Rambling from the North

So we've had the results for about an hour. Tarryl Clark was at 55% when it was declared for her and Larry Haws had 73% when they declared for him. They are the newest members of the Minnesota Legislature! However, the republicans are already spinning it trying to say Tarryl is a bad candidate but she only won because of the house race.

Well guess what, the republicans had a senate candidate who doctored photos and a house candidate who didn't know where she lived. We beat them because they couldn't try to run a fair candidate.

So congrats Tarryl and Larry, good luck next year!

Another ruling has been handed down stating that Sue Ek's mother, Kay Ek, could not be on the ballot either. The ruling has finally come down that there will be NO REPUBLICAN on the ballot for the special election.

So, after one-term timmy attempted to rig the election by setting it at a time when families and students are going to be gone, their poor ability to pick candidates has come back and bitten them in the ass. I'm glad.

Once again however, the in city media has done a poor job of covering the special election in my opinion. Especially the fact that the republicans just attempted to commit voter fraud. (See MN Campaign report for the senate campaign fraud). Both the house and senate republican candidates are submerged in turmoil and frankly, I couldn't be more amused!

The Supreme Court of Minnesota has confirmed what we all knew- Susan Ek is off the ballot.
In doing my duty as a good democrat- I have copied the DFL press release. I try not to do this but its the end of finals and I really can't come up with anything original other then... YEAH!

MINNESOTA DFL PARTYFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE STATEMENT OF CHAIR MELENDEZ REGARDING SUPREME COURT DECISION ON EK RESIDENCYST. PAUL (12/19/05) – "Today the Supreme Court of Minnesota confirmed what the facts have already shown: Sue Ek doesn't live in St. Cloud, and wasn't telling the truth when she ran for elected office saying that she did."From day one, the Republicans have been playing political games with the people of St. Cloud. Gov. Pawlenty scheduled the special election two days after Christmas, which would ensure low voter turnout, and disfranchise the students of St. Cloud State University. Then the Republicans advanced a candidate who didn't even live in the district. The Supreme Court wasn't fooled. The voters won't be fooled either."The voters have a clear choice in Larry Haws. Haws has proven himself with over 32 years of public service to the people of the St. Cloud area. He is honest, trustworthy and the best choice to represent the Granite City at the State Capitol."###

Today, CNN had this displayed-
BREAKING NEWS
John Spencer, who played Leo McGarry on NBC's 'The West Wing,' died of a heart attack Friday, his publicist said. He was 58.

This is terrible. For those who watched the west wing, Spencer was an amazing actor who did one hell of a job. The prayers of this blogger go out to him, his family, and the cast today.

These last few years have not been good for Minnesotans. Today the Associated Press announced the passing of Eugene McCarthy- the amazing anti-war senator from Minnesota.
We ask your prayers are with his family and the people of Minnesota in the mourning of another amazing man of such historical importance has passed into the next life.

Thank you Senator for your service to America and Minnesota in such a hard time in our history. His accomplishments will always be remembered.

So, I appoogize for not posting for awhile. Life has been pretty hectic with the Christmas season upon us. I am rushing to shop, write papers, and once in awhile, pretend to be a normal student and go out partying with my friends before they leave the state for winter break. However, I'm going to attempt to keep writing and pressing forward with good information and analysis.

Recently there have been questions pertaining to one of the special elections in St. Cloud. Republican Candidate Susan Ek has been found to have conflicting places of residence. First she claims St. Paul, then she claims St. Cloud... and it just keeps going.

Today, one brave DFLer, the chair of the DFL Progressive Cacus Ric Studer, has finally taken action.

Justices to decide Ek's ballot eligibility

By Lawrence Schumacher lschumacher@stcloudtimes.com

Absentee voting will continue for a Dec. 27 special election, even as the Minnesota Supreme Court prepares next week to decide whether one of the candidates should be removed from the ballot.

St. Paul attorney Alan Weinblatt filed a lawsuit Friday on behalf of St. Cloud resident and DFL volunteer Rick Studer.

The lawsuit alleges officials wrongfully included Sue Ek's name on the ballot as the Republican candidate for a House 15B seat, because Ek had not established residency in the district at least six months before the Dec. 27 election, as required by state law.

The lawsuit cites several pieces of information that indicate Ek, who listed her home address as 1402 Kilian Boulevard SE in St. Cloud on her affidavit of candidacy, actually resided at 1258 Niles Ave., St. Paul, as of the June 27 deadline.

"It shouldn't be an easy thing to take someone off the ballot," Weinblatt said. "But she can't have it both ways. She didn't do anything to change that residency until September of this year."

At a candidate forum Friday morning, Ek restated her contention that she has been a St. Cloud resident since 1968. But she said she had voted in recent years in St. Paul.

Ek did not return a call Friday afternoon seeking comment for this story.

The Supreme Court has ordered all the parties named in the case to respond to the petition by 4:30 p.m. Thursday, said Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, a Republican.

No hearing date was set, but the justices will want to decide the case as soon as possible, she said.

The court gave no order to stop absentee voting in the meantime, Kiffmeyer said.

Next steps

The lawsuit identifies Kiffmeyer's office and those of the auditor-treasurers of Benton, Sherburne and Stearns counties as the defendants. The suit does not accuse those offices of wrongdoing, but it asks the court to order them to remove Ek's name from the ballot.

If that happens, the Republican Party of Minnesota would have seven days to nominate a new candidate, a procedure similar to what the DFL went through in 2002 following the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone.

"Except now we have a situation where you have a court case in the middle of voting already going on," Kiffmeyer said. "That person may be on the ballot; they may not be on the ballot. It's more uncertain."

State and local officials also have been ordered to determine how much time they would need to prepare new ballots, if necessary, she said.

The case

The strongest piece of evidence placing Ek's residency in St. Paul is an affidavit she signed July 9 certifying that she lived at the St. Paul address, Weinblatt said.

Ek maintains she was required to sign the affidavit to make sure the BOMA-USA nonprofit organization she operated in St. Paul was in good legal standing as a home business, and that it doesn't mean she didn't live in St. Cloud.

Her voting history indicates she was registered and voted from 2001-04 in St. Paul and changed her voter registration to her St. Cloud address during the Sept. 13 primary, Weinblatt said.

Weinblatt said he also plans to introduce testimony from St. Paul neighbors and Web and phone book listings indicating Ek lived in St. Paul.

Past history

Weinblatt was involved in similar contested residency cases in 2002, including a victory for the DFL in a case to remove Green Party candidate Jason Samuels from a Minneapolis legislative race against Rep. Phyllis Kahn because of residency issues.

Another 2002 case in which Republicans in Blue Earth County sued to remove state Sen. John Hottinger and other candidates from the ballot ended with a ruling in favor of the candidates. DFL officials at the time criticized the case as frivolous.

On Friday, it was the Republicans' turn.

"This is a classic DFL diversion and a boilerplate DFL complaint," said Mark Drake, Republican Party of Minnesota communications director. "Ultimately, the St. Cloud voters will decide this election."

Thank you Ric for pushing forward and fighting against the clearly corrupt practices. We've seen this many times over the past few months *Cough, Phil Krinkie, Cough* but this is the worst case of opportunism and openly defying the law so far. Ms. Eks will have her name thrown off the ballot, and the republicans will be scrambling. Boy do I enjoy these moments!