Letter: Senior Expo Was Voter Outreach
'In no way was (the Kirk Stensrud Senior Expo) a campaign activity.'
To the editor:
A blog post recently falsely claimed that the Senior Expo put on by Rep. Kirk Stensrud was a campaign event. This is simply not true.
The Senior Expo was a constituent service event coordinated by Rep Stensrud. We need more efforts like this to help link senior citizens in our communities to services and volunteer activities.
Senior Expos present citizens of all ages the chance to discover ways to volunteer to help their neighbors and make our community stronger. No one before Rep. Stensrud took the time and effort to bring together seniors with services that can benefit them and where they can use their talents.
In no way was this event a campaign activity.
Other state representatives host senior expos for their communities. Rep. Jim Abeler has hosted 14 of them in Anoka—one took place in September 2012. Here is the newspaper story: http://abcnewspapers.com/2012/09/14/abeler-to-host-annual-senior-fair/
The flyer was not a campaign flyer. It was simply a summary of the people who participated in the senior expo. It provided contact information for the organizations. It didn't ask anyone to vote for Rep. Stensrud.
Their argument that it was a campaign event? It was paid for by Rep. Stensrud. There is nothing that prohibits a legislator from using campaign funds for constituent services. In fact, the law requires him to when the legislature is not in session. The DFL's ignorance of existing law is breathtaking.
I thank Rep. Stensrud for bringing this idea to Eden Prairie. We are and will continue to be a strong community when we connect people and services together.
Rep Stensrud has already said that he would check with organizations in the future about using their logos. I hope this experience doesn't put an end to this good idea and effort by Rep. Stensrud for our community's seniors.
Citation:
Minn. Stat. 10A.01, subd. 26. #6 in subd. 26 covers the definition of constituent services.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=10A.01
David Johnson, Eden Prairie
Tommy Johnson
1:43 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
This headline says it all:
"Letter: Senior Expo Was Voter Outreach"
Yes indeed - VOTER OUTREACH.
Reasonable people need to ask themselves: why did Republican Kirk Stensrud wait until October 5th to hold this event?
To me, the headline says it all: VOTER OUTREACH.
It strikes me as shameless politicking, and it's but one more reason why I'm voting for Yvonne Selcer on November 6th.
Dave Lloyd
2:06 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
You like candidates that don't reach out to voters?
Dave Lloyd
2:07 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Or, you don't like candidates that reach out to seniors and voters?
Dave Lloyd
2:08 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Or, it's shameless to reach out?
David
5:45 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Actually, Dave, he's just upset because Maria Ruud (a nurse) never did a single constituent outreach to seniors in her 6 years in office. He's not only ignorant of the MN statutes, he's embarrassed by his party's candidates.
Tommy Johnson
6:54 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Actually, "David" it's the SD48 GOP that should be embarrassed by Stensrud and Hann. Especially Hann.
In December 2011, David Hann sat with three other Republican Senators to tell reporters about the Amy Koch-Michael Brodkorb scandal. One of them, Republican Geoff Michel of Edina, had to later admit he lied to the reporters about what he knew/when he knew it.
David Hann has never addressed his role in this sordid mess, which has cost the taxpayers over $100,00 in legal fees due to a Republican scandal.
And since you want to bring up past candidates, who can forget the GOP SD48's disgraced former mayor, Phil Young? As I remember it, the local Republicans stood behind a guy that admitted to the police he falsified a whole bunch of expense reimbursements, including mileage to meetings that were never held.
And the State GOP's fiscal mismanagement recently resulted in the 2nd largest civil penalty ever leveled to a State Party.
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, "David" - even anonymously, as you so courageously do.
David
9:46 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Keep flailing, Tommy. Your embarrassment over backing a bunch of losing candidates is obvious. It's gonna be a tough November for you.
Political Mama
10:23 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Is this the same Tommy Who sits In his red Truck photographing and videotaping volunteers going in and out of a volunteer rally For a conservative candidate? Intruding and Interrupting them to the point that it took two men over 6 feet to ensure his promt removal from said event?
This is a classic sour grapes story. One, ONE, hysterical DFL activist showed up at an outreach for seniors hosted by a conservative candidate and proclaimed it a campaign event. With the help of a newspaper editor, he was able to piece together a narrative. And the rest is history. This does beg the question, why did Maria Rudd never organize such an outreach? She was, after all, a registered nurse. I guess Maria Rudd never cared enough about her seniors to reach out to them During her three terms as a state representative.
David
1:23 pm on Thursday, October 25, 2012
Yep, that's him. Intimidator, agitator, harrasser and journalist pretender. Folks can see just who Tommy is in all his unhinged flakiness at the link below as he harasses a person trying to record a 2010 debate. Not the first time he's done this and had to be forcibly removed from an event for disrupting.
He is the true face or Progressive liberalism in all its hatred and intolerance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yeUbfJ0zQI