Last Minute Dirty Tricks

Several dirty tricks to report on election eve.

In CD 2, elderly Eagan residents are receiving phone calls asking if they support Coleen Rowley or John Kline. If they support Rowley, those residents are given misinformation about their polling place. Basically the wrong place and the wrong times.

In CD 1, someone is pretending to be with moveon.org and telling people to vote for Gil Gutknecht. Moveon supports Gutknecht's challenger Tim Walz.

I hope both Congressman Kline and Gutknecht do not remain silent on these frauds and condemn them.

Exclusive Video-White House Apparently Caught Doctoring "Mission Accomplished" Speech

Podcast video here.
Apparently the Bush administration has taken the Winston Churchill quote "History is written by the victors" into the video age. The official White House website is now sporting a very different version of President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech. In this exclusive video, Inside Minnesota Politics' Mike McIntee shows how the "Mission Accomplished" banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln has apparently been crudely cropped out of the video.

For those visiting the website, here is the flash version that's been posted in YouTube.

Private Citizens Backing Rowley "Truth Matters" Campaign

This website -www.kline-exposed.com sprung up on the internet overnight inspired by Coleen Rowley's press conference yesterday. I have nothing to do with it, but the content is good. It has a flyer it's encouraging people to print out and distribute.

In short it outlines the ridiculous claims Congressman Kline has made about Coleen Rowley. If this were Saturday Night Live, I'd think Kline's claims were a parody of a negative ad. Unfortunately not a laughing matter that a member of Congress would stoop to this kind of stuff...and then have his staff call it normal "campaigning".

If you're mad about these kinds of distortions and think truth matters, I'd suggest printing out a dozen or so of these and distributing them strategically.

Video-Rowley Unveils The "Truth Matters" Ad

Video podcast is here.
Coleen Rowley unveiled this ad today that will be running in Monday's Star Tribune. In it she debunks the rather scummy lies Congressman John Kline has told about her.

For our blog vistors, here is the the flash version of the video.

Rowley Blows The Whistle On Kline

I've started collecting the negative mailers Congressman John Kline has been sending out about Coleen Rowley. They're sort of like freak show banner art. Outrageous claims that just make you laugh because they're so ridiculous. If there were another week in this election season Kline would claim Rowley was the bearded lady.

I would find it easier to laugh at the juvenile playground bully type tricks Kline has been pulling if there weren't so much at stake this election.

After 9/11 the FBI had one brave agent --Coleen Rowley who wasn't afraid to speak the truth about 9/11. According to a press release tomorrow (Friday) at the State Capitol she is going to tell the truth about how Congressman John Kline has distorted and lied about her positions. This should be pretty good. Inside Minnesota Politics will be there with camera ready. Check in here later in the day for coverage.

Letter From Disabled Vet Refutes Claims in Pioneer Press Endorsement of Kline

From a listener/reader: A letter to the Pioneer Press

I read with great interest the article in today's edition about Rowley and Kline. This paragraph "Kline said he played a key role in ending the long-standing practice of reducing military pension payments by subtracting a retiree's disability benefits." Because I have been in the category to which he referred for more than 34 years, I am keenly aware of how long we fought for this and have followed for years those in Congress who have tried to get it corrected and those who have opposed it. Following is a letter I wrote to Kline almost 3 years ago:

December 12, 2003

Congressman John Kline
101 West Burnsville Parkway
Suite 201
Burnsville, MN 55337

Congressman Kline:

I am in receipt of your letter of November 2003, addressed to “Dear Veteran” in which you seem to be taking some credit for the recent passage of the Concurrent Receipt legislation. In my opinion it is disingenuous on your part to claim any credit for the successful enactment of this legislation. I don’t doubt that you voted in favor of the Defense Appropriation Bill that included the Concurrent Receipt provisions, but it is my opinion if HR 303 had been voted on as a stand-alone provision you would have voted against it.

I base my opinion on your refusal to co-sponsor HR 303. A failure to co-sponsor a bill in my opinion is the same as no vote for its enactment. Further, Rep Jim Marshall of Georgia introduced House Resolution 251, a Discharge Petition to force HR 303 from committee to a full house hearing. Here again, you refused to co-sponsor that Resolution.

The Bush Administration, including President Bush and Def Sec Rumsfeld, was opposed to Concurrent Receipt and in my opinion you were in lock step with the Administration’s opposition. It was only because of pressure brought by Veterans Service Organizations and other members of Congress that the Administration relented in its opposition and agreed to the compromise legislation. The compromise is a step in the right direction but is unfair to those retirees with an under 50% disability rating who will see no relief.

I will appreciate your personal reply addressing my opinions stated above and will retain the possibility that I may have misinterpreted your intentions. However I will require an explanation for your thinking and reasoning for failure to co-sponsor the legislation.

Yours truly,
Sidney Paul Beck

As can be seen by my comments I don't believe Kline did anything to get this done. Interestingly, I have never received a reply from Kline. One of his assistants who identified himself as a retired Army NCO contacted my via phone and tried to assure me that Kline had "worked in the background" to get the legislation enacted. I asked the individual to write me a letter outlining what Kline had done and with whom he had worked. I have never received any correspondence from either Kline or his assistant, therefore I still believe Kline is falsely taking credit for something he actually opposed.

Sidney Paul Beck
Eagan, MN