Blue Man has been doing a fantastic job of vetting 6th District candidate, Elwyn Tinklenberg, and digging up some potential warts in the past record of the former Transportation Commissioner and sometime lobbyist/consultant. For his efforts, he is taking heat from party anointer's because apparently we should designate candidates without ever questioning their past.
"Loyal Democrats don't write what you're writing."
I don't know who is quoted here but they surely ought to be ashamed of themselves for implying that we ought to blindly support whomever places a (DFL) behind their name or whomever the party bosses decide should be the nominee. Honest Democrats should realize that if a candidate cannot survive the vetting of members of his own party, he surely will not survive the voracious vetting of one Michele Bachmann.
Blue Man also describes a conversation with June Cleaver, in which he educates her as to the purpose of his current vetting.
Blue Man also describes a conversation with June Cleaver, in which he educates her as to the purpose of his current vetting.
Heck, even June Cleaver left me a message on the ole cell phone."Blueman, aren't you being a little hard on the Tink?"
Well gee Mrs Cleaver, do you have any idea what Elwyn has been up to?He's running for Congress Mrs Cleaver and well...we have reason to believe he hasn't been completely honest about his record.He's running on his record as the Commissioner of MnDOT and our state's largest daily publication ran a 5 part expose' on his time there. Violations of labor law, no-bid contracts, and cronyism seem to have played a big role in his nearly 4 years at MnDOT.You can check those stories out right here!Here are the links to the series, read them for yourself.Not as impressive as we once thought!
"Blueman, I'm starting to get a little worried about the Tink."
Golly Mrs Cleaver, that's nothing compared to all the money he's gotten from small towns like Mayfield.Albertville Minnesota really thought they were hiring a lobbyist to work on the I-94 issue through town, but apparenly, Elwyn says he's not a federal lobbyist.
"Boy Blueman, I bet they'll be surprised when they find that out!"
Indeed they will...indeed they will...Gee Mrs. Cleaver, Elk River even has it noted in the checks they paid Elwyn and his Group, "Federal Funding Services."In 2005 they paid (according to public records I could find): $42,965.832006: $29,187.172007: $8,900 (not certain all info from 2007 is posted yet)
"Wow Blueman, how can some random Group collect $81,053 in money from the City of Elk River over the past few years for "Federal Funding Services" when they aren't a Federal Lobbyist?""What did they get for this money?"
No Federal Funding that we can find Mrs Cleaver.In May of 2005, the City of Elk River wrote a check to The Tinklenberg Group for $9,385.28, for lodging, meals, and airfare. I wonder where they went Mrs. Cleaver?And that's the problem Mrs. Cleaver. We can't seem to get a straight answer out of Elwyn. One day he's pro-life, the next day he's pro-choice. One day he supports the party endorsement, the next day he would appear to not support the party endorsement.Some delegates may even fall for Elwyn's ploy asking for an "open and fair" endorsement process, supporting him not because he's a good candidate, but supporting him because they do not want to see a primary in the 6th.
"Well Blueman, this Elwyn guy seems to be as shady as that Eddie Haskell. I'd be willing to bet that Eddie couldn't even get the DFL index in the 6th."Correct Mrs. Cleaver, I fear that with all this baggage Eddie, errr Elwyn has, we'd lose this race in an embarassing fashion.So, am I being a little hard on the Tink?If they cannot withstand what Blueman is dishing out, the Tinklenberg Campaign will have a pretty difficult time taking a full punch from Bachmann and the other groups that will take Elwyn's record and put $5 million in television ads behind it.The delegates deserve a right to know about Elwyn's public record. Stifiling debate and working to shut dissenters up just pushes me to be more vocal and to dig even deeper.People are trying to shut us up because, well, we're onto something here.
We here at "Liberal in the Land of Conservative" support the vetting of ALL candidates and the work that Blue Man does. Keep fighting, and perhaps we will get the candidate of our choice rather than the candidate chosen for us from on high.
