Liberal in the Land of Conservative

Elwyn Tinklenberg opened this Pandora's box. He could have come clean early and simply stated, "Yeah, I do some lobby work on Transportation issues with Senator X, Senator Y, and Congresswoman Z, but it's a small portion of what I do", this situation would have been averted.

Regardless if Tinklenberg lobbied Federal Government officials 18% of the time, or 56% of the time, the view of the public will be that he is indeed a lobbyist.

Once again, this exposes one of Tinklenberg's perceived strengths.

Tinklenberg is running on his record at MnDOT and his Transportation/Infrastructure knowledge and his apparent "socially conservative" past as a Methodist minister.

We've seen the evidence that Tinklenberg's MnDOT past is not as rosy as he would describe it.

His lobbying ties are also being called into question and, to put it bluntly, how can a delegate trust a former Methodist minister with a problem with honesty?

I'll be posting a town by town snapshot of Tinklenberg's work as a lobbyist/consultant over the next few days.

For now, the question has been asked...again!

It's interesting comparing the FEC reports of Elwyn Tinklenberg and Bob Olson.

It's no secret why Tinklenberg's numbers were not released early. They are not that impressive, despite Elwyn's Will Ferrell-esqe persona of "don't tell me your not impressed."

$133,152 may look good from the outside but a more careful analysis points to some problems.

Of the $133,152, $71,500 came from Political Action Committee's.

Almost 54% of Elwyn Tinklenberg's fundraising came from PAC's!

I guess I missed the want ad in the St Cloud Times, "Congressman for Sale". I'd think Larry Schumacher would have pointed that one out.

With just over $96,000 on hand, it must be a disappointment for the Tinklenberg campaign to have relied so heavily on those who lurk the dark Washington DC corridors for money.

Compare to where Bob Olson is at.

Olson has just over $92,000 on hand and has taken ZERO money from Political Action Committee's. Olson has had over 500 individual donors, representing all areas of the 6th CD.

One thing that stood out to me in my first look at Tinklenberg's FEC report.

If Michael Guest is his fundraising director, which he stated publicaly on 12/13/07 as well, where is he on the FEC Report? Is he being paid by the Tinklenberg Group? Hassan Mainstreet LLC? It sure raises some interesting questions in my eyes. Is it an FEC violation to have someone on your campaign working but being paid by another group? Just curious...

It's quite obvious by now, someone is being anointed in the 6th to run against Bachmann. Clearly, by looking at his poast issues at MnDOT, a lob errr, interesting consulting past, and now his recent FEC report display fully the paper tiger in the room.

Are we ready to have OUR Congressional seat bought by those outside the 6th? I'm not naive, I fully understand the fundraising process, but when 54% of your entire campaign funds come from PAC's alone, and the vast remainder outside of the 6th, it shows a lack of grassroots support.

If those that are trying to buy this race are successful through the endorsment, I hope they save the receipt.

Unfortunately, it will be tough to return a bought candidate in August...