Tag: Rep. Paulsen

Retiring Speaker Ryan in campaign push for imperiled Republicans

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Retiring U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Monday launched a whirlwind tour of a dozen states, where he aims to pump up the campaigns of 25 embattled Republican members of Congress as the party fights to keep control of Congress.

With three weeks until the Nov. 6 congressional elections, most projections show Democrats holding a strong chance of gaining the 23 seats they would need to take a majority of that chamber and more effectively counter President Donald Trump.

Ryan will begin campaigning in the northeast, where he will appear with Representatives John Faso in New York and Leonard Lance in New Jersey, then go on to the Midwest next week to back Erik Paulsen in Minnesota and Rod Blum of Iowa and later return to the East Coast to campaign with Dave Brat of Virginia and Ted Budd of North Carolina.

View the complete article on the KFGO website here.

How I will be voting this year and why.

In the Nov. 6 election, I will do something for the first time in 50 years. I will be voting a straight DFL ballot.

After almost four decades as a Republican Hennepin County commissioner, 50-plus years as a Republican activist, and having probably chaired more Republican conventions than anyone in the state, let me say it simply: President Donald Trump is unhinged, and some of us who have been Republicans have to say it loud and clear.

Trump has hijacked the Republican label. Trump has little to do with the principles and standards of the Minnesota Republican Party over many years. Continue reading “How I will be voting this year and why.”

‘Working mom’ in Erik Paulsen ad is actually a Pennsylvania politician

The scene is straight from Campaign Cinema 101. Natalie Mihalek, self-proclaimed “working mom,” appears in a nice-but-not-too-nice living room, making her seem just like you.

She never says where she’s from. But since this is an ad for suburban Minneapolis Congressman Erik Paulsen, the implication is she’s just an everyday mom from, say, Plymouth or Osseo. The kind who brings lemon bars to science fairs and cheers supportively at her daughter’s T-ball games.

She’s here to talk about how “thrilled” she is with Erik Paulsen’s “middle-class tax cut.”

View the complete October 16 article by Pete Kotz on the CityPages website here.

Abandoning Any Pretense of Fiscal Responsibility, Republican Leader Calls for Cuts to Social Security and Medicare to Pay for Trillion Dollar Tax Cut for the Ultra-Wealthy

‘At the end of the day, this is a question of priorities. The GOP continues to make it painfully clear that their first priority is to make the rich even richer, at the expense of the middle class.’

This morning, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Bloomberg News what we’ve long suspected: the GOP’s only plan to address the ballooning federal deficit is to make deep and painful cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. His statement comes on the heels of yesterday’s announcement that the deficit has reached a six-year high of $779 billion, due largely to the trillion dollar tax cut for billionaires and wealthy corporations the GOP pushed through earlier this year.

Over 900,000 Minnesotans rely on Medicare for their health care coverage, and one-sixth of all Minnesotans receive Social Security benefits.

“The hypocrisy of Congressional Republicans is stunning,” said DFL Chairman Ken Martin. “After years of hawkish attitudes about the federal deficit, Erik Paulsen and Jason Lewis threw those principles overboard and decided passing tax cuts for special interest donors was more important than balancing the federal budget. Now they want us to believe that the only way to solve their manufactured crisis is to slash programs that millions of Minnesotans rely on. Continue reading “Abandoning Any Pretense of Fiscal Responsibility, Republican Leader Calls for Cuts to Social Security and Medicare to Pay for Trillion Dollar Tax Cut for the Ultra-Wealthy”

Deficit Soars By 17% After Trump Tax Law

The federal deficit swelled by nearly 17 percent largely because of a sharp decline in corporate tax revenues after the Trump tax law. Trump said his tax law would pay for itself, and he claimed he would quickly eliminate the national debt and balance the budget. We now know those were all lies.

LIE: The Trump administration claimed the tax law would “pay for itself” and even suggested it already has.

Secretary Mnuchin: “‘This will be the most significant change to the tax code since Reagan,’ he said, adding that the plan ‘will pay for itself’ by boosting economic growth.”

Larry Kudlow: “Even the CBO numbers- even the CBO numbers show now that the entire one and a half trillion dollar tax cut is virtually paid for by higher revenues and better nominal GDP.” Continue reading “Deficit Soars By 17% After Trump Tax Law”

Lawyer in Allina sexual harassment case blasts Erik Paulsen ad

The new TV ad from GOP’s Paulsen hits DFL challenger Dean Phillips over harassment lawsuit, but lawyer for claimants says Phillips had ‘no involvement.’

GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen listens to DFL candidate Dean Phillips at their debate at Minnesota Public Radio. Credit: Tony Saunders, MPR via AP

A lawyer for the women who sued Allina Health for sexual harassment blasted U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen on Friday for making it a campaign issue against his Democratic opponent, Dean Phillips.

Phillips served on the Allina board of directors from 2005-11. A new Paulsen TV ad calls Phillips “shady” and charges that he “did nothing” to combat the harassment.

Lori Peterson, a lawyer who specializes in civil rights and represented seven women who filed the lawsuit against Allina in 2007, released a statement Friday saying Phillips had nothing to do with the litigation.

View the complete October 12 article by J. Patrick Coolican on the StarTribune website here.

Time for a shake-up in 3rd Congressional District

Voters will have to weigh heavily Paulsen’s experience and seniority against Phillips’ fresh perspective in a race that is in the national spotlight.

Erik Paulsen is capable, affable and intelligent. If re-elected he will likely continue to represent the district exactly as he has over the last decade – as a moderate to conservative Republican. He has risen through the ranks to a position on the Ways and Means Committee, chairperson of the Joint Economic Committee and co-chair of the House Medical Technology Caucus.

By now voters in the 3rd District are very familiar with Paulsen, who spent 14 years in the Minnesota Legislature before he was first elected to Congress in 2009. But we believe there is appetite, and need, for change in the district held by Republicans since the 1960s.

View the complete editorial by the ECM Editorial Board on the Sun-Sailor-Post website here.

Erik Paulsen Ad Claims Dean Phillips Ignored Allina Sexual Harassment Claims

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Minnesota Republican Congressman Erik Paulsen is standing by a campaign ad attacking one of Minnesota’s largest health systems.

Paulsen claims Allina Health Care ignored sexual harassment allegations when his 3rd District Democratic opponent Dean Phillips served on the board of directors. It is a claim Phillips calls “a lie.”

The ad accuses Allina of ignoring harassment claims in 2007, and says then-board chairman Phillips “did nothing.”

View the complete post on the WCCO TV website here.

Two-Thirds Of Americans Haven’t Seen Any Benefit From The Trump Tax Law

A new poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans say they have not seen their take-home pay increase as a result of the Trump tax law. The truth about the Trump tax law is that it’s not benefiting working families — it has only increased the gap between the richest Americans and everyone else.

Americans have not benefited from the Trump tax law. It’s clear why more Americans still disapprove than approve of the law.

  • 64% of Americans say they have not seen an increase in their take-home pay from the Trump tax law.

  • A majority of Americans say the Trump tax law has not helped their family financially.

Continue reading “Two-Thirds Of Americans Haven’t Seen Any Benefit From The Trump Tax Law”

Erik Paulsen’s Negative Campaign Gets Even Worse

Paulsen releases fourth straight dishonest attack ad


Paulsen is among the most partisan members of Congress, voting with Trump 98 percent of the time and routinely carrying the water of his biggest donors. Credit: Fibonacci Blue

Excelsior, MN – Erik Paulsen has released his latest dishonest and negative TV ad as part of his ongoing smear campaign against Dean Phillips.

Despite the insinuations of Paulsen’s ad, Phillips was not the chairman of the board of Allina Health at the time the allegations in question were brought forward. And claims that Phillips, as a volunteer board chairman, was responsible for the day-to-day operations of Allina Health have already been called false by independent fact checkers.

“Erik Paulsen used to be known as the ‘nice guy’ but now he’s running one of the most outlandishly negative and dishonest smear campaigns of any incumbent politician in recent history,” said Zach Rodvold, campaign manager for Phillips for Congress. “Congressman Paulsen is so desperate to hold onto power that he’s even stooped to attacking community leaders at one of the Twin Cities’ most important health systems. This is what happens when you vote with Donald Trump 98% of the time and have no accomplishments to run on or anything positive to say. Voters deserve better.” Continue reading “Erik Paulsen’s Negative Campaign Gets Even Worse”