Hot dish 08.26.24

By Josie Albertson-Grove

Good Monday morning. It’s good to be back in Minnesota and almost caught up on sleep and dietary fiber, after a week of Democratic National Convention coverage and deep dish pizza.

House Speaker Mike Johnson was in Minnesota yesterday too. Washington correspondent Sydney Kashiwagi (also in Minnesota, having apparently brought the humidity from D.C. with her) went to see what Johnson had to say as he visited the site of the Minneapolis Police Third Precinct, burned by protesters after the murder of George Floyd.

The riots have already become a campaign issue (and reporters Andy Mannix and Liz Sawyer, who were actually there, wrote a convenient memory-refresher earlier this month). Republicans have been criticizing Gov. Tim Walz’s response, and hitting Vice President Kamala Harris for promoting a bail fund in the days after Floyd’s death.

Reps. Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber and Second District candidate Joe Teirab also took field trips to the south Minneapolis precinct for a photo op with Johnson.

“Right here, the hopes and dreams of countless small business owners and families literally went up in smoke,” Johnson said. “And as you can see from the charred and barricaded building right behind us here, four years later, this community still has not recovered from the aftermath.”

Dems shot back. “There’s only one candidate for president who is responsible for starting a riot, and that was Donald Trump on January 6th,” Walz campaign spokesperson Teddy Tschann said. “Trump’s only contribution that week was sending tweets from his bunker saying the military should shoot protesters.”

It does not appear Johnson and co. visited the rebuilt Coliseum small-business incubator across the street, or stopped in at the brewery, bike shop or either of the two book stores on the same Minnehaha Avenue block.

Maybe they smelled smoke. The adjacent Hook and Ladder Theater was getting ready for a cookout and outdoor concert in the neighborhood that has not quite recovered, but is far from ruined more than four years after the riots.

RURAL: Who wants to be a county commissioner? In too many rural places, the answer is “nobody.”

Reporter Reid Forgrave visited a two-day intensive how-to-run-for-office seminar culminating with participants giving stump speeches, intended to combat the rural politician shortage.

“A lot of our counties are classified as leadership-distressed, meaning we have the same amount of government offices as urban areas but way fewer people to run,” said Celeste Koppe, rural initiatives strategist for West Central Initiative. “So a lot of times we see city clerks calling around, looking for people to run for office, wondering if they’re going to find a mayor this year.”

RECOUNT: Running for office in rural Minnesota can also mean tiny turnouts and razor-thin margins. Two northern Minnesota primary races are headed for recounts, reports Kim Hyatt.

A race for an open Mille Lacs County Commissioner seat resulted in a tie, with candidates Aaron James Plumski and Diana Klages each getting 79 votes in the Aug. 13 primary. They are running for District 3, which includes the cities of Milaca and Foreston.

Whoever has more votes in the recount will face Jay Munson in the general election. He garnered 112 votes.

In a Bemidji City Council race, incumbent Lynn Eaton came out on top with 126 votes in Ward 5, which stretches along the southeast shores of Lake Bemidji. There was a seven-vote difference between his two challengers.

Michael Meehlhause requested a recount after coming in last with 99 votes. Bill Batchelder garnered 106 votes. The winner will face Eaton in the Nov. 5 general election.

FAIR: Will Walz go to the fair, now that he’s a big-shot vice presidential nominee? He would hardly be the first, Elliot Hughes writes, with at least 10 presidential candidates, six sitting vice presidents, two sitting presidents and four future presidents visiting the fair over the last almost-150 years.

I hadn’t known this: Theodore Roosevelt gave his “speak softly and carry a big stick” speech at the fair when he visited as vice president in 1901.

So when might Walz go to the fair? He has typically gone for opening day, but he was in Chicago for the convention. The DFL brought in buckets of Sweet Martha’s cookies for the Minnesota delegation’s breakfast on Thursday morning after his big speech, bringing a bit of the fair to Walz and the delegates

The governor might be in Minnesota today (see below) and there’s still a bit of a gap before the two-day bus tour through Georgia with Harris. Maybe Tuesday? Maybe during the much-nicer weather we have to look forward to Friday and beyond? (WCCO reported he was home at Eastcliff on Friday.)

Walz fans have been going to the fair in droves, with the DFL reporting record sales at its merch booth — which translates into record fundraising at the fair for the party.

From Thursday through Sunday, the DFL sold $190,000 worth of merch, breaking the party’s sales record set in 2019, when it took all 12 days of the fair make $164,000 in sales.

T-shirts for the Harris-Walz campaign have been the top seller, says DFL spokesperson Darwin Forsyth.

Harris-Walz camo hats sold out in under an hour on opening day, but Forsyth says they’re working on a restock.

WEEDGIRL: As state Rep. Jessica Hanson, DFL-Burnsville, negotiated a sweeping set of cannabis policy changes during the closing weeks of this year’s legislative session, her partner registered a new cannabis business called Weed Girl. Hanson said legislators employed in other industries can sponsor and vote on bills related to their professions, but one government ethics expert called it a conflict of interest, as Matt DeLong (who writes our Nuggets newsletter) reports.

WHERE’S WALZ:

Gov. Tim Walz does have some official state business today, according to his public schedule. He’ll be interviewing candidates for three vacancies in the Second Judicial District (that is, Ramsey County) starting at 9 a.m.

READING LIST

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