Fighting for the Soul of the Middle Class

Last month a political group calling itself Middle Class Majority was formed, just in time for the 2014 election in Minnesota.

The group’s chair is Geri Katz, a self-described “wife, mother, and union thug” who works as a political organizer at the Minnesota Nurses Association labor union.

I guess I should be encouraged that the political left still thinks that there are votes to be had by invoking the middle class, a fast-shrinking demographic long ignored by the liberal-progressive elites.

Barely a month in existence, the Middle Class PAC has hit the ground running.  According to records on file at the state Campaign Finance Board, Middle Class Majority has raised a total of $95,000 from its four founding partners:  the nurses union, the Education Minnesota teachers union, the public employee union MAPE and Planned Parenthood.

To keep everything in the family, Middle Class is using No Coast Workshop, the direct mail consultancy of Minnesota House of Representatives staffer, Andy Pomroy.  Pomroy works as a research consultant to the House Democrat caucus and has been employed by the state House of Representatives and House Democrats in various capacities, off-and-on, since 2004.

According to his LinkinIn^TM profile, Pomroy’s No Coast work dates back to 2011.

Middle Class has already weighed in on behalf of 5 candidates, spending a total of $35,000 in support of incumbent house Democrats representing the most vulnerable suburban swing seats this year.

This effort appears to dovetail with the official House Democrat caucus campaign “to Retain a ‘Middle-Class Majority’ in the Minnesota House, put together by Pomroy's employer.  Although dropping the definite article and hyphen, the “independent” effort on behalf of the Democrats has adopted the same campaign language.

Using the “Middle Class” name allows the group to avoid the stigma of a union or abortion group’s name on its direct mail pieces aimed at swing voters.

Who knows, perhaps political independents and low-information voters will buy into this faux-grass-roots effort to identify Democrats with the struggles of the middle class.  Unfortunately, middle-class Minnesotans will find little relief if the Democrats retain their one-party rule over state government.