Tom Emmer and company, sticking it to small rural counties

From the article in today's St.Cloud Times:
http://www.sctimes.com/article/20101215/NEWS01/112150025/Emmer-campaign-stiffs-counties-for-recount-bills

Sam Modderman doesn’t know exactly how many hours he and his staff spent preparing a cache of documents requested by Tom Emmer during the governor’s recount. But he knows the county hasn’t been paid for the work.

“We completed all the requests, but no, we haven’t gotten paid for them all,” the Kandiyohi County Auditor (Willmar) said.

It’s a common story that’s been reported in other counties who rushed to prepare documents requested by the Emmer campaign but then didn’t get paid for the work.

Modderman said he spent more time at the office than with his family over Thanksgiving in order the meet the request for documents.

“They were a little demanding,” he said.

My comments: Swift County (Benson, western MN) used a different tactic with Emmer and his cronies. They said to Emmer, "Go ahead, sue us for the material if you want. We will not get stiffed!" Great job.

Tom Emmer - the dirtiest candidate for governor I've ever seen

Exiled from Lake Street:
Latino community forces cancellation of stealth Emmer rally

(Minneapolis)– Oscar Reyes, owner of the Las Mojarras restaurant on Lake Street in the heart of Minneapolis’s Latino community, was pleased to get a reservation for a Saturday morning “business meeting” on October 23.

He was less happy when calls came in from concerned community members asking why a campaign rally for anti-immigrant, anti-Latino Republican gubernatorial Tom Emmer was taking place in his popular business.

In a humiliating blow for the Emmer campaign, Reyes canceled the event and appeared as a guest on the Cara a Cara radio show on La Invasora 1400 to assure the Latino community that he was a victim of an attempt to stage a stealth rally in the Latino neighborhood prior to President Obama’s rally on behalf of DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton.

The interview with host Alberto Monserrate has been posted online on the Cara a Cara web page and can be downloaded here.

Monserrate said that Reyes asked to be on the show in order to assure the community that he was not supporting Emmer’s campaign. While on air, Reyes said that he didn’t know that the event was part of a political campaign

The radio show host thought the secrecy was unusual, as political organizers are generally upfront with small business owners. “In all of the organizing I’ve observed, those setting up events let businesses know that it’s a campaign-related event because of the potential for customer disapproval. Those organizing this rally appear to have sought a meeting in the Latino community, but failed to tell the Latino small business owner that is was for Emmer.”

Reyes learned of the true nature of the event when calls started coming in after news of the event appeared in the Wednesday, October 20, 2010 “Morning Take,” published by Tunheim Partners public affairs firm; the event was also listed on a local conservative blog. Community organizers and activists spread the word via Facebook and Twitter, and curious activists called Reyes.

Reyes was angered to learn that the event was political and to discover Emmer’s record of supporting anti-immigrant measures like Arizona’s SB1070 bill and anti-Latino measures like an English-only bill, according to Monserrate.

My thoughts: Tom Emmer, you really have sunk to a new low, trying to hold a campaign rally at a privately-owned business without telling that business owner what was going on. By doing so, you are jeopardizing the image of that business without letting the owner decide whether or not he wants to risk losing business over your governor bid. I will safely say, you're the dirtiest candidate for governor I've seen in my lifetime.

Tom Emmer would sign a cut to the minimum wage, if the Legislature approved it - One restaurant worker labels Emmer's comments "abhorrent"

More breaking news...

From Minnesota Public Radio today:

Ann Potter, who works at a downtown Minneapolis restaurant, said Emmer is attacking those who earn the minimum wage.

"We work so hard. Most of us don't have health insurance. Most of us don't have 401(k)s. Most of us don't have any type of financial protection," Potter told Emmer. "I am just absolutely enraged with what you had to say. I find it to be abhorrent."

Wait, wait! It gets even better! Read this...Tom Emmer would sign a CUT to the minimum wage!

Again, from MPR:
He refused to tell reporters what he meant when he initially said a tip credit had to be considered.

But in a phone interview earlier this week he said he would cut the minimum wage if the Legislature approves.

"If somebody is going to pass that through the Legislature, we would absolutely sign it," he said.

So, rural Minnesota, how does all this smell to you?

Here's a link to show Tom Emmer saying on video that he supports cutting restaurant server/wait staff wages - and get this... he is still lying!

http://the-uptake.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/3197/

Here is a comment left on a Star Tribune story about Tom Emmer's "Waitergate" problem.

"Rep. Tom Emmer, you have our attention. We will be keeping a close eye on you. In our industry, word spreads like a wild fire. We show up to vote when there is a known enemy."

The comment was left for the following story, which you can read by clicking on this link: http://www.startribune.com/local/97905219.html?page=3&c=y

Click on this link to see that he is still lying about the comment that some servers make $100,000 a year. That is part of his logic on why we should cut the minimum wage for servers and wait staff.

http://mncampaignreport.com/diary/6617/emmer-still-telling-debunked-lie-that-servers-make-100000-per-year

It just never seems to end.

Tom Emmer will hold a town hall meeting in Roseville to discuss his idea to lower the minimum wage for servers at bars/restaurants

More information will follow on this today and leading up to the event on Wednesday (July 14).

I am so angry about this idea to bring the minimum wage to $2.13 an hour for servers and waitresses that I have to cool down before I share my opinions in a public forum.

One of Emmer's failed use of logic is this: Compare Fargo to Moorhead, and you can see that Fargo has many more restaurants than Moorhead does. According to Emmer, this is because North Dakota has a lower minimum wage than Minnesota does (for servers) and therefore, Fargo is more attractive to the restaurant industry.

Hmm, let's think about this. Fargo has a population of about 96,000 and Moorhead is at about 36,000. Perhaps the fact that Fargo is 3 times as big as Moorhead has something to do with it having more restaurants?

Tom, why does Alexandria have more restaurants than Glenwood does? Does it have anything to do with population? Just, maybe?

Come on Tom, you are running for Governor of Minnesota. You need to think before you speak!

Here is a link to a commentary page from Don Davis in the Echo Press:
http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/76495/group/homepage/

Here is a link to another story, written by a friend of mine who is an accomplished journalist, at her Bluestem Prairie blog: http://bit.ly/9zaAb0

She has aptly dubbed this whole drama as "Waitergate."