by Tony Petrangelo

Jun 16, 2012, 12:00 PM

The Weekly Wrap 6-16

♣ ICYMI, back at the end of May a video appeared that had some people asking… “Who the hell made that?”

Now, as the script reads, members of the coalition supporting the anti-family amendment are using said video to raise money.

I suppose the next step is to hire people dressed as teh gays to beat up some clergy and then use that to fundraise.

♣ Speaking of videos, Kurt Bills turn as Producer/Actor/Narrator has been getting what people euphemistically refer to as “mixed” reviews.

♣ Mike Obermueller got some good news in his bid to defeat Texas Minnesota second district congressman John Kline. On Monday it was learned that the DCCC has upgraded the race to “Red to Blue” status.

If you’re unfamiliar with the “red to Blue” program, here’s an explanation from the DCCC’s website:

The DCCC’s Red to Blue program highlights top Democratic campaigns across the country, and offers them financial, communications, grassroots, and strategic support. The program will introduce Democratic supporters to new, competitive candidates in order to help expand the fundraising base for these campaigns.

♣ In a move that is sure to surprise exactly no one, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), has announced it’s intentions to spend money shoring up Chip Cravaack.

It’s less than a million dollars and will be spent on Cravaack and Sean Duffy of Wisconsin.

♣ The Senate staffer sex scandal saga (alliteration!) just will not quit and is likely to be with us until November. Yay!

♣ The Legislative Coordinating Commission, who’s job it is to

coordinate the legislative activities of the senate and house of representatives.

decided on Friday that they too needed to get involved in the oral arguments over the proposed photo voter ID amendment on July 17th.

The case was started by the ACLU, Common Cause MN and the League of Women Voters and shortly after the supreme court decided they would hear oral arguments two well known enemies of free elections asked to intervene in the case.

Given that, it’s a bit duplicitous for the LCC to get involved as well, no? I mean, I don’t think that’s a Government 2.0 kinda thing right?

If you’re interested in learning more about this important issue and what exactly the case before the supreme court is, you should listen to the radio show we did on the issue with Carolyn Jackson from the ACLU and Mike Dean from Common Cause MN. Also worth your attention is this article from Wednesday about the effect this amendment is likely to have on local units of government, in this case counties.

♣ Americans for Prosperity Minnesota, the local wing of the nefarious Americans for Prosperity, announced that they will be going after three state Senators who supported the Vikings stadium deal. The lucky three; Julie Rosen, Bill Ingebrigtsen and Terri Bonoff.

I don’t know what AFP’s thinking is here, it may be that they’re being totally honest about why they’re going after these three. But it does strike me that Rosen and Ingebrigtsen are in pretty safe districts while Terri Bonoff in not, meaning that she’s likely the real target or at least, she’s the one who’s most vulnerable to their attacks.

During the 2010 election, when MN Forward was looking for some cover after the fallout from the Target giving them money controversy, Terri Bonoff was one of three DFLers the group backed. And while MN Forward and APM are totally different groups (at least in theory!), I don’t think Senator Bonoff will be getting that kind of support this cycle.

Some folks have speculated that Rosen, Ingebrigtsen and Bonoff have another issue in common, opposition to the “right to work” amendment. Ingebrigtsen was one of the few Republicans in the legislature to actually vote against the amendment in committee, and Rosen was rumored to be one of the Republicans who were skeptical of the amendment.

♣ On Tuesday, the St. Anthony Village City Council rejected a conditional use permit for a proposed islamic center in an office building previously owned by Medtronic. The St. Anthony Planning Committee had unanimously recommended that the council approve the permit a week earlier. The 4-1 vote against the permit was described by the council majority as a straightforward land use issue and a disagreement about zoning. But speakers opposed to the islamic center at the council meeting went far afield of the zoning question, describing Islam as “evil. There’s no other religion in the world that endorses violence.” Other speakers expressed concern about falling property values and drive-by shootings if the center were approved.

Of course, right-wing bloggers will distance themselves from overt expressions of bigotry while winking at it. In this case, the winking was done by Mark Heuring of Mr. Dilettante’s Neighborhood, who responded to a comment on his blog post that it “certainly is possible” that speakers at the meeting were agents provocateurs sent to make the opposition look bad. I suggest that you look at the tape and ask yourself, “do these folks look and sound like CAIR plants?”

And the Pam Gellers of the world have taken notice.

State Sen. Barb Goodwin, who represents part of St. Anthony, responded eloquently to this controversy here on LeftMN.