Tag: 3rd Congressional District

Debate crowd laughs after GOP lawmaker says he’s been ‘accessible’

The following article by Justin Wise was posted on the Hill website August 29, 2018:

© Greg Nash

The audience at a debate in Minnesota erupted in laughter earlier this week after Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) said he tried to be accessible to his constituents.

“Truth is, I get a lot of ideas from listening to people like you,” Paulsen said. “Being accessible, being a good listener, those are where the ideas come from.”

The statements immediately sparked laughter from the crowd. The moderator abruptly chimed in to ask the audience to “be respectful.”

View the complete article here.

Most politicians try to be everyone’s friend. But Dean Phillips is trying very, very hard.

The following article by Sam Brodey was posted on the MinnPost website August 28, 2018:

Credit: MinnPost

Dean Phillips swore that he didn’t plant the man wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat in his path at the State Fair last week, as he emerged from an interview at the WCCO booth into the sunlight of the fair’s first morning.

But it was an awfully convenient opportunity for a candidate running on the campaign slogan “everyone’s invited!” and whose first campaign ad suggests there’s nothing wrong with politics that a little “coffee and conversation” can’t fix.

Phillips, who owns Penny’s Coffee in Minneapolis, is usually not without coffee: there was plenty of free cold brew at his pristine booth across from the Kidway on Cooper Street. And Phillips finds it hard to be without conversation, too, and there certainly was plenty of it when he made a beeline for a red cap-wearing Trump supporter who had listened to his interview with WCCO’s John Hines.

View the complete article here.

Watch a Crowd Burst Out Laughing at a GOP Congressman for Saying He Makes Himself ‘Accessible’ to Them

The following article by Matthew Chapman was posted on the AlterNet.org website August 28, 2018:

Rep. Erik Paulsen tried to play the people’s candidate at a debate. His constituents found it so absurd they started laughing.

Congressman Erik Paulsen (R-MN) is a reliable vote for President Donald Trump’s agenda in a suburban Minneapolis district that voted for Hillary Clinton by nearly 10 points. He has backed Trump 98 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight, including on the failed GOP plan to strip health insurance from sick people and on the disastrous package of tax cuts for corporations and billionaires. Continue reading “Watch a Crowd Burst Out Laughing at a GOP Congressman for Saying He Makes Himself ‘Accessible’ to Them”

Where is Erik Paulsen?

To the Editor:

Congressman Erik Paulsen thinks he can fool us by distancing himself from Donald Trump, but we know better. Paulsen may say he puts his constituents in front of his president; however, his actions say otherwise. I want to be able to trust my representative to make thoughtful and personal choices for the benefit of his district, but has Paulsen ever done that?

The answer lies in his voting record. I was extremely shocked to find out how loyal Paulsen is to the president: 98 percent. That’s the percentage of time Paulsen chooses to side with the president. But how well does that represent our interests? I want to feel like Minnesota’s third district representative cares about Minnesota’s Third Congressional District!

In addition to the president, Erik Paulsen’s voting record relies on the donations of PACs and special interest groups. I find it interesting that the donations from passionate supporters come second. Continue reading “Where is Erik Paulsen?”

Third District forum in Edina focuses on campaign finance reform

The following article by Kelly Smith was posted on the Star Tribune article August 28, 2018:

It was the first policy forum that DFLer Dean Phillips is holding as he challenges U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen in the west metro congressional district.

3rd Congressional District Candidate Dean Phillips Credit: Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune

Campaign finance reform and outside spending have emerged as contentious issues in the west metro’s Third Congressional District, where DFLer Dean Phillips is challenging U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen.

Phillips made campaign finance reform the focus of a Monday public forum in Edina with Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, a national political action committee (PAC) that’s targeting Paulsen and 19 other Republicans in Congress.

“We have to get our system back to you,” Muller said. Phillips is “people-powered, not special interests-powered.”

View the complete article here.

Dean Phillips will listen

To the Editor:

Dean Phillips says, “Representation begins with listening.”

He wants to listen to me! And all of the constituents in Congressional District 3. I am a citizen of Plymouth and I work on any campaign that I believe in. I have no job title or positions with campaigns. I am simply one of your neighbors who believes in speaking up. I try to go out and attend (free) voter forums like Phillips had Aug. 21, so I can learn about who I am voting for and where they stand on issues (not just what party they are associated with).

Phillips seems very accessible to me. I believe the representative’s job is to represent. Many do not. It is always interesting when a congress person is not running for re-election that they start to ‘speak their mind’ more freely. They should always be doing that. That is their job. To represent me in Washington. Continue reading “Dean Phillips will listen”

Paulsen Campaign Manager’s PAC Money Hypocrisy

As we noted in a post earlier this month, Erik Paulsen’s campaign has benefitted from a large outside expenditure (that’s what this type of purchase is called in campaign lingo) by the conservative Congressional Leadership Fund.  That early buy for television commercials was $2.3 million.  Here’s the link to the Roll Call article citing the expenditure amount.

What happens after Dean Phillips holds a forum on campaign finance reform?  We just found out.

In the August 28, 2018, morningtake email, we found the following:

CD3: via press release from Erik Paulsen’s campaign, VERBATIM: “Dean Phillips is hosting an issue forum tonight focused on getting money out of politics with a PAC that has over $500,000 of TV ads reserved for him. While Phillips has spoken out against PAC money, he’s silent on PAC money being spent on his behalf, and is now campaigning with PACs despite his opposition to them…While Dean Phillips claims not to take PAC money, he gladly allows PAC money to be spent on behalf, and he even campaigns with them. End Citizens United, whose President is attending Phillips’ event tonight, is just one PAC slated to spend big money for Phillips. Nancy Pelosi’s House Majority PAC, a SuperPAC, has millions reserved on TV to spend on Phillips’ behalf.  YATES: “Dean Phillips is a campaign finance fraud who wants to put our economy as risk by raising taxes and implementing massive new spending schemes” said John-Paul Yates, Paulsen’s campaign manager”

 

GOP Legal Troubles Boost Democrats’ Anti-Corruption Message

The following article by Ally Mutnick and Zach C. Cohen was posted on the National Journal website August 22, 2018:

DFL challenger Dean Phillips and Rep. Erik Paulsen greeted each other at the end of Tuesday’s Third Congressional District debate in St. Louis Park. Credit: Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune

Dean Phillips, a Democrat running for Congress in a suburban Minneapolis battleground district, had just opened and closed a 75-minute debate by railing against the corrupting influence of money in politics, the hallmark issue of his campaign.

Shortly after he got off stage, he read the news that three Republicans close to President Trump were indicted on, convicted of, or pled guilty to charges of financial fraud or breaking campaign finance law.

“Making the argument through anecdotes or through my experience is one thing,” Phillips said in an interview Wednesday. “But when the news headlines bear the facts in a much more bold and public way, it absolutely supports the contention.”

View the complete post here.

PACs and special interest groups own American politics

To the editor:

On the eve of our primary elections, I started doing some research and was astounded to find that my representative in Congress, Erik Paulsen, has received 53 percent of his campaign money from political action committees. For more information, visit bit.ly/2HuGBTe.

These groups are consistently corrupting our Congress by spending millions of dollars to buy favors with our democratic institutions. They shift politicians’ priorities from serving everyday constituents to satisfying mysterious, multi-million dollar corporations.

We’ve seen it recently with the much-publicized plea from a devastated Parkland student to the many recipients of National Rifle Association donations in Congress (including, notably, Erik Paulsen). In this televised, emotionally-charged event, Sen. Marco Rubio from Florida refused to say that he would stop being beholden to the NRA.  Continue reading “PACs and special interest groups own American politics”

Pro-Paulsen Television Ad Info

There’s an ad appearing on television these days that’s touting how wonderful the GOP tax cut (for the rich) is for everyone, how we should thank Rep. Erik Paulsen for voting FOR the bill and how big, bad, nasty Nancy Pelosi wants to take the tons of money the tax cut bill puts in Middle Class Minnesotans’ pockets.

What’s the reality?

Who Paid for this Ad?

First, the ad is produced and paid for by CFL. Want to know who that organization is?  It’s a super PAC aligned with House Republican leadership.

Here’s a link to an article in Roll Call talking about the media buy. Continue reading “Pro-Paulsen Television Ad Info”