Tag: Dean Phillips

Phillips announces free public forum in Minnetonka on September 10 as pressure mounts for his opponent, Congressman Erik Paulsen, to answer unscreened questions from voters

Excelsior, MN – On August 10th, and again on on August 16th, Dean Phillips invited Congressman Erik Paulsen to join him at free, open-to-the-public, voter forums. After days of silence, Congressman Paulsen finally accepted the invitation to three forums, but with restrictions on participation, and did not offer dates on which he’d make himself available.

“Representation begins with listening,” said Phillips. “Congressman Paulsen’s commitment to join me in answering questions from the public three times before Election Day is encouraging. It is important that these events are open and accessible to all who wish to attend — no tickets, no screening, just conversation. I hope he follows through.”

Pressure is mounting on Congressman Paulsen to answer unscreened questions from voters in the communities he represents. The Phillips for Congress team reiterated its expectations for public voter events: they should be free and open to the public, held in venues that accommodate all who are interested in attending, and moderated by an agreed-upon neutral person with questions from the audience.

While Congressman Paulsen demands that such events be ticketed with attendees evenly divided between each campaign, that would exclude independent and undecided voters not connected to either campaign who deserve the opportunity to hear from the two candidates side-by-side.

Independent groups such as the League of Women Voters, local churches and various Chambers of Commerce have expressed interest in organizing such forums. The Phillips for Congress campaign has already announced a series of forums between August and Election Day, including one on Monday, September 10th in Minnetonka:

Everyone’s Invited! Voter Forum
When: Monday, September 10, 2018, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Where: Minnetonka Community Center, 14600 Minnetonka Blvd, Minnetonka, MN 55345

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

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.