Tag: Rep. Paulsen

Despite not hosting a public Town Hall for seven years, Paulsen calls himself ‘one of the more accessible members of Congress’

‘Congressman Paulsen certainly has an interesting definition of the word accessible’

In an interview this week with KARE11, Congressman Erik Paulsen called himself “one of the more accessible members of Congress,” despite not holding a single public Town Hall for seven years. Paulsen’s statement came in response to DFL candidate Dean Phillips’ viral Bigfoot ad, which WCCO’s Pat Kessler called true and KARE11 rated as ‘mostly true.’ 

“Congressman Paulsen certainly has an interesting definition of the word accessible,” said DFL Executive Director Corey Day. “The only people Erik Paulsen is accessible to are the special interests and corporate PACs who have donated millions of dollars to his campaign. What’s more, Congressman Paulsen and his Republican allies have resorted to attacking Dean Phillips in ads that are consistently revealed to be inaccurate, misleading, and flat out false.”

“Dean Phillips is offering voters a clear alternative, showing them what true accessibility looks like. He’s appeared at over 120 public campaign events to which everyone is invited, not just wealthy donors. And unlike Erik Paulsen, the sixth biggest recipient of special interest money in Congress, Dean hasn’t taken a penny from PACS or special interests.”

LCV Victory Fund Trolls Erik Paulsen in New TV Ad

Cartoon Shows Paulsen, Trump Canoeing Through Polluted Waters; Highlights Paulsen’s Votes to Dump Coal Waste Into Waterways & Gut Limits On Methane Pollution

Minneapolis, Minnesota– In a new TV ad, LCV Victory Fund calls out Rep. Erik Paulsen (MN-03) for trying to deceive voters about his record of siding with Trump and corporate polluters.

Paulsen has attempted to convince voters that he’ll stand up for Minnesota’s environment, focusing his first TV ad of the cycle on efforts to protect the Boundary Waters. But Paulsen has continually voted to gut protections for clean air, water and public lands, earning a 14 percent on LCV’s 2017 National Environmental Scorecard. That included votes to block the Clean Water Rule and cut millions from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which recently provided $4 million to protect an addition 50,000 acres of the Boundary Waters.

Last month, the Trump administration announced they will be allowing mining exploration just outside of the Boundary Waters and stopped an environmental review of how mining would impact the wilderness area.

View the complete October 2 article by Alyssa Roberts on the League of Conservation Voters’ website here.

Paulsen Continues Dishonest TV Campaign

New ad from Paulsen contains even more falsehoods

Excelsior, MN – After Congressman Paulsen and the special interests supporting his campaign were called out for running false and misleading ads last week, Paulsen’s campaign is doubling down on their dishonest attacks against Dean Phillips. In an effort to distract Minnesotans from his own unpopular votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act and increase the deficit by $1.9 trillion, Congressman Paulsen’s new campaign ad throws a handful of new, deceitful attacks against the wall – and again, none stick.

“Negative ads are one thing,” said Dean Phillips. “But spending millions of dollars to repeatedly and intentionally mislead voters is beneath the dignity of a member of Congress who touts his membership in the House Civility and Respect Caucus. Minnesotans have had enough, and they deserve better. That’s why I’m on a mission to change the culture of corruption caused by big money in our political system.”  

The following is an excerpt from a “Dear Colleague” letter seeking new members of the Congressional Civility & Respect Caucus, of which Paulsen is a “ founding member”: Continue reading “Paulsen Continues Dishonest TV Campaign”

Paulsen’s Patrons Filling the Airwaves with Even More Falsehoods and Distortions

New NRCC ad attacks Dean Phillips for something that happened two years after he stepped down as CEO of Phillips Distilling

Excelsior, MN – Just days after Erik Paulsen and the special interests supporting his campaign were called out for running false and misleading ads against Dean Phillips, party committees and special interest super PACs benefitting Congressman Paulsen are doubling down on their dishonest attacks, with the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) launching yet another smear ad featuring false claims.

The new NRCC ad claims that Dean Phillips “profited” from — and his company was “cited” for — marketing alcohol to underage people. The private citizen’s complaint to the Distilled Spirits Council referenced in the ad by the NRCC occurred in 2014, two years after Dean Phillips left his position as CEO of Phillips Distilling, and while he held no financial stake in the company.

“Negative ads are one thing,” said Dean Phillips. “But spending millions of dollars to repeatedly and intentionally mislead voters is beneath the dignity of a member of Congress and his allies. That’s why I’m on a mission to change the culture of corruption caused by big money in our political system.”   Continue reading “Paulsen’s Patrons Filling the Airwaves with Even More Falsehoods and Distortions”

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”

Republicans hoped voters would forget they tried to kill Obamacare. They bet wrong.

Credit: Joe Raedle, Getty

Earlier this month, over a year after Republicans tried multiple times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I asked people in the Twittersphere if their representatives in Congress had voted for repeal and, if so, if they held a town hall to explain their vote and put forward a better vision for health care. Within 24 hours, over 500 people had tweeted back their experiences.

The responses reflected not just people who disagreed with their member of Congress, but people who felt ignored by them. The list of those who chose to vote and disappear in 2017 is long, including many who now find themselves in highly contested races — among them Republicans Barbara Comstock of Virginia, Dana Rohrabacher and Mimi Walters of California, Peter Roskam and Mike Bost of Illinois, Steve Chabot and Steve Stivers of Ohio, and Bruce Poliquin of Maine.

Sensitive to criticism for avoiding their constituents, some lawmakers have taken to holding a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” style of constituent meetings. They often label them town halls, but in reality they are either paid events or telephone calls with limited capacity where only “random” questions are accepted. Few sound satisfied with these interactions. It’s certainly not representative democracy at its finest.

View the complete September 21 article by Andy Slavitt on the Courier-Express website here.

Advertising totals reveal parties’ positioning in battle for House

Republicans and Democrats are taking starkly different approaches to advertising as they race to win control of the U.S. House, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

Many Republicans are looking to outside money to lift them in the airtime wars, and the House GOP’s allied super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, has been this cycle’s dominant spender on television and radio, the documents show.

House Democrats are following a more traditional route. Their campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is outpacing both its allied super PAC, the House Majority PAC, and its rival, the National Republican Congressional Committee — but lags behind the cash-flush GOP super PAC.

View the complete September 16 article by Robert Costa on the Washington Post website here.

Paulsen Ad Quotes WCCO’s Pat Kessler Out Of Context

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A new campaign ad from Republican Congressman Erik Paulsen is generating a lot of comments from WCCO’s viewers, and questions about whether the ad is legal.

That’s because WCCO-TV’s own Pat Kessler is actually featured in the ad, edited in a way that makes it seem as though he’s endorsing Paulsen’s attacks on Democratic candidate Dean Phillips.

Kessler reported that it is a “wildly out-of-context ad,” which took what he actually said and edited it to make it sound like he said something different.

View the complete September 20 article by Pat Kessler on the WCCO.com website here.

Minnesota DFL Issues Statement on Drop in Insured Minnesotans

ST. PAUL, Minnesota, Sept. 13 — Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party issued the following statement by Chairman Ken Martin:

“President Trump and Republicans, like Jason Lewis and Erik Paulsen, have continued to sabotage the Affordable Care Act (ACA), driving up premiums and threatening access to care for people across the country. This effort is especially being felt in Minnesota as the number of Minnesotans without health insurance grew by 18,000.

“If Republicans maintain control of Congress, this number is just the tip of the iceberg of Minnesotans without health insurance. Republican leadership said repealing the Affordable Care Act is a top priority. If reelected, Lewis and Paulsen will continue to turn back the clock on health care.

View the complete September 14 post on the InsuranceNewsNet.com website here.

 

Don’t be Fooled: The Truth About the Alphabet Soup at the End of Those Attack Ads

We’re sure you’ve been been seeing the mudslinging ads attacking Dean Phillips by massively distorting the fact and using quotes out of context.  There’s always “legalese” at the end of those ads.  Most people don’t know what those organizations are.

Here are the Facts

These ads are coming from people who are doing everything they can to protect Erik Paulsen’s seat in Congress.  They’re doing that to make certain they control what happens in Congress after the election be it another tax cut for the rich, attack on our health care, moving to dismantle Social Security and Medicare “because the deficit is out of hand”* and so much more.

Rep. Erik Paulsen — We find it interesting that after holding his seat since the 2008 election, Erik Paulsen has nothing positive to say about what he’s done for his constituents, which only leaves him the option of parroting the falsehoods of the PACs supporting his re-election.

CLR (Congressional Leadership Fund) — This Super PAC is the dishonest organization that released the CIA confidential security clearance application of a DFL candidate in Virginia to use for political purposes.  It was formed in 2011 and is closely aligned to House Speaker Paul Ryan.  Their purpose is to elect Republicans and do what they can to oppose the election of Democrats.

NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee) — This is an organization that supports the election of Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives. Its leadership is made up of Republican Representatives..

Open Secrets’ Report of 2018 Expenditures:  https://www.opensecrets.org/races/election?id=MN

Washington Post post of media money reserving spots:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2018/09/16/National-Politics/Graphics/tracking912_18.pdf?tid=a_inl_manual

MPR News:  Who is Spending in Your District? (Updated daily):  https://features.mprnews.org/2018/campaign-spending/#

Open Secrets Listing of Paulsen Independent Expenditures this Cycle:  https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/other-data?cid=N00029391&cycle=2018#ind

*  There are theories out there that this tax cut (it wasn’t a rework of the tax code and benefits for average Americans go away in 5 years) has cut the income coming into the Treasury and exploding the debt. That will allow a Republican majority in Congress to do away with social service programs because they can’t be paid for — because they cut the taxes of the richest American and corporations.