Dear Norm – Cap And Trade In Political Re-Action
The US Senate is set to vote on the Cap and Trade bill. Both of Minnesota’s Senators are co-sponsoring the bill. One of the is a liberal Democrat, so there’s no surprise. But the other is a Republican, so one would have hoped he’d see through the socialism and oppose the productivity cap. Not only were we wrong, he actually believes the Al Gore hype.Â
So, I guess I will do all I can to help explain to him just why this Cap and Trade bill is so bad.Â
I have only a limited amount of time and resources to help candidates this election cycle. Since Senator Coleman is helping to implement the most destructive policy ever on our economy, I just can’t use my limited time to volunteer for his reelection campaign.Â
I will instead trade the time I should be helping him as a BPOU leader and Republican activist to other candidates. Yes, that means I will not help with lawn signs, lit drops, or phone calls for Senator Coleman . I will help Rep. Bachmann and my 2 local House candidate TIm Sanders and David Balcom.Â
This wasn’t a decision that I made lightly, but it is all I can do to show Sen. Coleman my disgust with his decision to vote with the liberal Democrats and against the best interests of America. I’ve tried to lobby his staff for him to change his mind, but the idea of the Senator changing his mind was unwelcome.Â
I’ll spell this out as clear as can be:
Senator Coleman,
If you vote for the Cap and Trade bill, I will not be working to get you reelected. Energy and economic policies are way too important to me to forget my principles. I understand you are not a carbon copy of the Democrats in your voting record, but on this most crucial issue, you are.Â
There is a lot of talk from Republican Party leaders about how we should abide by the Reagan rule of 70% conservatives are good enough, but I think that scale is weighted. Sometimes the 20 to 30% that we disagree on is far more important than 70 to 80% that we agree on.Â
Energy and economic policy is one of those cases.Â
If you vote for this bill, I will not help your campaign. My time helping you get reelected will be capped at the 1.5 seconds it takes to fill in the bubble next to your name on November 4.Â
With great disappointment,
Andy Aplikowski
SD51 GOP Chair
Anoka County Vice Chair for CD6 GOP
PS, The same goes for you too Sen. McCain. Â
A vote for this bill is a vote against my support.Â
I got a voicemail last night asking me for ideas on how to really get through to the Senator in ways other the emails and calls. The person was looking for something meaningful that would send a real message that the Senator, his staff, and his campaign might actually get. This is about all I can think we can do from the activist level to send a message that might change the mind of the Senator.Â
Sphere: Related Content
I’m sure that Senator Coleman realizes that not everyone can volunteer for everyone. People have a limited amount of time to volunteer and people always have picked who they believed in most. This is the way it has always been and always will be.
You think you are special because you are not going to help on every single campaign this year, but you are not. I could go around to every voter and find a dozen people they are not volunteering for this year for any number of meaningless reasons.
Bmetzler — What you say is true, and I think that is part of Andy’s point.
Most people do have to pick and choose how they allocate their volunteer time. Almost to a person people in my BPOU have told me that if Norm supports this they will work for local candidates, they will work for the amazing Barb Davis White, but they will in no way work for Senator Coleman. Now, half of those people probably wouldn’t have worked for him anyway, but the other half would have. State-wide, a yes vote on this bill will cost the Senator thousands of volunteer hours.
And we endorsed this guy unanimously? Why?
And we endorsed this guy unanimously? Why?
Let me guess. Um. This is a hard one. Wait, no it isn’t. I think that we endorsed Coleman because, um, oh yeah, we’d rather be represented by Senator Coleman for another 6 years then Al Franken.
LibertyFirst- who says we endorsed him unanimously? I distinctly noticed I didn’t hear the chair ASK for Nays.
RL You are correct.
BMetzler
That is gutless. Why not run make Coleman earn the endorsement. He is sponsoring a bill that will do much harm to the American people and all you can say is he isn’t Al Franken? Not exactly the attitude of Patrick Henry. I would say you are closer to the Tories.
Is it possible, mathematically, that Coleman was endorsed because he is the only one running? How hard can it be to understand that you can’t beat somebody with nobody, and that the only way to elect a better Republican is to FIND one first?
Andy, I would encourage everyone who agrees with you on this, and according to the state platform votes it’s over 80% of the Convention, to not just fall silent on the Senator’s campaign. Folks do not notice when they lose something. They DO notice that loud, persistent buzzing of a mosquito, or swarm of mosquitos, that just will not go away. I’ve already made sent two phone calls, an email and a FAX. That was yesterday. If everyone who agrees did the same, every day, he might just notice.
J Ewing
I was told there was one person that wanted to challenge Coleman, but was not allowed by leadership to even come before the nominating comittee. You know you can’t trust the delegates to decide.
“I was told there was one person that wanted to challenge Coleman, but was not allowed by leadership to even come before the nominating comittee. You know you can’t trust the delegates to decide.”
I would not completely discount that rumor, but I believe that a nominating committee is absolutely essential to the process, screening out those who are not serious, do not understand the requirements, or are essentially poor candidates for whatever reason (such as being endorsed by another party). The delegates should not have to waste their time listening to such unlikely contenders. It’s not that we cannot trust the delegates, it’s that we should respect their time and intelligence. That there is not a clear, bright line between fit and unfit I grant, but that doesn’t mean we should erase the line.
I would LOVE to see the line moved just a small reasonable amount so that challenges to Pawlenty, Coleman, and McCain could come from the right, because it might make them better candidates in the end. Unfortunately I am not aware of any candidate that comes close to that line.
I heard the rumor and took the time to ask my representative on the Nominating Committee (unlike the rumors, the committee is not hand picked by the state but has it members sent from each of the CDs).
There was another candidate who appeared to run for Senate.
I think we all know who he is.
The decided that since he had no campaign committee, no funds, had not filed any FEC paperwork etc… that he was not a legitimate candidate. A very wise and fair decision.
Otherwise, every person who just wanted to give a speech could claim they are running for Senate and the entire convention would shut down.
All,
For the record that person was Harold Shudlick from Apple Valley 2 CD who previously ran to oppose Mark Kennedy in 2006.
In todays world you can’t begin a run for Senate unless you have a bank roll of a minimum of 3 million. Otherwise, you will be ignored by the GOP establishment. But take heart, someone could emerge to challenge Coleman in the primary if they file by July 15’s deadline. Keep buying those Powerball tickets!
Easy way to contact Coleman and others about this: http://www.nocapandtrade.com
By all means, keep calling, writing and faxing Coleman’s office on this. I can’t believe he would ignore an overwhelming opposition from his own party. Or at least I don’t want to believe that, and even if I’m wrong, it’s our job as party regulars to convince him otherwise.
sent him an e-mail
When will these ding songs realize that No government has ever taxed its citizens into prosperity..
I telephoned Norm’s office the other day and almost stated verbatim what you put in this post, Andy.
GMTA.
It’s too bad that Normie’s stuck on stupid when it comes to this issue.
Here’s the letter I wrote:
This may be a simplistic way of looking at life but, wouldn’t it have been easier to look Norm in the eye and make him commit to us in front of the entire group in Rochester. In all honesty it is easy to ignore or discount emails and letters. This is why negotiations are almost always done in person. Make the weasel look you in the eye and tell you what he is going to do. A great opportunity has been missed.