Category: Doug Wardlow

Doug Wardlow criticized for taking contributions from donors behind fraudulent for-profit college

Credit: Peter Callaghan, MinnPost

Republican candidate for attorney general Doug Wardlow took $24,000 from owners and executives of the for-profit college chain Globe University, which was successfully sued for fraud by the state.

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Ken Martin highlighted donations from the Myhre family, which owns Globe University, and from Jeanne and Nathan Hermann, who worked for the family’s for-profit college chain, at a Wednesday news conference.

“You don’t have to be a campaign finance genius to wonder what these donors are hoping to gain by donating to Doug Wardlow,” Martin said. “The fact that Doug Wardlow has cozied up to individuals who systemically ripped off college students should alarm everyone in the state who has been or could be a victim of consumer fraud.”

View the complete October 24 article by Christopher Magan on the PioneerPress website here.

Doug Wardlow’s History of Discrimination Continues

The Trump Administration is asking the Supreme Court to rule to allow businesses to discriminate against workers based on their gender identity. AND, Keith’s opponent Doug Wardlow originally argued this case for the anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom.

 
It’s undeniable that Wardlow wants to use this office to push Trump’s agenda and continue his history of discrimination — and today’s news makes that even clearer.

Doug Wardlow has taken $24,000 from Globe University’s leaders

Here’s the background on the Globe situation.

BREAKING: Trump Administration Pushes to Advance Wardlow’s Discrimination Case to U.S. Supreme Court

The Trump Administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a case Doug Wardlow originally argued, to allow LGBTQ people to be fired for who they are

MINNESOTA – Yesterday, the Trump Administration asked the United States Supreme Court to take up a case and rule that businesses can discriminate against workers based on their gender identity without violating federal law. The case the Trump Administration is asking the Court to consider was originally argued by Doug Wardlow on behalf of the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBTQ hate group, to uphold the discriminatory firing of a funeral home employee in Michigan.

The following is a statement from Sam Fettig, Communications Director for Keith Ellison for Attorney General: Continue reading “BREAKING: Trump Administration Pushes to Advance Wardlow’s Discrimination Case to U.S. Supreme Court”

Meet Doug Wardlow

Republican candidate for Attorney General Doug Wardlow. Credit: Glen Stubbe, StarTribune

The Republican candidate running for the State Attorney General position, Doug Wardlow, doesn’t have a lot of name recognition.  He does have a long history of positions opposed to those of the majority of Minnesotans.  He recently scrubbed his Twitter feed, but people captured it before he tried to clean up his past.

You can check it out here:  https://twitter.com/realdougwardlow/status/1054863474080337920

Let your friends know who he really is.  Let’s not become another Kansas or Georgia.

FACT CHECK: Wardlow Would Politicize the Attorney General’s Office

Despite his claims of being “apolitical”, Warldow has a clear agenda, starting with his unprecedented promise of a ‘partisan purge’ of attorneys based on their political ideology

Congressman Ellison is focused on the job of Attorney General — working with everyone, no matter their party affiliation, to serve and protect all Minnesotans

Minnesota – During tonight’s Attorney General debate between Congressman Keith Ellison and Doug Wardlow on KSTP, Republican Doug Wardlow repeated his ongoing lie that he would ‘take the politics out of the office’ and not be political as Attorney General. But just the other week, an audio recording of Wardlow was revealed in which he promised to conduct a ‘partisan purge,’ saying he would fire 42 Democratic attorneys from the office if elected.

Wardlow’s disturbing promise of a partisan purge directly contradicts his main campaign promise of being an ‘apolitical’ Attorney General, and falls far outside the mainstream of conduct in this important constitutional office.

As reported in the Star Tribune, current Attorney General Lori Swanson “doesn’t ask about politics — she’s focused on whether they are a good lawyer, ‘It’s very troubling that he would say, sight unseen, that he would fire a third of the attorneys,’ Swanson said.”

As reported by MinnPost, Prentiss Cox, a former senior attorney in the Attorney General’s Office for 14 years, said that “what Wardlow promised is a ‘disqualifying” event for any prospective attorney general. ‘It is a very bright red line not to employ line staff attorneys based on party affiliation,’ Cox said.”

But this is not the first time Wardlow has revealed his real agenda to Minnesotans. While Doug Wardlow has repeatedly insisted in public that he would be “non-partisan” and “apolitical” in office if elected, behind closed doors he has made his partisan plans for the office clear.

FACT CHECK: Wardlow Would Make Limiting a Woman’s Right to Choose a ‘Priority’ as Attorney General

Wardlow has repeatedly made clear he would politicize the Attorney General’s Office to limit a woman’s right to choose

Wardlow peddles discredited conspiracies about the University of Minnesota and Planned Parenthood

Minnesota – During tonight’s Attorney General debate between Congressman Keith Ellison and Doug Wardlow on KSTP, Wardlow was pressed on his intention to use the Attorney General’s Office to advance his anti-choice views against Minnesota women. Wardlow has made it clear that he strongly opposes a woman’s right to choose, and that he would make it a “priority” to use the power of the state’s top legal office to enforce his views on Minnesota.

“I am absolutely 100 percent pro-life, and that will be a priority in the Attorney General’s Office,” said Wardlow at the Minnesota State Fairin 2017.

Last month, a Wardlow campaign document was released, stating that “Doug Wardlow will institute these duties when he is your MN Attorney General,” including: “Prosecute illegal trafficking of fetal body parts.”

This refers to Wardlow’s belief in a discredited, far-right conspiracy theory which has inflamed violence. As Rewire News reports, this rhetoric “comes from the anti-choice front group called the Center for Medical Progress and its discredited anti-abortion propaganda videos, which falsely alleged Planned Parenthood profited from legal donations of fetal tissue.”

Recent polling from Minnesota Public Radio News and the Star Tribune shows that only 12 percent of Minnesotans share Doug Wardlow’s hardline view that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. As Attorney General, Congressman Ellison will defend a woman’s right to choose, and will defend access to essential health care for all Minnesotans. Ellison is proud to have a 100 percent rating from Planned Parenthood Action Fund and NARAL Pro Choice.

FACT CHECK: Wardlow Cannot Hide from His “Proud” Work with Hate Group

Wardlow has proudly worked for an anti-LGBTQ hate group which opposes the ACA, marriage equality, and a woman’s right to choose

Minnesota – During tonight’s Attorney General debate between Congressman Keith Ellison and Doug Wardlow on KSTP, Congressman Keith Ellison reiterated his commitment to defending the rights of all Minnesotans, regardless of race, religion, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. While Republican Doug Wardlow attempted to paper over his past, he cannot hide from his record of “proud” work with an anti-LGBTQ hate group that has filedat least 23 lawsuits against the Affordable Care Act, wants to criminalize people for who they love, and is working to overturn Roe v. Wade.

During a recent appearance on FOX 9, Wardlow proudly stood by his work as a lawyer for this extreme organization: “The Alliance Defending Freedom – I’m proud of the work I did there… I stand by the beliefs of the arguments that I made while I was at the Alliance Defending Freedom – absolutely.”

Wardlow’s record working with the Alliance Defending Freedom is the subject of an advertisement from Ellison’s campaign, which is currently airing on Minnesota television stations. In addition to the points advertisement notes that Wardlow’s hate group the group has been involved with 23 lawsuits against the Affordable Care Act, sued to undermine public schools, and fought to defend harassment at women’s clinics.

Doug Wardlow would be a disaster for civil rights, weaponizing the Attorney General’s office to limit the rights and freedoms of Minnesotans. As Attorney General, Congressman Ellison will enforce our civil rights laws to protect the freedoms of all Minnesotans.

FACT CHECK: Doug Wardlow Stands with Corporations over Minnesota’s Workers 

Wardlow has a long history of pushing an extreme anti-worker agenda during his time in the State House

Congressman Ellison will always have the back of Minnesota’s workers and stand up to companies that cut corners and try to take advantage of them

Minnesota – During last night’s Attorney General debate between Congressman Keith Ellison and Doug Wardlow, Wardlow attempted to paint himself as a friend to Minnesota workers. But Wardlow’s extremely anti-worker record makes clear that he stands with large corporations over workers.

During his single term in the State House, Wardlow championed so-called “right to work” laws, which strip workers of their power to collectively bargain for better pay and working conditions for all.  Wardlow was so zealous about right to work that he even crossed his own party’s leadership to push the measure, even when other Republicans thought it was too extreme. Wardlow’s anti-work votes earned him a rare “0 percent” rating from the Minnesota AFL-CIO.

For years, Congressman Ellison has been a champion of organized labor and Minnesota’s working families. Ellison has fought for collective bargaining rights and a fair economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. As Attorney General, Keith has promised to stand up to large corporations that cut corners on worker safety and cheat their workers out of fair pay by fighting wage theft.

Minnesota’s working families need an Attorney General who will stand up for them, not someone who will only serve large corporations.