CD6 I Was Afraid of This, Let’s Get Back to the Issues
Posted by Andy on March 30th, 2006
I just got home to a letter in the mail from Rep. Phil Krinkie to Sen. Michele Bachmann which was CC’ed to 6th CD Delegates and Alternates, which I am one of. I don’t have time to transcribe it, so here is a quick summary.
Krinkie is claiming Bachmann is distributing false Campaign literature and that she is making false claims in her campaign speeches.
The false claim you have repeatedly made is that you have the highest ranking from the Taxpayer’s League of MN from 2000 through 2004. This claim is patently false.
Krinkie points to the TPL website and official scorecard, and his consistent 100% rating from the group.
Your most recent literature, handed out at the BPOU conventions last weekend, states that my average is 95%. this is false and you need to stop repeating it.
You first made this claim on in a radio interview on Feb, 18th on the Patriot Radio Show. You are now repeating it in your campaign speeches and in your literature.
Since this is a campaign between Republicans, I would respectfully ask that you destroy any literature with this false claim and cease from repeating it in your speeches. Your quick action will prevent us from having to pursue legal action.
I was so afraid of this stuff happening in this race. More evidence of the cannibalism is seen over at MPR’s Polinaut, where Knoblach is attacking Krinkie over a vote on Crimnet in a lit piece.
I know I shouldn’t post this stuff, but I am doing so only to stop this crap. I know it is politics as usual and I am not picking sides in the fight, except for that of the Delegates who want an honest and fair race. We are all Republicans, and in the end, we have to work together to defeat the Democrats. I would ask that all the Campaigns stop this, and stop the smear campaigning, and run on their strong points. All that is happening is alienation of Republicans and of swing voters who see a family feud brewing.
These are my own personal views! Check the disclaimer at the top.
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March 30th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
The Taxpayer’s League has come out with a statement condemning Bachmann for this nonsense.
http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/2006/03/david-strom-of-taxpayers-league-calls.html
http://www.taxpayersleague.com/PR/2006/03302006.htm
March 30th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Actually, I think that it’s a stretch to say they condemn her. But her campaign literature is in error, it’s wrong and the League has set out the relevant statistics to show that. The League isn’t going after her, it’s clarifying the stats, if people want to start throwing them around. Campaigns will come and go. The League has to protect its institutional integrity if it is to live to fight another day.
March 30th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
“The Taxpayers League is also very critical of Senator Bachmann for lying about her ratings compared to Representative Krinkie. You can see David Strom’s sharp words on its Web site at http://www.taxpayersleague.com/PR/2006/03302006.htm. And on the other issue, Jim Knoblach put out a mail piece saying Phil Krinkie doesn’t want to harshly punish sex offenders. This, of course, is totally ridiculous and reprehensible on Jim’s part. I agree that we have to get back to the issues, but as long as Michele is putting out demonstrably false information (and persists in doing so) and Jim keeps telling people Phil likes Sex Offenders, is it any wonder that Phil is forced to respond?”
March 31st, 2006 at 12:15 am
The literature is not in error…
In the 2004 Taxpayers League Scorecard (at http://www.taxpayersleague.org/pdf/legscorecard2004.pdf), Michele Bachmann showed a lifetime rating of 96. Phil Krinkie showed a lifetime rating of 95, while Jim Knoblach’s rating comes in at 75. In 2000 (before Sen. Bachmann was elected), Rep. Krinkie had a TPL rating of 92.
In 2005, Michele’s Taxpayer League lifetime rating was affected because she voted for a life issue (Fetal Pain Protection Act) which was bundled with the cigarette tax. Do not forget, Michele stood up in the legislature and fought the tax increase, attempting to seperate it from the HHS bill. For this leadership, she was dismissed from Senate minority leadership. What did Mr. Krinkie do during the special session? When things got tough, he quit the Tax Working group…
What Mr. Krinkie did today was reprehensible. A campaign should be about ideas. A campaign should not be about threats. Leadership is not about tossing around legal threats. It’s not about running away when things get tough. It’s about standing and fighting for what you believe in.
March 31st, 2006 at 12:24 am
The literature is in error - because the Taxpayer League lifetime rating was rating the years 97-2004 - NOT 2000 - 2004 as Michele Bachmann claimed. It’s also disingenuous to leave out 2005 from the Taxpayer League ratings in Michele’s piece.
Margaret is correct, if the TL allows Michele Bachmann to misrepresent her Taxpayer League record, then their integrity is diminished.
March 31st, 2006 at 12:44 am
That’s ridiculous!
March 31st, 2006 at 2:43 am
good
March 31st, 2006 at 9:18 am
How did Bachmann get her numbers? I can’t figure out how the data for her claim were manipulated to even produce a less than 100% rating for Krinkie, much less a rating for her ever being above his.
March 31st, 2006 at 10:37 am
I thought this was the 6th District, not the 5th…This he-said/she-said character assassination crap needs to stop. This isn’t about advancing a political career; it’s about electing the person who is best prepared to serve in Congress. Republican infighting only serves to bring Patty Wetterling one step closer to the halls of the U.S. House of Representatives. Remember the 11th commandment…
March 31st, 2006 at 11:36 am
I think the Bachmann campaign took the 2004 scorecard and just reported the Lifetime scores for each person in 2004. The problem is you can’t compare Krinkie and Bachman head to head with those scores because Bachmann wasn’t there in 2000, which as it appears, was a fairly low scoring year. We don’t know how she would have fared that year. We do know how she voted last year, which gave her a lower score, and the lit piece drops that year. Apples to Apples, folks.
I agree with Marcus, I think all this negative stuff is really bad for Republicans. It’s the last thing we need. Nevertheless, I can’t fault Krinkie for defending his own record.
March 31st, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Let me clear something up: Bachmann makes claims in her piece about scores during a specific time period, and claims to have outperformed her competitors during that time period.
The scores she used did not reflect that time period at all. The “Lifetime Score” she quoted for Krinkie and Knoblach reflected votes from 1997-2004, NOT 2000-4 or 2001-4, as she stated (she actually used both time periods in her piece, for reasons very obscure to me).
In NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM can you argue that the statements on the lit piece were accurate. None. So 6th District Watch, you are in error.
March 31st, 2006 at 1:30 pm
The reasons Bachmann used deceptive statistics in her literature shouldn’t be “very obscure” at all, as Strom claims. This is Bachmann’s M.O. She’s a fraud, and Krinkie and Strom have correctly called her on it.
March 31st, 2006 at 2:38 pm
Personal Political Resume above principles…this explains EVERYTHING she does.
Marcus,
In an above-the-board campaign Bachmann would not have drawn first blood in the ugliness. The fact that she is doing it all behind the scenes makes responding a little more difficult. However, since the GOP has been saying that character matters for how many years the need to call Bachmann’s ugliness out into the open is necessary for the sake of the party, the sake of the principles that the party preaches and for the sake of the integrity of our positions when we criticize Clinton, Kennedy, etc.
The 11th Commandment is ONLY a shield to protect the slimeballs of the party. Sorry, I would rather a slimeball lose than to hold my nose and let them win. Character matters, and in Bachmann’s case she is showing more and more how little character she honestly has.
I have no doubt that if she dropped out tomorrow the race would be cleaned up again and focused on facts, issues and truth.
March 31st, 2006 at 7:20 pm
This is par for the course for Michele Bachmann. Remember she claims to be a leader on the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Larry Pogemiller wrote a letter to a friend of mine which stated that Bachmann refused the opportunity to have her bill heard. Now she claims to have a better record than Krinkie with the Taxpayer’s League. Phil Krinkie is the fiscal conservative in this race - and there is no challenger to Krinkie on that title.
http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/2006/03/reaction-to-krinkie-and-strom-calling.html
March 31st, 2006 at 8:23 pm
http://studentsforbachmann.blogspot.com/2006/03/senator-bachmann-responds-to-krinkies.html
March 31st, 2006 at 9:25 pm
In the reply today from the Bachmann campaign, their letter says “See for yourself that my lifetime rating through 2004 was 96% and Rep. Krinkie’s lifetime score was 95%”.
Now, that is a true statement. However, if that is what the Bachmann campaign intended to say by their literature, they were not at all clear on that point. They certainly seemed to say that they were comparing the years 2000-2004, and not lifetime ratings.
If just those years are compared, David Strom’s statement on the TL website is accurate.
(Though, as stated above, it’s understandable Bachmann would not include 2005, as she had a decision to make on whether or not so swallow a poison pill. That she sided with a pro-life issue is not in any way an indication of how she votes on fiscal matters.)
Also, it is true that Krinkie said this in his letter:
“My rating from the Minnesota Taxpayers League for each year from 2000 to 2004 was 100%.”
However, as the Taxpayers League documents show, Krinkie’s rating in 2000 was not 100%, but was, rather, 92%.
I now sit back and await the chorus that Krinkie is a liar, a slimeball, has no integrity, etc…
(Now, I in no way think Krinkie is those things. Just wondering if those who are so venomous towards Bachmann will hold Krinkie to their same standard of truth.)
March 31st, 2006 at 11:16 pm
I’d like to hear Bachmann explain publicly why she refused the opportunity to hear the TABOR bill when offered the opportunity by Larry Pogemiller.
Her response posted by the Student for Bachmann rationalizes, but doesn’t justify her leaving the 2005 Taxpayer League record off that lit piece.
[[See for yourself that my lifetime rating through 2004 was 96% and Rep. Krinkie's lifetime score was 95%, the reason I "broke my pledge" as they charge, is because we had one vote to cast on a single bill. That bill presented a choice to either oppose the cigarette tax or support a very good PRO-LIFE bill. I chose life; the life of an unborn child is something that you don't say "No" to. I will ALWAYS defend life from conception to natural death; it is our duty to defend those who cannot defend themselves, no matter the cost.]]
The MCCL doesn’t give Phil Krinkie a break for voting against them - he was rated on this vote - and the pro-life groups and other candidates attacked him for this. Krinkie took responsibility for this vote and took his lumps.
Jeff is correct on one thing - in 2000, Krinkie had a 92% rating. The bill they docked him for was voting in favor of a compromise tax cut. In the years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 - Phil Krinkie had a 100% taxpayer’s league rating.
March 31st, 2006 at 11:34 pm
I’d like to see brazilian lingerie models picketing my house.
What would I have to say to make that happen?
April 1st, 2006 at 7:41 pm
You have to say you want them banned. Then they MIGHT come there and protest.
April 1st, 2006 at 10:00 pm
Bottom line, the decent thing for Michele Bachmann to do is to pull her lit piece since it’s patently false - and now her campaign if fully aware of that. It speaks to her lack of character, that she is defending the lit piece.
April 2nd, 2006 at 12:19 am
I want to make sure everyone understands my position:
I am not questioning Michele Bachmann’s integrity. But I want to make it clear that the lit piece she is distributing doesn’t correctly portray the facts.
In her clarification, Bachmann changes goalposts from her lit piece. In the lit piece, she refers to 2000-4, and specifically mentions the 2001, 2, 3, and 4 scorecards. Phil’s lifetime score goes back to 1997, and I can assure you that Krinkie could give an explanation for each vote he took.
By focusing on the scores, especially a 1 point differential, Bachmann opens herself up to this kind of criticism. By saying she outperformed Krinkie in those years, she begged people to check the facts.
If instead she had simply argued that she was as fiscally conservative as Krinkie, and her scores show that they are nearly indistinguishable, there would have been little grounds to criticize her. It would be nitpicking. But as the lit piece invited nitpicking by claiming that a 1 point difference in lifetime scores shows she outperformed Krinkie, she invited people to point out that the numbers don’t add up, and invited a discussion of the 2005 score issue.
That was a mistake, and Bachmann would do well to drop the lit piece in my opinion. It is not accurate, and any fair examination of the facts shows that. In no way shape or form did her lit piece suggest that Krinkie and Knoblach’s votes from 1997, 1998, and 1999 were included in those scores. In fact, by referencing on 2001-4 by year, she made it clear that she was comparing the time they were all in the legislature together.
I wish this issue would just go away. I am quite fond of Michele personally.
April 2nd, 2006 at 12:09 pm
David, what is your take on Michele Bachmann touting TABOR in her campaign speeches - but neglecting to mention she refused the opportunity to have the bill heard in committee?