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With an insider’s eye, Hot Dish tracks the tastiest bits of Minnesota’s political scene and keep you up-to-date on those elected to serve you.

Contributors in Minnesota: Jennifer Brooks, Baird Helgeson, Mike Kaszuba, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Brad Schrade and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.

Posts about Morning Hot Dish newsletter

Cheerio-burner lights up

Posted by: Rachel E. Stassen-Berger Updated: August 9, 2012 - 9:44 AM

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From the Star Tribune's  Morning Hot Dish newsletter by Baird Helgeson:

A same-sex marriage opponent has become something of a national sensation when his one-man flaming Cheerios protest went awry.

In the video, a man identified by Smoking Gun as Michael Leisner is seen outside the General Mills headquarters in Golden Valley carrying a blowtorch to set afire a box of Cheerios, in protest of the company’s opposition to the marriage amendment.

It appears Leisner added a little gasoline or other fuel for dramatic effect. When he hits the box with the flame, the Cheerios combust and fall on the ground, creating a fire-strewn lawn.

The last seconds of the video show Leisner scrambling to stomp out the flames before he hurriedly instructs his off-camera friends to get in the car.

The video already has been shown on The Daily Show and Chelsea Lately. See for yourself at thesmokinggun.com .

If you're not already getting Morning Hot Dish political newsletter by email, it's easy and free to sign up.  Go to StarTribune.com/membercenter, check the Politics newsletter box and save the change.

Eighth District air waves

Posted by: Rachel E. Stassen-Berger Updated: August 9, 2012 - 9:44 AM

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From the Star Tribune's  Morning Hot Dish newsletter:

The low-turnout, high-stakes primary race in Minnesota’s northern Eighth Congressional District is capturing the big bucks from outside groups.

According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, the Minnesota DFL spent $135,000 in July to create and air an ad promoting their endorsee Rick Nolan, and Women Vote!, an arm of female candidate funders EMILY’s List, spent about $80,000 to make and air a spot supporting their pick, Tarryl Clark.

Jeff Anderson, filling out the trio of DFL candidates, does not have big outside groups supporting him but is spending campaign cash to run television ads. Anderson's campaign released its second ad Thursday night.

If you're not already getting Morning Hot Dish political newsletter by email, it's easy and free to sign up.  Go to StarTribune.com/membercenter, check the Politics newsletter box and save the change.

 

Dayton interviews MnSCU board finalists

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: July 25, 2012 - 11:10 AM

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From the Star Tribune's  Morning Hot Dish newsletter:

Gov. Mark Dayton will continue vetting candidates for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System board of trustees Wednesday.

The governor will pick six new trustees: two at-large, one representative each for the Second and Sixth Congressional Districts, and two student trustees to drawn from the technical and community colleges in the system.

According to the governor’s office, finalists for the board include: (former House Speaker and 2010 Dayton rival) Margaret Anderson Kelliher, (public affairs pro and wife of former DFL chair) Dawn Erlandson, (longtime lobbyist) John Kaul, Ann Anaya, Readus Fletcher, Sarah Caruso, Brian Myres, Wynn Kearney, Mary Hickerson, Alex Cirillo, Joseph Grafft and Janet Mohr. Dayton is expected to announce his decisions soon.

Caruso, Anderson Kelliher, Erlandson, Fletcher, Kearney and Hickerson are under consideration for the two at-large trustee positions. Kaul, Myres, Cirillo and Grafft are up for either the at-large seat or district six. And Anaya and Mohr finalists for either the second district seat or an at-large trustee position.

If you're not already getting Morning Hot Dish political newsletter by email, it's easy and free to sign up.  Go to StarTribune.com/membercenter, check the Politics newsletter box and save the change.

Ex-Senator Barkley tries for state Supreme Court

Posted by: Rachel E. Stassen-Berger Updated: May 30, 2012 - 8:10 AM

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From the Star Tribune's  Morning Hot Dish newsletter:

Former U.S. Senator for a few weeks Dean Barkley is now running for the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Barkley, a longtime Independence Party stalwart and one of the first to urge Jesse Ventura to run for governor, was Ventura’s appointee to the Senate after then-Sen. Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash in 2002.

Barkley, who ran for U.S. Senate in 2008, said: “I decided to try a different approach.”

Dean Barkley

Dean Barkley

 

He said while he will be limited on how much he can campaign for the court, Minnesotans "know who I am and know how my mind works and I think I’ve got a good track record.”

If you're not already getting Morning Hot Dish political newsletter by email, it's easy and free to sign up.  Go to StarTribune.com/membercenter, check the Politics newsletter box and save the change.

Four more join the list of legislative retirements

Posted by: Rachel E. Stassen-Berger Updated: March 25, 2012 - 3:02 PM

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 The weekend's events mean state Reps. Nora Slawik, Denise Dittrich, Ron Shimanski and Marion Greene will not be returning to the Capitol next year.

At endorsing conventions on Saturday, Minneapolis delegates picked five-term DFL Rep. Frank Hornstein over freshman DFL Rep. Marion Greene after redistricting maps placed them in the same district and they opted to run against each other.  While in that race, delegates picked the more senior of the two members, Republican delegates picked freshman Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, of Glencoe, over third-term Rep. Ron Shimanski, of Silver Lake.

Meanwhile, two DFL representatives took themselves out of the running for the 2012 races, making their announcement to the delegates who have supported them in the past. Seven-term Rep. Nora Slawik, DFL-Maplewood, announced over the weekend that she would not run for an eighth term and four-term Rep. Denise Dittrich, DFL-Champlin, said she would not try for a fifth term. Slawik easily won her last election but Dittrich squeaked by with a less than 300-vote margin of victory.

With the names of those four added to the list, at least 32 members of the Legislature will not be returning to the Capitol next year in their former roles.

See the entire list below and keep this link handy because we will work to keep the list updated:

 

 

 

 

 

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