Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The Banana Republic of Minnesota, Part 3: Health Access Edition

Some 30 organizations in Minnesota are set to receive at total of $4 million in taxpayer-funded grants to promote MNsure, the newly-formed Obamacare health insurance exchange.

The MNsure exchange is scheduled to begin operations on October 1st and these 30 groups will split the $4 million to promote the exchange within the state.  While the exact dollar amounts for each group is still to be determined, dividing $4 million by 30 groups produces an average grant of $133,333.33.  According to Minnesota Public Radio, more than 100 organizations competed for the 30 grants. 

Among the 30 grantees to make the cut is a company that had been in business a mere 39 days at the time it was selected by the state agency MNsure.  In fact, it had been in business for only four days prior to the deadline for the MNsure grant application.
 

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The Banana Republic of Minnesota, Part 2: Small Business Edition

Some 30 organizations in Minnesota are set to receive taxpayer-funded grants to promote Obamacare in the state courtesy of the newly-created MNsure health insurance exchange.  The lucky 30 were selected from more than 100 applicants and will split $4 million in Federal grant money. 

Among the more familiar names on MNsure’s list—like Dakota County and Planned Parenthood—is the lesser-known west-Metro-based, non-profit Small Business Minnesota (SBM). 

Never heard of SBM?  The 2½-year-old organization and its President, Audrey Britton, were profiled in June by Star Tribune political columnist Lori Sturdevant.  The occasion was the end of the 2013 legislative session, which Britton declared a success,

Sunday, August 25, 2013

The Banana Republic of Minnesota, Part 1: Planned Parenthood

Late afternoon last Friday (5:30 p.m. to be exact) the Minnesota arm of Obamacare—the MNsure health insurance exchange—issued a press release touting the 30 organizations picked to receive grant money to promote the new service.  MNsure is a state government agency collaborative involving five agencies.  MNsure’s Board of Directors includes seven members, only one of which (the Commissioner of the state’s Department of Human Services) is a state employee.  In other words, as a powerful and well-funded independent government entity, MNsure is accountable to no one except the Governor, who appoints all seven members of the board.
 
The MNsure exchange is scheduled to begin operations on October 1st and these 30 groups will split $4 million in Federal grant money to promote the Obamacare exchange within the state.  According to Minnesota Public Radio, more than 100 organizations competed for the 30 grants.  Individual amounts and the specific scope of work for each will be determined later.
 

Thursday, July 11, 2013

The Progressive Kick in the Head

Whoever coined the phrase “all politics is local” obviously hasn’t spent much time in Minnesota during the past few years.  Consider the case of former state representative, St. Cloud State University economics professor, and radio talk show host King Banaian.
 
Prof. Banaian was elected to represent a St. Cloud-area constituency in 2010, and ran for re-election in 2012.  He was opposed by Democrat Zachary Dorholt, an exceedingly unremarkable 33-year-old mental health counselor, competing in his first general election.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Political Charity Outside the Lines, Part 10

J’accuse!

Over the past nine posts in this series, and in earlier writings, I have documented a range of disturbing behaviors by Minnesota’s leading 501(c)(4) tax-exempt non-profit political organizations.

Alliance for a Better Minnesota, WIN Minnesota, and TakeAction Minnesota have assumed leading positions in the state’s political and public policy scene by virtue of their having elected a progressive Democrat as governor (Mark Dayton) and Democrat majorities in both houses of the state legislature. 

The behaviors I document involve the highest ranking members of the state’s Democrat party—including the party Chair, Ken Martin, and the Executive Director, Corey Day.

I have documented that several non-profits appear to have exceeded IRS limits on political activity during the 2010 election for governor.  I have documented missing tax returns, misleading statements, transactions reported to one authority but not another, inexplicable money transfers, and frequent amendments to and reclassifications of questionable transactions.
 
It’s frequently noted that “politics ain’t beanbag.”  Than again, neither is it Lord of the Flies.  We live in a society that expects its leading institutions to follow the rules and keep in mind the best interests of all its citizens.
 
“To whom much is given, much shall be required.”  By electing one-party Democrat rule, Minnesota’s voters (wittingly or not) have conferred near-absolute power on the state’s leading political non-profits.  But so far in the 2014 election cycle, we have seen the political non-profits engaging in the same scorched-earth, less-than-ethical tactics that brought them such success in the 2010 and 2012 elections.
 
Minnesotans expect better and, frankly, deserve better.  However, I have lived in this state long enough to understand that the leading lights of these organizations will continue to be invited on all the TV talk shows and will never have to answer any uncomfortable questions regarding their actions or statements.
 
Members of our legacy media are largely in agreement with the progressive direction of the state’s politics.  They will never report on any actions or tactics that would, at a minimum, call into question the legitimacy of the larger progressive enterprise, or, at worst, would lead to conservatives and Republicans regaining a foothold on power.
 
But that doesn’t mean that the rest of us have to go along with it.  The actions of Lance Armstrong, Mark McGwire, and Bernie Madoff forever taint their respective accomplishments.  Likewise, in my eyes, the actions of political charity will always taint the 2010 election of Mark Dayton as governor.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Political Charity Outside the Lines, Part 9

Means, Motive and Opportunity

In the earlier posts of this series, we document how Minnesota’s leading progressive non-profits apparently exceeded Federal rules on allowable political activity during the 2010 election.
 
What we haven’t discussed in much depth is “why.”  The obvious answer is to elect Democrat Mark Dayton as governor.
 
As we dig deeper here at Political Charity Outside the Lines, we find that the final answer is specific and targeted. 
 

Monday, July 8, 2013

Political Charity Outside the Lines, Part 8

…And Justice for All.

In the election year of 2010, progressive social-welfare charity WIN Minnesota made a series of donations to state 527 political funds.  On its IRS Form 990 Income Tax Return, WIN Minnesota records the following transactions,

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Political Charity Outside the Lines, Part 7

In this post, we cover some important background information on IRS rules regarding charities and politics. 

Political Charity Outside the Lines, Part 6

A few weeks before the 2012 election, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published a story about the increasing political clout of the state’s growing Somali-American community.[1]  The paper reported that,

Somalis are becoming a political force in Minnesota.  They are registering to vote, volunteering for campaigns, running for office and even forming a basic building block in U.S. politics--their own political action committee.

The Star Tribune included a quote from the state Republican Party chair on the party’s efforts to woo the estimated 70,000 Somalis in Minnesota.  The paper also included this quote from the state Democrat Party chair,
"I've been really amazed at what's happened," said Minnesota DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin. "It would be a real danger for political parties to ignore this newfound muscle."
The Star Tribune story also includes a quote from the Executive Director of the Somali Action Alliance (SAA).  Readers may recall that this was the group featured in Part 3 of this series.  Up until July 11, 2012, the Somali Action Alliance had a political action committee.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Political Charity Outside the Lines, Part 5

Fly-by-night political charity struggles to get its story straight

In Part 2 of this series, I explore the curious case of the disappearing non-profit, Impact Minnesota.  This non-profit was created by the now Executive Director of the state Democrat Party, Corey Day.  The non-profit sprang up in August 2010, spent a couple hundred thousand dollars supporting Democrat Mark Dayton in that year’s election for governor, and then disappeared with few traces.