Bloomington voters will be electing four school board members from a list of 10 candidates this year. Voters may select up to four of the candidates on their ballots. Here are some highlights of candidates Beth Beebe and Natalie Marose.

Beth Beebe is currently serving on the Bloomington School Board and is running for her second term. She has 15 years of teaching experience in various national and international settings. Beth has lived in Bloomington for 21 years, and her sons both attended Bloomington schools. She has been treasurer of the School Board and liaison to the MN School Board Association. She has enjoyed volunteering at Schools and District Events.

Natalie Marose is a teacher and school administrator, a career that she has pursued for over 34 years. She has lived in Bloomington for 32 years, and is the mother of two Kennedy High School graduates. Natalie has a Master’s Degree in Education and has instructed at the college level. She has been an Early Childhood Family Education Teacher, a Student Teacher Supervisor, and a girls’ basketball coach. Outside of school, she has served as a Bloomington Family Child Care Provider and an American Red Cross instructor.

The Federal 8th Circuit has declared a 2019 Bloomington law unconstitutional...and that could cost us a bunch of money.

Minnesota is in the  Federal 8th Circuit.  Appeals of any court decisions in Minnesota go to the 8th Circuit.  

In 2019, a group of citizens who objected to over-use of Smith Park, a public park owned by Bloomington, MN, began to collect evidence that the adjoining mosque, Dar al Farooq, dominated use of the park.  Part of the evidence was pictures of recess use of the park by students at Dar al Farooq's schools.  The City of Bloomington passed a city ordinance, Section 5.21(23) of the City Code, specifically because these pictures were taken.  The new city ordinance made taking pictures of children in city parks without their parent's consent a misdemeanor crime. 

The neighborhood group objected and filed suit under Federal Law 42 U.S. Code,  Section 1983, a civil rights law.  (See the original legal Complaint ). Sixteen journalistic organizations filed a joint friend-of-the-Court brief supporting the neighborhood association, but the Federal District Court in Minnesota threw the lawsuit out.   The neighborhood appealed.  Last week, the 8th Circuit overruled the District Court and declared the Bloomington law unconstitutional.

The lawsuit was fought by the American Freedom Law Center.  Constitutional lawyer Robert Muise argued the case.  You can find more legal details on their website CLICK HERE. 

The case is important to residents of Bloomington because our city council could have let us in for some hefty legal bills. As of press time, we do not know if the plaintiff plans to seek attorneys fees, but 42 USC 1983 allows a winning plaintiff to claim attorney's fees. Fees for an appeal by a lawyer of Muise's national standing could come to tens of thousands of dollars.  Under some circumstances, the law also allows the Plaintiff to ask the court to impose punitive damages to discourage the unconstitutional behavior.  There is no cap at all on potential punitive damages - the Federal law was originally passed to strongly discourage southern cities from discriminating against black citizens.

The Minnesota Secretary of State website shows that voters may cast their ballots through the mail or in-person as early as Friday, September 17. Technically, early voting begins 46 days ahead of Election Day, which would be September 18. However, that is a Saturday, when city halls are generally closed. So Secretary of State Simon has moved the first day of early voting up to Friday, September 17.

Candidates in local elections for City Council and School Board could use your help.

If you would like to help Bloomington Republicans get out campaign information, please contact Jim Bowen at (360) 927-8301 or [email protected]. Help is needed for stuffing and/or dropping lit bags, phone calling, and securing sign locations.

The city of Bloomington is launching a strategic planning process "Tomorrow. Together" and is seeking members of the community to participate in the planning teams.

It's important for Independents, Conservatives and Republicans to participate in groups such as these, to ensure that our viewpoints are heard and represented in plans.  Such teams also can help future candidates connect with activists in Bloomington, and increase awareness of city governance processes.

CLICK HERE to read more on the city website about the teams and available positions, and to apply.  Applications are due no later than September 30.

Although Sunday, August 8th started out damp and cloudy, the annual family picnic sponsored by the Republicans of Senate Districts 49 and 50 proved a great success.

More than 90 Republicans from across Bloomington, Edina, Richfield, Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, Minnetonka, Plymouth, Blaine, and Woodbury enjoyed some good food and great speeches.

Attendees were welcomed by the co-chairs of SD49 (Pam Tucholke and Joel Quinnell) and the co-chairs of SD50 (Kathy Kranz and Jim Lund).

For the first time, picnickers enjoyed special smoked BBQ by MJ Barbecue, thanks to the special smoking skills of Louis Dennard and his wife.  The BBQ pork and chicken was accompanied by our traditional roasted corn on the cob, complements of Tom Hulting and Ric Davies.

Thanks goes out to a number of the volunteers. The picnic organizer, Steve Curry, attributed the success to a team effort that included Lew & Sandra Coffey, Russ Burnison, Carol Kerr, Dennis Hogan, and Al Muerhoff. Special thanks to Sarah and Paul Patzloff for bringing a large cake and to Barb and Randy Sutter for the coleslaw

In addition to good food and fellowship, a number of candidates spoke for a few minutes about their campaigns. 

The Senate District 49 Newsletter has previously reported on new candidates who are running for the At-Large seat on the Bloomington City Council, Ric Oliva and Paul King.

David Clark has declared his candidacy for City Council in Bloomington’s Third District, which constitutes much of the northwest portion of the city.  You may find more information about his campaign at his website and on his campaign Facebook page.

Why is David Clark running? 

“I decided to run for Bloomington City Council after realizing our town is not safe, not responsive to residents and in need of lower taxes and less spending.

“My blend of real-world business experience and complete allegiance to residents (not outside interest groups) will help me to bring change to a city that is in the pocket of the Met Council and other interest groups. Enough!”

The arrest of Anton Lazzaro on child sex trafficking charges hit the major Twin Cities news outlets on Thursday afternoon, August 12.  Lazzaro was identified as a major Minnesota Republican donor and political operative.  There is no credible evidence Carnahan knew of or was involved in any of Lazzaro’s alleged crimes, but his arrest initiated a series of events within the top ranks of the MN Republican Party that ultimately led to her resignation as MN GOP Chair.

The August 12 news reports noted connections between Lazzaro and Carnahan.  “He was part of the team that helped Carnahan first win her position at the state party in 2017.”  Pictures surfaced of Lazzaro with Rep. Jim Hagedorn and Carnahan at Minnesota Vikings games. Lazzaro and Carnahan also were the hosts of a political podcast for a few month in 2019 and 2020.

Also on August 13, Fox 9 News posted that Carnahan and Lazzaro had met in 2016 “during Carnahan’s failed campaign for a state Senate seat.”  Lazzaro apparently contributed to her campaign for party chair.  Fox9 News further linked the start of Lazzaro’s significant contributions to the Republican Party of Minnesota, reported to be as much as $42,000, to Carnahan’s 2017 election as MN GOP chairwoman.

Within the MN GOP’s 15-member State Executive Committee, the initial concern was trying to understand how much money Lazzaro had donated to the state party.  AlphaNews reported  that Lazzaro “had donated more than $150,000 to Republican candidates and causes across Minnesota.”   An emergency meeting was called for 9 pm August 13  Several of the members of the committee pushed to go beyond what to do with the money.  They once again called for an audit of the party’s finances.

Concerns about Jennifer Carnahan's viability were growing beyond her connection to Lazzaro.  Former MN GOP Deputy Chair and state legislator Kelly Fenton was perhaps the first to publicly urge Chair Carnahan to resign.  On August 13, Fenton tweeted her opinion that Carnahan “is a liability to our Party & anyone running under our banner.  Those actively engaged should call for her to step aside so new leadership can clean it up & focus on winning. … I’ll start:  For good of Party, please resign!”

Lakeville schools (ISD 194) have put Critical Race Theory into practice - including violating First Amendment Free speech rights in publicly funded schools – according to a lawsuit filed against them by district parents and children. Lakeville Schools’  actions are outlined in the Upper Midwest Law Center’s (UMLC)  filed lawsuit Complaint  (read it at https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21038889-1-stamped-complaint? responsive= 1&title=1

If the lawsuit’s allegations are correct, ISD 194 might as well have hired a lawyer to list absolutely basic free speech law, and then proceeded to deliberately violate each and every item on the list.  

According to the Complaint against the district, the District approved entries into a school poster event that said “At Lakeville Area Schools we  believe Black Lives Matter and stand with the social justice movement this statement  represents. This poster is aligned to School Board policy and an unwavering commitment to our Black students, staff and community members.”  Black Lives Matter is a political organization.  Public schools are not allowed by law to take political positions, including ‘standing with’ a social justice movement,  and the District’s own rules forbid taking political positions, yet the District has publicly said that the District School board “fully supported” the political position taken on the posters.   

When students and parents tried to express opposing points of view in the poster event they were denied the right to do so, the school commenting in a letter to Bob Cajune, a parent of Lakeville students, that   “… All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter mottos were created specifically in opposition to Black Lives Matter” and that those messages “effectively discount the struggle the Black students have faced in our school buildings and that Black individuals face in our society as a whole.”  And that “[Lakeville Schools] does not approve of All Lives Matter or Blue Lives Matter  posters in the classrooms or other areas of the school, and teachers/school staff are not allowed to wear shirts with these sayings to school.”

A meeting of the State Central Committee will convene on Saturday, October 2, for the express purpose of electing a new state party chair to fill the remainder of Jennifer Carnahan’s term.  The timing of the SCC Meeting is in accordance with the MN GOP constitution, which stipulates that an election must occur within 45 day after the chair position becomes vacant.

This period will allow applicants interested in running for Chair to come forward, be interviewed by a Nominating Committee made up of Congressional District chairs or their designated representatives.

Four candidates have declared for the Chair position,.

• Jerry Dettinger, founder/CEO of Torque Fitness and Republican donor
• David Hann, former MN Senate Minority Leader (R, Eden Prairie)
• Forrest Hyatt, former 2020 candidate for Republican endorsement for US Senate, from Brainerd area
• Jim Newberger, a former State Representative (R, Becker) and endorsed Republican candidate for US Senate in 2018[]

At least one more may announce their intention

• Kelly Fenton, former MN GOP Deputy Chair and former State Representative (R, Woodbury)

After a week of increasing adverse news initially about the party’s ties to donor Tony Lazzaro and later about the toxic atmosphere at MNGOP headquarters, the state Executive Committee met the evening of August 19 in open session.  The members had been expecting to consider a vote of no confidence in Chair Jennifer Carnahan. 

The Chair did not attend the meeting in person, but she remained in contact with the proceedings.  When the meeting convened, Deputy Chair Carleton Crawford immediately moved that Carnahan be granted a large severance package in return for her resignation.  The subsequent debate centered around the size of the severance package. 

Carnahan ultimately broke a 7-7 tie, voting in favor of granting herself a $37,000 severance.  With that vote, Carnahan’s resignation took effect immediately. 

Several of the members of the Executive Committee and several members of the senior staff also stepped down, all of whom Carnahan had appointed or hired.  These individuals included the Finance Chair Jennifer Larson, the Executive Director, the Political Director, and the head of the Personnel Committee Mary Frutiger,  The Treasurer Mark Laxalt will stay on long enough to enable a smooth transition.