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Hot Dish 6.21.24

Walz heads north to survey the rising waters

By Rochelle Olson

The Minnesota Star Tribune

June 21, 2024 at 1:14PM

Floods, Finstad and Friedberg

By Rochelle Olson

“You won’t be getting your Pulitzer Prize for this.” That quote appeared in New York Times story this week, but I’ve heard it from interviewees for years. Stick around to find out where I found that line and know that I won’t be getting a Pulitzer for Friday’s Hot Dish, but the effort is its own reward.

Friendly reminder that you shouldn’t go too hard this weekend because we’ve got the presidential debate next Thursday. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are taking different paths to prep for it. Trump’s also been raking in the campaign cash since his conviction in New York.

We had, I think, the quietest week we’ve seen on our team since — December? If I’m guessing, this was a lull, a transition week. The national GOP convention is approaching. We’re getting press releases about endorsements and we want them all. Fill our inbox: hotdish@startribune.com.

The continued rains are making for a rough summer Up North where Gov. Tim Walz is headed this morning. If you go, pay attention to road closures as reported by Tim Harlow and remember: Don’t drive through the water as tempting as it may be to get yourself more quickly to Point B.

Our woman in D.C., Sydney Kashiwagi, wrote about the intrigue surrounding U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad’s absence from the stage with former President Donald Trump last month at the RiverCentre. The state’s three other U.S. reps were there on the stage, loud and proud: Tom Emmer, Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber.

Phillip Parrish, a GOP activist in Finstad’s southern First District, said the congressman told him he had a subcommittee meeting and couldn’t make the dinner. Finstad’s campaign, however, declined to tell Kashiwagi why he didn’t attend.

When Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in a hush-money/election fraud trial, Finstad was silent on X until Parrish called him out and threatened to primary him. Finstad then tweeted, “Justice was not done today!” Parrish was satisfied — barely. He called the Tweet “politically safe.” But it was enough to keep him from waging a challenge.

Finstad’s campaign says he fully supports Trump.

Marty Seifert, former state House Republican minority leader, delivered this memorable quote about Finstad: “If you want a workhorse, who’s a mainstream conservative, who’s going to do a good job for the district, then you’ve found the right guy, and frankly, the First District doesn’t want a clown show. We’re a big tent party, but they don’t want it to be a circus tent.”

Former assistant county attorney, Rochester Township Board member and Hennepin County elections director Rachel Bowman is expected to be the DFL candidate on the ballot.

RANGE ROVER: Kashiwagi had a wide-ranging interview with Rep. Stauber about the Boundary Waters, Superior National Forest, mining, environmental concerns and Trump. See her Q&A here.

COMSTOCK ACT: Sen. Tina Smith revealed her much-discussed bill to repeal the 1873 Comstock Act that could ban the mailing of the abortion drug mifepristone ”When MAGA Republicans say they intend to use the Comstock Act to control women’s decisions and enact a backdoor national abortion ban, we should believe them,” she said. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is a co-sponsor, Kashiwagi reports.

RIGHT WAY: Louisiana leads in advancing “pent-up Republican policy preferences” under Gov. Jeff Landry. The Supreme Court’s Ten Commandments is the latest victory for conservatives in the southern state. Landry could be in line for a cabinet position under a second Trump term. If Minnesota voters bounce the DFL from the Capitol, similar policy pursuits could be coming here.

WHERE’S WALZ:

Headed to the Iron Range to survey the sodden areas. He will be in Biwabik at 10 a.m. and Cook at noon. Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson and Assistant Commissioner John Cunningham will join him.

Our colleague Jana Hollingsworth filed a dispatch from Cook about the water bringing the town to a standstill. Don’t miss the picture with this one.

In Biwabik, Walz will be joined by Mayor Jim Waikum, Gilbert Police Chief Ty Techar and St. Louis County Emergency Operations Manager Josh Brinkman.

In Cook, he will be joined by Mayor Harold Johnston.

READING LIST

Majority in the Middle says bipartisanship bill authorship in Minnesota was down this past year but committee chairs and others made an effort to play well with others. Read the report here.
Health data, Social Security numbers, credit cards, the sensitive data of millions was compromised in UnitedHealth cyberattack. Consumers will find out in coming weeks if their data was hit, Brooks Johnson reports.
A reclusive heir to a Gilded Age fortune gave $50 million to a Super PAC supporting Trump. Read about Timothy Mellon. He’s the first person reported to have given $100 million this cycle. I’d like to be an heir to a Gilded Age fortune although the karma of that could be problematic.
Colleague Chloe Johnson writes about the late Amara Strand’s pleas to policymakers to curb forever chemicals before the 20-year-old was felled by cancer.
RR (Rogue Rocky) Time: Jimmy Carter is still alive, Lakeville’s Regan Smith is swimming like a World Record-breaking boss at U.S. Olympic Trials and renown criminal defense lawyer Joe Friedberg is no longer with us — as reported earlier this week. He was one of the greatest characters and a warm, kind person. I’d run into him in the skyway and if we both had time, we’d have coffee or split a cookie. Two things not widely known about Joe: He and his wife, Carolyn, lost their daughter Lisa to cancer when she was young, some 50 years ago. Of her, Joe said, “When you lose a child, nothing ever looks the same again.” Adding stress to his final years, he was the target of a federal investigation regarding the ruby slippers. Nothing came of it, but he had to reveal this to his clients in federal court in front of a judge to make sure they still wanted his legal services. They did. Oh and he was funny, kind and he never, ever needed more than five seconds to conjure up a recollection, comment or quote and he only represented the egregiously and wrongfully accused. I am going to miss him terribly.
Responding to a question from trying-to-be Minnesota Timberwolves owner Alex Rodriguez, Mr. October’s impromptu comments have been popping up on my social feed and I finally watched this morning. Multiple times.
Always read Jacob Bernstein (son of Carl and Nora) in the New York Times, including his story about the buzz in Hamptons over Justin Timberlake’s DWI arrest. You’ll have to fish out the story yourself because I can’t link to it. (Techno issues.) There is one quote in that story that any halfway productive reporter has heard innumerable times. I know I have. “You won’t be getting your Pulitzer Prize for this,” he said.
Let’s give Joe F. the last word. From a story I wrote in 2016, I asked Friedberg, among others, whether the Minnesota Vikings were cursed after they lost playoff game on a missed (fill in the blank). “No, and I don’t think the Chicago Cubs or the Boston Red Sox are cursed. It falls under the category of [stuff] happens. Although I did get pissed when an opponent in a civil case put the gris-gris on me.” (Didn’t work. He won.)