Garrison Keillor – MNPA Fundraiser
Sep 30, 2004 News
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2004
Eagan High School – 4185 Braddock Trail, Eagan, MN
Candidate Fair at 5:30 p.m. / Seating at 6:15 p.m.
Meet the candidates – Enjoy live music and tasty treats – Bid at the silent auction
All this and Garrison Keillor, too!
MNPA is a southern suburban group that has generously and enthusiastically “adopted” The David Bly Campaign
Doors open at 5:30 – Candidate Fair in the Cafeteria
Coffee & Treats – “Bly Pie Storytelling Corner”
To buy your tickets from MNPA, call Susan Estill at 952-432-2665 or e-mail sestill58@comcast.net and tell her you’re supporting David Bly!
There will soon be info on www.davidbly.com or call (507) 664-0155
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Co-sponsored by:
Friends for Jim Carlson
Senate Dist. 38 DFL
Minnesota Network for Progressive Action (MNPA)
Democrats south of the river invite you to an evening with Garrison Keillor, host of MPR’s A Prairie Home Companion. Support our candidates for the Minnesota House and promote Democratic party-building and progressive activism in 2004 and into the future!
All tickets $38. No reserved seating.
Tickets available from Friends for Jim Carlson, Chris Harbron, SD38 DFL or MNPA.
Contributions of toiletries and non-perishable food items to benefit Dakota Woodlands will be gratefully accepted at the building entrance.
An autographed copy of Keillor’s newest book, Homegrown Democrat, is yours when you contribute an additional $100 or more (cost of tickets not included) to support this exciting event.
Your name will appear in the event program with thanks from Friends for Jim Carlson, Senate District 38 DFL and MNPA.
How to buy tickets to see Garrison Keillor at EHS
Friends for Jim Carlson, Senate District 38 DFL, and MNPA (Minnesota Network for Progressive Action) are co-sponsors of this event and are each selling tickets to benefit their organizations.
To buy your tickets from Friends for Jim Carlson, call Jim Johnson at 651-687-0778 or e-mail seahorsez@comcast.net
- Proceeds support Jim’s campaign for Minnesota House District 38B.- $50 per person or $100 per couple is refundable by Minnesota’s campaign finance reimbursement program.
To buy your tickets from Senate District 38 DFL, call Jon Felde at 651-695-1259 or e-mail felde@post.harvard.edu
- Proceeds support Minnesota House campaigns, including Christine Harbron/38A, and local party-building activities: communication, education, get-out-the-vote efforts, volunteer training, precinct caucuses and district conventions.- $50 per person or $100 per couple is refundable by Minnesota’s campaign finance reimbursement program.
To buy your tickets from MNPA, call Susan Estill at 952-432-2665 or e-mail sestill58@comcast.net
- MNPA will use proceeds from this event to support south of the river candidates for the Minnesota House.- Remaining proceeds from this event will be used for MNPA grassroots organizing activities: training, monthly speaker events, canvassing, and generally locating, informing and motivating progressives in our area.
- Contributions to MNPA are not eligible for the state refund.
Your generosity and your vote will ensure that Democrats win on Nov. 2!
The Last Parade of the Season
Sep 21, 2004 News
This weekend was the last parade of the campaign season, the New Prague D_______ Days harvest celebration. I’ve learned that because the name is copy righted by the Chamber and I probably can’t refer to the festival in this blog by name – their neon pink warning about that covers “items for sale” and “advertising” and I’ll leave it to the legal beagle to argue about “advertising”. Anyway, together the David Bly campaign, the Teresa Daly campaign and the Bruce Bjork campaign, and the Carpenters and their big black truck had a beautiful stroll down the main street of New Prague celebrating D______ Days..
Bruce found a likely supporter in New Prague, or at least a big fan willing to give him a hand!. 
Bruce is the house candidate for 25A, and I really admire him and the power of his message. He works for the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches, day in, day out dealing with the impacts of the funding cuts on the poor, cobbling together the “faith-based” initiatives we’ve been hearing about, trying to fairly distribute what funding they have for the most impact. He is working very hard in a spread out rural district, contacting voters with fervor.
Teresa Daly is running for the Second Congressional District against John Kline, who hasn’t been seen much around these parts, but who was in the parade right by the Pork Queen. Teresa has run a great campaign and is managing to be everywhere at the same time.. I admire her hard work and message of working for Minnesota families. 
The streets were lined with people. I enjoyed greeting people and passing out those Bly stickers – the kids end up a walking billboard for an incoherent political philosophy, but it’s all part of the D_______ Days tradition.. We’ll have to wait a whole year for fun like this again.
Carleton Activity Fair
The school year has started, and it’s off to an exuberant start. Friday afternoon, I was part of the Carleton Activity Fair in “ALC Lead Teacher” mode, encouraging Carleton students to consider volunteering in our Alternative Program. We have had numerous college students help us with tutoring, mentoring, teaching a mini-class, and I always welcome their involvement. It’s great for our students to get a taste of what it is like to go on to college and a great experience for college students, especially those interested in teaching, to get a sense of what it is like for students who struggle in traditional learning environments.
I’m having my own struggles with school, working hard to keep up with a rigorous campaign schedule now that I am back to work. Exciting things are happening at school — we have just started a new aspect of our program working with 9th and 10th graders, who are with us all day every weekday, unlike the other program which is an independent study focus. They are great students, but all of us at the ALC are finding it a challenge to cover all the bases necessary in working with a new set of students with different needs and at the same time keep our existing program working as well as it always has. I’m looking forward to acclimatization to these changes, as it is great to see these students grow and succeed in the many ways they do.
Solar Bike Tour in Bridge Square
The Green Bike Tour passed through Northfield last evening and shared their views and concerns about our energy and economic future on their way through South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Their goal is to educate and inform people about the importance of shifting our reliance on fossil fuel based energy to renewable energy. They use the battery-operated bikes to make their point attract attention and begin discussion about a different way of thinking about energy. 
The bike equipped with solar panels over the front wheel are able to recharge while in the sun, in use or stationary. 
Bruce Anderson, of ReNew Northfield provided introductions for all participants. The riders were given a few minutes to talk about their energy goals and the work they have been doing in Iowa and else where Riders with us yesterday were David Osterberg and Tom Cook from the University of Iowa, nvironmental entrepreneur Ed Woolsey of Martinsdale IA, John Dunlop of the American Wind Energy Association. Candidates from all local races, including Representative for Dist. 25B, County Commissioner, Mayoral and City Council were present. John e-mailed me later that, “The tour does get enough attention to bring out the press and policy makers and last night was a good example now the relatively small impact of environmental and economic impact of biking can be linked to huge policy opportunities such as statewide renewable energy standards, county use of environmentally friendly fuels, and city initiatives to foster the development of renewable energy businesses.”
In twenty-five years we could be out of oil, as Niel Ritchie of the League of Rural Voters, a sponsor of the project, said following the presentations. Twenty-five years is not much time, one generation, to put a plan in place that will save us from an energy catastrophe, but we can do it if we develop a serious plan for energy independence. At the Solar Bike stop, I proposed that this is just what Minnesota needs, a coherent energy plan based on renewable energy and distributed generation. We need to commit ourselves to an energy future that will secure a safe and prosperous future for generations to come. An energy plan should be based on renewables and generation that produces energy where it is used will not only be better for the environment, it would also spark economic development across the state that rural Minnesota desperately needs. I pointed out that Ray’s co-authoring of the bill promoting Mesaba Coal gasification, a 2000 megawatt project, sets the wrong course for energy development in Minnesota, and unless it can be reversed before it is operational, it would make the plan I am proposing very difficult. Why? Because a plant that size will not only make further energy development unnecessary, it also relies on huge infrastructure upgrades that sets in steel and concrete a commitment to the central station model, a large generating plant and power lines to move energy over great distances. Shipping large amounts of power long distances puts our electric grid at risk. The process of coal gasification is experimental, it is typically a 300MW design and has never been done at this magnitude. Coal gasification still produces emissions. The mercury reduction technology is unproven, and may well be overstated. CO2 emission is a huge problem unless the gas is sequestered, and there is no sequestration requirement in Mesaba’s plan or the legislation. for that.
I am impressed with plans and ideas on a national level proposed by the Apollo Project.
As George Lakoff says in Don’t Think of an Elephant:
…at the present moment there is a strategic proposal called the New Apollo Initiative. Simply put, the idea is to put thirty billion dollars a year—which is the amount that now goes in subsidies to support the coal and gas industries—into alternative energy. What makes this strategic? It is strategic because it is not just an energy issue or a sustainability issue. It is also:
- A jobs issue: It would create two to four million jobs.
- A health issue: Less air pollution means less childhood asthma.
- A clean water, clean air issue.
- A species issue, because it would clean up environments and habitats.
- A global warming issue, because we would be making a contribution to lowering greenhouse gasses without a program specifically for global warming.
- A foreign policy issue, because we would no longer be dependent on Middle Eastern oil.
- A Third World development issue, because every country, no matter how “underdeveloped,” can make its own energy if it has the appropriate alternative technologies. Such countries would not have to borrow money to buy oil and pollute their environments. And they would not have to pay interest on the money borrowed. Furthermore, every dollar invested in energy in the Third World has a multiplier effect of six.In short, a massive investment in alternative energy has an enormous yield over many issue areas. This is not just about energy; it is about jobs, health, clean air and water, habitat, global warming, foreign policy, and Third World development. It is also about putting together new coalitions and organizing new institutions and new constituencies.
Thirty billion dollars a year for ten years put into alternative energy would have massive effects. But progressive candidates are still thinking in much smaller terms, not long-term and strategically.
Minnesota could lead the way by putting in place a plan that would set us on that path and taking the steps to get us to a renewable energy future. 
As your Representative, this would be one of my highest priorities.
Recently I got an e-mail from a James in London who had found my website by searching Google and sent me a link to his website on energy news around the globe have a look. Click here.
Harriet Island Labor Day Gathering
Sep 7, 2004 News
As many labor advocates might say, ‘it’s not been a picnic’ the last few years for working people. As Mark Weisbrot says, “No matter how you slice it, most US workers are worse off than they were at this time last year. The average real wage – that is, adjusted for inflation – has actually fallen over the past year. This is in spite of the fact that the economy has grown by 4.7 percent. In other words, even when the economy is growing, most of the people who make it grow aren’t getting anything out of it.”
At the annual Harriet Island Labor Day Picnic I joined thousands of other Minnesotans to hear John Sweeney, Mark Dayton and Sen. John Edwards address the crowd. All pointed out the sorry record of the Bush administration and its inability to create jobs and the harm it has done to working families.
“Bush’s policies are part of the problem, not part of the solution.” Says Robert L. Borosage,
Consider:
— Wages aren’t keeping up with prices; jobs are scarce, and the ones that are being created offer less in wages and benefits than the ones that are lost. Bush’s tax-and-trade policies have generated more jobs in Shanghai than in Cincinnati. And his opposition to increasing the minimum wage and efforts to strip workers of overtime literally takes money from workers’ pockets.— Healthcare costs are soaring, forcing companies to cut back on benefits. Bush has no plan to address the healthcare crisis. Worse, he pushed through a prescription drug plan that actually prohibits Medicare from negotiating a better price for seniors, while sustaining the ban on importing cheaper drugs from abroad. The nonpartisan Consumers’ Union concludes most seniors will end up paying more for drugs. Bush turned a $500 billion benefit to seniors into a giveaway to drug companies — whose executives, not surprisingly, are big contributors to the president’s record campaign funds.
— Schools are overcrowded and under repaired. One-in-three schools use trailers as classrooms. Teachers are leaving the classroom at alarming rates. Up to 15 million children are home alone after-school, even as after-school programs are cut. Colleges are being priced out of reach of more and more families. But Bush broke his promise to fund his own education reforms, earning rebuke from state legislatures, including even Republican bastions in Utah and Virginia. He broke his promise to increase the level of Pell grants, the leading government college scholarship program. And now his budget calls for cuts in education across the board — starting the year after the election.
Many workers found their retirement dreams shattered in the stock market bust, with companies like Enron fleecing workers of their savings. Bush’s reform excluded workers from supervision of their company retirement plans, and would make it easier for executives to provide pensions for the top floor while doing nothing for the shop floor.
Bush’s Social Security plan calls for deep cuts in guaranteed benefits in exchange for individual risk accounts, mirroring the hit workers took when companies drastically cut their contributions in the switch from pensions to private retirement accounts.
But the dominant message was the Edwards theme that “Hope is on the way,” that with the election of John Kerry and Edwards, things can be turned around. It was a beautiful day, and with music in the background, Local members of the Lakes and Plains Carpenters and Joiners union served up burgers for the crowd.
I am proud to be a union member, a union building representative, a union negotiator, and am proud to have the support and to be endorsed by a number of labor unions:
Minnesota AFL-CIO
Education Minnesota
Int’l Union of Operating Engineers – Local #49
MAPEPAC
AFSCME
Minn Utility Labor Council PAC
SEIU PAC
FREE TO GOOD HOMES!!!
Sep 6, 2004 News
Sign o’ the times – it’s that time of the election season when campaign signs are sprouting up like crocus (or purple loosestrife, depending on your take. . . ), and now’s the time to call.
If you’re in the district, call campaign headquarters for a David Bly for House sign, (507) 664-0155, or drop a note through the contact link on this page. Leave your name, address and phone, we’ll confirm your call, and put your sign up. Free, no tax, license or dealer prep, is fully waranteed and guaranteed, and comes complete with “Care and Feeding of your David Bly sign” instructions! After the election, we’ll take it down! It’s that simple.
Here’s a sign made by a young supporter:
Scan in your kid’s Bly sign and send it in! And don’t forget about the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ Art of Democracy: Tools of Persuasion exhibition in the Minnesota Artists Gallery from October 8 through November 28. Bring your political art, i.e., your kid’s David Bly sign, to the MIA at 2400 – 3rd Ave. So., Minneapolis, every Saturday, from noon to 2 p.m. from September 25th to November 20th. Pieces will be displayed weekly from the submissions.
From the MIA-s website
“Art of Democracy: Tools of Persuasion” is an open call for Minnesota artists to express their political opinions through original works of art in an exhibition coinciding with the 2004 presidential election.
The exhibition’s call-for-entries specifies formats for political ephemeral objects including lawn signs, posters, bumper stickers, T-shirts, flyers, magnets, pins, and infomercials. Artists are encouraged to submit one work of art weekly for the run of the exhibition, which will change as new work is installed. The concept was developed by the 2002-2003 Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP) panel. For more information, call the MAEP office at (612) 870-3125.
Bly and Pie in the Park
Sep 4, 2004 News
We held our final “Bly and Pie in the Park” event in Northfield, at Way Park. A beautiful summer evening promoted conversation and good will. After serving up slices of pie, I visited and took questions from neighbors. Blueberry was by far the most popular pie, though apple and rhubarb were popular too. An interesting mix of faithful Democrats and interested voters asked questions about healthcare and education, and they expressed their concerns about how to get through the political impasse and get things done for people and frustration with the last legislative session.
I heard them voice strong regrets about the human services cuts and how hard it’s been on our most vulnerable residents. Several expressed concern about the unintended affects of NCLB and the effects on communities and relations with those learners who struggle in the system. Most want to see a better approach to assuring accountability and school reform.
Several asked, “When elected, what would you do differently in the House that would make a difference for House 25B voters?” I responded, “Number 1, I would not be casting my vote for Rep. Sviggum to be Speaker.” I went on to say that I would not vote to cut human services as my opponent did in both 2003 and 2004, and I would, where possible, vote to restore funding taken away in previous sessions. I also agreed with those concerned about NCLB, the federal education initiative that my opponent supports, and added that I am concerned about our whole education system, including early childhood, k12 and post secondary and what we are doing to our future. I agreed with one voter who said that in his years of teaching at St. Olaf, he knew that education funding is the future, and we have a responsibility to invest in it. I would vote to fund education, not cut funding or refuse to acknowledge increased costs education incurs due to inflation. We won’t feel the real repercussions of this for years to come, but unless we can turn back the trend to abandon public investment, the price will be higher than we can imagine..
What else would I do differently? I would not leave our schools, nursing homes and economic future to float on decreased revenues in the uncertain seas of the marketplace, where swells and flows leave devastation in their wake. I would not, as my opponent says, leave the tax burden for promoting the public good on working families. I would not co-author a bill that gives Excelsior Energy $10 million of state funds, the power of eminent domain, exemption from Certificate of Need review which allows them to produce energy that this state does not need using unproven coal gasification technology. Excelsior Energy, former Xcel lobbyists and an NRG executive, are involved in a high risk scheme which gobbles up public investment and takes us very far down the road in the wrong direction of energy development, and this project will prevent us from in renewable energy development. Why? Because with all the generation in this project, how will any other project be able to claim power is “needed?”
How would I get through the impasse? I believe in order to improve the climate of cooperation, we need to refocus legislators on the issues that state government needs to address to improve people’s lives and stop wasting time on social issues that get in the way of that goal and that polarize citizens and government. I would promote forums and venues for discussion that bring together representatives from both sides of the aisle to talk about what our goals should be for the state, find common ground and work together to make them happen.
Early in the day, House Speaker Sviggum and Minority leader Matt Entenza debated the future of Minnesota at the State Fair. Sviggum was heard down playing the deficit the state will face in coming years and making the outrageous claim that Democrats want to secure benefits for a few people while asking everyone to pay for it. He took the Republican agenda, promotion of the wealthy their friends at the expense of all the rest of us, and tried to foist it on Democrats. Thankfully the audience booed loudly at this outrageous claim.
The reality? Governor Pawlenty is the only Governor in history to attempt to solve a huge deficit problem with tax cuts alone. The state economist predicts that we will face a 1.5 billion dollar deficit in the coming session and that’s with the prediction that the economy will pick up. If not, we’re in even worse economic straits. If Pawlenty sticks to his “no new tax pledge,” I hate to think what will happen to schools, nursing home residents, public employees, and our infrastructure that supports all economic activity. And that does not address the large increase in fees, and as Matt Entenza noted Ronald Reagan had said, a fee is a tax. Pawlenty has dramatically increased regressive taxes, through increased fees, that regular people pay, fees for court filing fees, permits, etc.
As I said months ago when I began my 2004 campaign for the state legislature, we need to remind ourselves of the words of Hubert Humphrey, and “Dream big dreams.” I believe we need to set as our goal, that every Minnesota family has the ability to support itself with a wage earning job that will keep them from being dependent on the State for help. These means we must support wage improvement, education, and economic development that attract good jobs to Minnesota because we have the workforce that will not only work hard, but have the skills and know how to take on any kind of work. We have to support economic development that improves our communities tax base, not subsidizing so that costs transfer to the unsubsidized property owners.
We must reinvest in our education system and can only do this by bringing more revenue into the state and reviving state planning to make government more efficient. We need to close corporate loopholes that are robbing the state of revenue, and turn back tax cuts given to the wealthiest Minnesotans in the last five years. There is a list of additional taxes that should be considered from so called ‘sin taxes’ to the gas tax. We should make these changes in an above-board fashion and not just pass funding responsibilities to local units of government in stealth actions, which leaves them forced to propose levies and property tax increases..
How do we share the pie? That’s what we talked about last night, and it was an invigorating discussion. I’m ready to get to work!
