Tag: Rep. Paulsen

Kroll violates federal law at Paulsen campaign event

Erik Paulsen and Bob Kroll have made it all too clear that they’ll go to extreme lengths to further their own personal political agendas, even if it means violating federal law’

Today, Minnesota Fraternal Order of Police member Bob Kroll appeared in his official capacity as a Minneapolis Police Officer to endorse Erik Paulsen at an event in Wayzata. Kroll’s appearance and endorsement directly violates the Hatch Act, which prohibits State and Local officers from using their “official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election or a nomination for office.”

“Erik Paulsen and Bob Kroll have made it all too clear that they’ll go to extreme lengths to further their own personal political agendas, even if it means violating federal law. We’ve come to expect this kind of misbehavior by Kroll, but it’s disturbing that Erik Paulsen would go along with these antics. Minnesotans in the Third District deserve a Representative in Congress who will put their interests above his own, something Erik Paulsen has shown no interest in doing.”

Kroll’s appearance today is not the first time he’s flouted Federal Law. In 2016, then-Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau ordered him to stop wearing his official uniform when partaking in political activities. But just last month, he appeared on a campaign mailer for Republican Tim Pawlenty in his MPD uniform.

Paulsen, super PAC teamed up to tear Phillips down with lies

To the Editor:

Here we are, about two months away from midterm election day and the voters of Minnesota’s Third District are on the edge of their seats. We are paying attention to our candidates and determining who will be the best representatives of our interests. But instead of seeing incumbent Erik Paulsen put his best foot forward, we see attack advertisements, special interest money and smear politics.

This has to end. The Congressional Leadership Fund Super PAC and Erik Paulsen have teamed up to try to tear down Dean Phillips’ reputation with lies. Is that how campaigns should run? It’s incredibly misleading and quite honestly annoying. I don’t want our candidates filling the voters’ minds with falsehoods. Let’s provide facts only, please.

Here are some facts: Dean Phillips is a business owner who is passionate about getting money out of politics, saving the environment, making health care accessible to all and much more. He is being attacked for not providing health care to his employees at Penny’s, but he does, in fact, provide for all full-time employees. Continue reading “Paulsen, super PAC teamed up to tear Phillips down with lies”

If Paulsen has nothing to hide, why is he unwilling to debate?

To the Editor:

The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) is out of control. The Super PAC recently launched a scathing ad in their next round of attacks on behalf of Rep. Erik Paulsen against challenger Dean Phillips. The advertisement is directed towards his health care past at Penny’s Coffee. The ad was littered with false statements, insinuating that Phillips did not provide health care to his employees at Penny’s.

This is unequivocally not true.

Phillips has always provided health care to all of his full-time employees along with a $15/hour living wage. Phillips explained his small business policies at the Aug. 21 debate in St. Louis Park. This was the only debate between the two candidates that Paulsen has agreed to thus far, and it came with a price tag of $60 per person. Continue reading “If Paulsen has nothing to hide, why is he unwilling to debate?”

Erik Paulsen continues to prioritize political lip service over military service

While the Trump administration works towards exposing veterans and families to predatory lenders, the silence from Paulsen is deafening

Mick Mulvaney, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), has made a series of troubling moves that will ultimately lead to countless military veterans and their families being taken advantage of by predatory lenders. Erik Paulsen, a prodigious fundraiser of campaign cash from these types of financial institutions,, has remained silent on this issue.

“It should come as no surprise that Donald Trump and his congressional cronies, like Erik Paulsen, are allowing predatory financial institutions to take advantage of America’s veterans, these companies pay good campaign money for that opportunity,” said DFL Chairman Ken Martin. “We know America’s veterans are among the most vulnerable groups to exploitation today, and the lack of leadership from a congressman who claims he’ll ‘stand up to his party or Trump’ is startling. It looks to me like Paulsen is only standing up for the unregulated financial sector who is bankrolling his campaign.”

Key Vote Alert: Rep. Paulsen Votes to Permanently Slash State and Local Tax Deductions, Put Social Security and Medicare on the Chopping Block

© Greg Nash

After voting to give massive handouts to the wealthy and corporations at the expense of the middle class with last year’s Tax Scam, Republicans are back for more. Rep. Paulsen, as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, voted yesterday topermanently cap the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, costing Minnesota families thousands of dollars per year. Rep. Paulsen also put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block by voting to increase the deficit by at least $631 billion, on top of the $1.9 trillion deficit increase that resulted from the GOP tax scam.

“Rep. Erik Paulsen voted to permanently slash the State and Local Tax deduction that hard working families in Minnesota rely on to save thousands of dollars a year and put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block by adding another $631 billion to the deficits Republicans have already racked up thanks to their tax scam,” said DCCC spokesperson Rachel Irwin.“Voters know that as long as Paulsen is in office, their access to affordable healthcare and retirement security are at risk.”

 

North Carolina Super PAC Supporting Erik Paulsen Tells People to Vote November 8th

As millions in out of state money pours in for Paulsen, conservative ClearPath Action Fund muddies the waters, confuses voters

Eden Prairie, MN – ClearPath Action Fund (CPA) is a super PAC based in Washington, D.C. and North Carolina currently running digital ads as part of a six-figure effort to support the reelection Congressman Erik Paulsen in MN03. CPA is financed with untraceable money from the ClearPath Foundation (CPF), a 501(c)(3).

Millions of dollars in outside spending by super PACs and untraceable dark money in support of Erik Paulsen will attempt to mislead, distract, and skew in his favor, but these digital ads on Facebook muddied the waters in a different way – by providing an incorrect date for Election Day.

This ad is just another example what can happen when outside spending by super PACs with no interest in what’s best for Minnesota are allowed to influence our elections. Continue reading “North Carolina Super PAC Supporting Erik Paulsen Tells People to Vote November 8th”

Our taxes are up 23 percent, thanks to Erik Paulsen

To the Editor:

Remember the Republican tax cut bill that Rep. Paulsen worked so hard to pass? It’s the one that massively cut taxes for corporations and the top 1 percent.

For us, it will mean a 23-percent increase in our taxable income and a 35-percent increase in our federal tax bill. We are retired and pay estimated taxes throughout the year. Our CPA did the arithmetic with the new tax bill and our 2017 income to figure out what we should be paying in estimated taxes for 2018 and he shared all the numbers with us. The result has been a 23-percent increase in our estimated tax payments; the final results are above.

We know this tax bill cut taxes for corporations and the top 1 percent; they are undoubtedly grateful to Rep. Paulson (sic). Wonder what it did for your 2018 tax bill.

Gwen and Mason Myers, Minnetonka
Minnetonka Sun-Sailor, September 10, 2018

Booker Orders Release of Kavanaugh-Related Email in ‘Act of Disobedience’

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website Septem

Sen. Booker dares Sen. Cornyn to start process to remove him from Senate

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., made a splash Thursday during the third day of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination hearing. Credit: Bill Clark, CQ Roll Call

The third day of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing began with fireworks: A senator dared another to try to kick him out of the Senate.

Potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Cory Bookerof New Jersey and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas jousted at the Thursday session’s start over the process by which the Judiciary Committee, National Archives, Justice Department and former President George W. Bush’s legal staff have been reviewing and clearing or withholding documents from Kavanaugh’s time working for the 43rd president.

Booker announced he had ordered his staff to release an email before it has gone through that process, saying he was knowingly violating a Senate rule that could lead to his removal from the chamber.

View the complete article here.

NEW POLL: 75% Of Americans Support Pre-Existing Condition Protections That Trump & Kavanaugh Would Dismantle

A new poll found that 75 percent of Americans, and 58 percent of Republicans, want to keep ACA protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Despite that, Trump filed a lawsuit to destroy these protections. Oral arguments in this lawsuit begin today, and it could be contested all the way to the Supreme Court. Which brings us to Trump’s Supreme Court nominee…

We know Kavanaugh would rule to dismantle the ACA, because Trump himself promised that his Supreme Court nominees would do that.

“If I win the presidency, my judicial appointments will do the right thing unlike Bush’s appointee John Roberts on ObamaCare.” – Trump, 2015

Kavanaugh previously wrote that a future president could refuse to enforce the ACA, even if it had been upheld by the courts.

New Yorker: “Late last year, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit voted, two to one, to uphold President Obama’s health-care reform, known as the Affordable Care Act (aca). Kavanaugh dissented, primarily on the ground that the lawsuit was premature. In a sixty-five-page opinion, Kavanaugh appeared to offer some advice to the Republicans who are challenging Obama in the election this year. ‘Under the Constitution,’ Kavanaugh wrote, ‘the President may decline to enforce a statute that regulates private individuals when the President deems the statute unconstitutional, even if a court has held or would hold the statute constitutional.’”

NOTE:  Rep. Paulsen has voted multiple times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which protects people from skyrocketing insurance premiums or no insurance at all due to pre-existing conditions.