A Web of Influence

I borrow the title of this entry from an item posted at the Minneapolis Star Tribune website.  As a public service, the Star Tribune has created a graphical tool to chart the interrelationships between the big-dollar organizations inside Minnesota’s insular political world.

The graphic shows which group has given to which other group, with the size of the circle indicating the size of the dollars involved.  Each circle is colored either red (for Republican) or blue (for Democrat).

What the Star Tribune won’t say is that the number and size of the blue circles overwhelms the fewer and smaller red circles.  For the visually-minded the graph reveals just how lopsided are the state’s money politics.

Another useful graphic would be one that mapped the personal relationships between high ranking members of Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration and the state’s top political donors.  If they did, it would look something like this:

Gov. Mark Dayton à was married to Alida Rockefeller Messinger à who is (by herself) the state’s 5^th largest campaign donor (2007-2012 data).

Chief of Staff Jaime Tincher à is married to Adam Duininck à who sits on the Met Council and runs the state’s 3^rd largest campaign donor (WIN Minnesota).

Deputy Chief of Staff Bob Hume à is married to Carrie Lucking à who works at the state’s largest campaign donor (the Education Minnesota teachers union).

Deputy Chief of Staff Jennifer O’Rourke à is married to Ken Martin à the Chair of Minnesota’s Democrat Party.

For those keeping score at home, Carrie Lucking has just moved from Alliance for a Better Minnesota to Education Minnesota.