The Gutknecht petition flap heats up
by Leigh Pomeroy
According to some legal scholars, the lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of Gil Gutknecht's candidacy petition does have merit, and that the court, if it interprets the law strictly, may rule that his name be removed from the ballot. (See the Star Tribune article entitled "Court to hear challenge of Gutknecht".)
This issue is being well covered by A Bluestem Prairie, which cites a Mark Fischenich article in the Mankato Free Press and an Eric Black discussion in the Strib's The Big Question. The Rochester Post-Bulletin's take on the issue is, alas, stuck behind its firewall.
Unfortunately, Black's assessment could have been a little more accurate. For one thing he states that Gutknecht "won in 2004 by almost 30 percentage points." In truth he won by a little over 24. I know because I'm the one he beat.
Those who remember the race know that being a replacement candidate I had a less-than-four-month campaign, that I had to raise all my funds from zero, and that I received absolutely no support from any instrument of the national Democratic Party. In fact, they didn't even return my phone calls.
That I did as well as 35.5% was due to the strength of the local county and district DFL organizations, and to the tremendous efforts of many, many volunteers.
Despite this, Black does, however, point out the irony that Gutknecht “makes a big deal on his website about how this [submitting a petition instead of paying the fee] shows he is a ‘fiscal conservative’ and ‘the people’s choice.’”
The irony, of course, is that it’s going to cost his campaign a bit of money to defend the lawsuit, certainly more than the $300 fee unless he can get donated counsel. A second irony is that at least some of the petition’s signatures may have been collected by paid canvassers, and who knows how much that cost?
In truth, Rep. Gutknecht is a “fiscal conservative” in name only, as has been eloquently explained by Tom Maertens both in the Mankato Free Press and on Vox Verax.
More on Rep. Gutknecht and the press's coverage of him can be found on the City Pages blog here.
According to some legal scholars, the lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of Gil Gutknecht's candidacy petition does have merit, and that the court, if it interprets the law strictly, may rule that his name be removed from the ballot. (See the Star Tribune article entitled "Court to hear challenge of Gutknecht".)
This issue is being well covered by A Bluestem Prairie, which cites a Mark Fischenich article in the Mankato Free Press and an Eric Black discussion in the Strib's The Big Question. The Rochester Post-Bulletin's take on the issue is, alas, stuck behind its firewall.
Unfortunately, Black's assessment could have been a little more accurate. For one thing he states that Gutknecht "won in 2004 by almost 30 percentage points." In truth he won by a little over 24. I know because I'm the one he beat.
Those who remember the race know that being a replacement candidate I had a less-than-four-month campaign, that I had to raise all my funds from zero, and that I received absolutely no support from any instrument of the national Democratic Party. In fact, they didn't even return my phone calls.
That I did as well as 35.5% was due to the strength of the local county and district DFL organizations, and to the tremendous efforts of many, many volunteers.
Despite this, Black does, however, point out the irony that Gutknecht “makes a big deal on his website about how this [submitting a petition instead of paying the fee] shows he is a ‘fiscal conservative’ and ‘the people’s choice.’”
The irony, of course, is that it’s going to cost his campaign a bit of money to defend the lawsuit, certainly more than the $300 fee unless he can get donated counsel. A second irony is that at least some of the petition’s signatures may have been collected by paid canvassers, and who knows how much that cost?
In truth, Rep. Gutknecht is a “fiscal conservative” in name only, as has been eloquently explained by Tom Maertens both in the Mankato Free Press and on Vox Verax.
More on Rep. Gutknecht and the press's coverage of him can be found on the City Pages blog here.
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