that they weren’t familiar with Dean. Dean made his statement as part of a media blitz of more than two dozen radio stations where he defended his prayer and blamed “homosexual activists” for the controversy which continues to simmer. Zellers says Dean’s claim is not true.

Upset by Ellison’s criticisms, Bradlee Dean says Muslim Democrat wants to overthrow Constitution

By Andy Birkey | 06.06.11 | 9:07 am

Bradlee Dean of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide ministries lashed out at Rep. Keith Ellison on his Sons of Liberty radio program on Saturday after Ellison called Dean “extreme” in an interview two weeks ago. Dean claimed that sodomy is illegal, that Ellison wants to overthrow the U.S. Constitution, and that the Fifth District Democrat disrespected America when he took the oath of office on Thomas Jefferson’s Koran. Criticism against Dean has mounted in recent weeks after he was invited by Republicans to give the opening prayer in the Minnesota House and took a swipe at Obama.

Wal-Mart, Salem radio dump Bradlee Dean

By Andy Birkey | 05.25.11 | 2:43 pm

Wal-Mart and Salem Communications have severed ties with two entities run by pastor Bradlee Dean, who made headlines last week for a controversial prayer before the Minnesota House of Representatives. David Brauer reports that AM 1280 The Patriot, owned by Christian broadcaster Salem Communications, dropped Dean’s “Sons of Liberty” radio show, and Nick Pinto writes that Wal-Mart has told Dean’s ministry, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, that it can no longer fundraise in the parking lots of its Minnesota locations.

Bradlee Dean fundraises off prayer fiasco – to hire publicist

By Andy Birkey | 05.24.11 | 7:30 am

Bradlee Dean, the controversial anti-gay preacher who gave the prayer for the Minnesota House on Friday, sent an email to supporters on Monday asking them for money so that his group, the You Can Run But You Cannot Hide ministry, can hire a publicist. Dean’s prayer sent shockwaves through the Legislature over the weekend after he took a dig at President Obama in his invocation and after revelations that he’s advocated for the imprisonment of gays and lesbians. In his fundraising email, Dean said he didn’t “start this fight,” but he’s willing to “respond.”

Religious, political groups criticize Bradlee Dean prayer

By Andy Birkey | 05.23.11 | 2:21 pm

In the wake of Bradlee Dean’s controversial prayer before the Minnesota House on Friday, a number of religious and political groups condemned Dean and urged Republican leaders to disavow Dean’s prayer and his association with the House. The Minnesota Catholic Conference, which supports a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, said that Dean should not be associated with their movement. The ACLU, the DFL, the National Organization for Marriage, Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak and several legislators all weighed in on the controversy over the weekend.

Bipartisan outrage erupts over GOP’s invite to Bradlee Dean to give House prayer

By Andy Birkey | 05.20.11 | 1:02 pm

A prayer at Friday’s session of the Minnesota House given by anti-gay preacher Bradlee Dean erupted a firestorm of criticism among DFL legislators and some in the GOP. Dean, whose fiery brand of anti-LGBT preaching riled opponents of GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer last fall, led the House in prayer, asserting that President Obama was not a Christian. Republican leadership, sensing controversy, asked the official House chaplain to conduct an unusual second prayer. Minnesota’s LGBT legislators said Dean’s anti-gay preaching “reveals the underlying hateful nature of the anti-gay constitutional amendment movement.”

Watchdog group sends letter to Senate leaders over Campbell prayer

By Andy Birkey | 03.21.11 | 4:19 pm

The watchdog group Americans United for the Separation of Church and State sent a letter to Minnesota Senate leadership Monday warning the chamber that Pastor Dennis Campbell’s prayer last week was unconstitutional. Addressed to Senate President Michelle Fischbach, Majority Leader Amy Koch and Minority Leader Tom Bakk, the letter also urged the leaders to either refrain from allowing prayers in the Senate or to ensure that if it continues to do so it does in a way that respects other traditions.

Pastor who gave controversial Senate prayer bought anti-Muslim ads

By Andy Birkey | 03.15.11 | 4:30 pm

The Associated Press reports that a Christian prayer on the Minnesota Senate floor on Monday made non-Christian members of that body uncomfortable. Pastor Dennis Campbell’s prayer was highly Christian, as opposed to the nonsectarian prayers that were commonplace under DFL control. It’s not Campbell’s first controversy; last summer he took out ads in the St. Cloud Times that were viewed as anti-Muslim.