Minnesota Independent

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.

Bachmann outlines budget cuts

By Andy Birkey | 01.03.11 | 12:42 pm

Rep. Michele Bachmann sat down with WCCO’s Esme Murphy on Sunday following a Face the Nation appearance in which she proclaimed that she lives “in the real world.” Asked where she would trim the federal budget, Bachmann said she wants to cut federal employees, stop stimulus spending and freeze unnamed federal accounts which have $20 billion.

Reality Check dings Bachmann’s ‘State Fair’ ad

By Andy Birkey | 09.03.10 | 11:53 am

WCCO’s Reality Check evaluated Rep. Michele Bachmann’s latest ad targeting DFL opponent Tarryl Clark and ruled it a “distortion.” The ad has generated a hefty amount of criticism in the last few days. On Tuesday the Minnesota…

Mormons take to the airwaves in Minneapolis, eight other cities

By Jesse Zwick | 08.11.10 | 12:38 pm

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — aka the Mormon church — is running a mega ad campaign in nine mid-sized and mostly non-coastal American cities, including Minneapolis to tell us… they’re normal people!
The ads are…

Pawlenty in tune with GOP guvs who pooh-pooh fretting over town hall threats

By Chris Steller | 08.10.09 | 5:39 pm

Pooh-poohing concerns about disruptions at town hall meetings last Friday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty was already singing in harmony with the Republican Governors Association, a group that recently elected him its vice-chairman.
“It’s democracy in action,” Pawlenty told…

Pawlenty: Obama’s ‘scamming’ and ‘false advertising’ won’t save health reform

By Chris Steller | 07.24.09 | 12:19 pm

Gov. Pawlenty got off an international flight from Iraq and Afghanistan and immediately took to the domestic airwaves. The health care reform plan is a “joke” he told Fox News, and President Obama is ”scamming the American people” — with “

WCCO gay story pairing raises eyebrows

By Andy Birkey | 06.25.09 | 12:09 pm

A pair of headlines Thursday morning at the WCCO website made for a stark contrast in the television station’s treatment of LGBT-related stories. On one side, “Twin Cities to…

Gold rush: Pols pan for cash before refund program runs dry

By Chris Steller | 06.19.09 | 4:11 pm

Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s announced plans to axe state refunds for political contributions of $50 or less has set off an email stampede as candidates urge donors to give before the program dies July 1.

Pawlenty bows to tea-partiers in GOP weekly address

By Chris Steller | 04.11.09 | 6:11 am

In the Republican response to President Obama’s weekly address today, Gov. Tim Pawlenty regurgitates the right-wing Tax Foundation’s discredited “Tax Freedom Day” calculation to claim that ”the average American has to work from January 1st until this Monday, April…

Bigger media weighs in on access issues at the Minnesota House

By Paul Schmelzer | 03.10.09 | 12:21 pm

A group of online media outlets — including Checks & Balances, Radio Free Nation, the Minnesota Independent, The UpTake, Twin Cities Daily Planet and others — have been pressing the Minnesota House of Representatives to change rules…