SD49 is recommending that Bloomington residents vote Yes/Yes on the two Ballot Referendum questions (1 and 2) relating to Organized Trash.  This will return to you the freedom and direct-control of choosing your family's trash hauler. It will also reduce, if only slightly, the scope of city government.

Five years and multiple court-hearings later, after the city council voted to impose city-controlled trash collection, these referendum questions are being presented to voters at last. 

For more information visit the website www.yourchoicebloomington.com or their Facebook page.

The wording of the two questions can be confusing, so below we’ve included the question and what each vote will mean.

By Kathy Kranz, Co-Chair, Senate District 50 Republicans

Saturday, August 15th, Bloomington Patriots volunteers visited the Farmer’s Market at Bloomington Civic Plaza to educate about the pitfalls of Ranked Choice Voting replacing our long-standing traditional voting opportunities. Yes, we had our masks with us, and we wore them at various times, but it was a beautiful fresh air kind of day outside. We were very encouraged by the number of people who wanted to know more and spread the word.

A brochure can be found at the RCVscam website for those who want to understand what RCV is and why it is not a good idea. 

More volunteers will be needed for various pop-up campaigns like the one at the Farmer’s Market, phone calling, neighborhood lit drops and sign placements. Please let us know how you can help. We need to “Save Our Vote”. Lawn signs should available by August 22. Please contact Kathy Kranz with your location if you are willing to host a lawn sign.

The highly organized and sponsored FairvoteMN has raised $100,000 recently to convert Bloomington and Minnetonka to Ranked Choice Voting. Email Kathy Kranz at [email protected] for more information on how you can help oppose that change.

 

Kathy Kranz is Co-Chair of Senate District 50 Republicans (Eastern portion of Bloomington, Richfield).

We have a group of residents who are going to be campaigning against RCV adoption in Bloomington.

WE NEED YOUR HELP. We will be treating this as a serious campaign from signage to neighborhood engagement to phone calling. We have approximately 41 days until early voting to get the word out. If you are interested in helping us protect our current voting system and shutting down the scheme known as Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) we need you.

Email me (Kathy Kranz) at [email protected] and let me know you want to help. If you can’t help with phoning or door-knocking, you could host a sign location. And as always, I am available for any questions or discussions.

This is a fundamental fight for Bloomington election integrity.

But it isn’t stopping with Bloomington (SD49-50). Minnetonka residents (SD49, SD44 and SD48) just reached out to us. Their RCV change scenarios are eerily the same. This is a movement that must be stopped.

For more information please follow locally on facebook: No to Ranked-Choice Voting

And a new National Campaign against RCV: Protect My Ballot

If you're like me it's hard to not look at polling and because of that our emotions are all over the map when it comes to the Presidential race but please don't fret.

The CATO Institute recently released a study that concluded 77% of Conservatives self-censor themselves when it comes to expressing political beliefs, meaning there are a lot of Conservatives that don't tell the truth or the full truth when talking to pollsters.

Some more factors to consider on polling:  

1. Some polls are released to serve agendas differently from accurately representing what people are thinking - meaning the news media use public opinion polls to drive stories.  Heck, the news media pays for the polls.    
2. A poll is only a snapshot in time.  A lot will happen between now and election day.  
3. There are National polls and State polls.  You have to keep in mind the outcome of the popular vote doesn't necessarily indicate the winner of the electoral college.  If you're looking at a national poll look at the sampling size.  1,200 is a good sample size for a National poll.  Having said that, when I do have to look at polls, I'm looking at State polls.  
4. There is a difference between registered voters and likely voters.  Just because someone is registered doesn't mean they are going to vote.  Likely voters are more likely than registered voters to vote.  

Putting that aside I wanted to share a story that is very much unreported and it just so happened to involve Edina.  

By Kendall Qualls

Kendall Qualls is the Republican-endorsed candidate for US Congress in the 3^rd Congressional District.  He has been particularly effective in making clear the distinction between his views and those of Dean Phillips regarding the importance of the American family and personal responsibility.

Here we go again. On June 23, Congressman Dean Phillips emailed his supporters and stated that "Racism is deeply ingrained...in our institutions, and in our everyday lives." He also created a “resource guide” on his website for “racial justice allyship” to “understand our nation’s” black experience and combat “systemic racism” in America.
 
Now, Dean has doubled down on his lectures on race in America and is offering parenting advice to Minnesotans because raising your kids not to be racist is a “daunting task” for everyone. Don’t worry though, Dean graciously expanded his reading list, including “Raising White: Bringing up Children in a Racially Unjust America.”

As a parent, and, yes, as a Black-American, I am bewildered by Dean’s foray into parenting advice. Do Third District residents need advice from Dean Phillips to raise their kids? Will their children grow up to be racists because “racism is learned” and the only way to stop it is to follow the advice of Dean Phillips? 
 
Despite what Dean may tell you, no amount of parenting advice or indoctrination from the far-left will resolve the significant disparities between Black-Americans and other groups until we address the single parent household crisis in which nearly 70% of black children are born into a single parent household, typically with absent fathers.

Joe Thalman, candidate for MN House in District 49B, was contacted by a local parent concerned that the closure of Minnesota’s schools under Gov. Walz’s unilateral shutdown order would be continued into the next school year. Following is the letter that the parent is trying to get published in the Star Tribune and other local papers. 

An open letter to Governor Walz,

I am writing to you as a mother of three young boys and a former high school teacher. Please reopen schools in the fall for the well-being of our children, our families, and our state.

When you initially closed schools with the Stay at Home Order, I was with you. I understood this was a necessary, temporary measure intended to flatten the curve of Covid-19. We presumed, even if kids didn’t present symptoms, that they might be “asymptomatic viral bombs” who would bring the virus home to more vulnerable adults. So, in an incredible act of solidarity, teachers, students and parents rose to the occasion to protect the common good.

Since then, we have acquired more tests and data. Data suggests that children are the least likely to contract Covid-19, the least likely to have severe symptoms, and the least likely to spread the virus. In fact, children tend to be the last in their household to contract the virus, not the first, as we originally thought. Given this information, reopening schools in the fall should be a top priority. Childcare centers, like the YMCA, that have remained open through the pandemic have successfully demonstrated that we can safely do this now. Yes, there may be some risk in sending students back to school, but there is also a great deal of risk in keeping them home.

At some point, keeping kids out of the school building could create a greater public health and mental health crisis than the one we are attempting to avoid.

Kendall Qualls' opponent, first-term Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips, has attempted to convey the Black-American experience and redefine America in the process. On June 22, Dean Phillips emailed his supporters and stated that "Racism is deeply ingrained...in our institutions, and in our everyday lives." On June 23, Phillips posted a message on Facebook to reiterate that message. Phillips also created a "resource guide" on his website for "racial justice allyship"  to “understand our nation’s” black experience and combat "systemic racism" in America.

Kendall Qualls, as a Black-American descended from slaves, takes umbrage with Dean Phillips’ characterization of America as a systemically racist country. In its place, Kendall offers a vision of hope because "America is an exceptional place full of exceptional people” with opportunity for all. Kendall’s full response to Dean is below.
 
Kendall Qualls:  In response to my opponent, Dean Phillips, and his attempt to convey the Black experience and redefine America in the process, I’m going to tell you what it’s really like to be a Black man in America.
 
My opponent’s virtue signaling insults me, and it should insult you too. Dean Phillips got his degree in Urban Studies from an Ivy League School in the Northeast. I got my degree in Urban Studies from the streets of Harlem in New York City.
 
Yet, unlike him, I’m not going to lecture you on the evils of white people, or guilt you into believing that “white privilege” makes you personally responsible for slavery and the struggles Black people face today.

I’m not going to lecture you like he did by telling you “racism is deeply ingrained in our history, in our institutions, and in our everyday lives, and white people [like you] have benefited from it.” I’m not going to lecture you from a place of privilege as the third wealthiest member of the House of Representatives and tell you racial justice will only be achieved if you “forgo” your comfort and take the blame as a white person.

I’m also not going to sit idly by as statues topple, and they tell you our history needs to be erased or rewritten. Why? Because I don’t believe it.

From our Candidate for Congressional District 3, Kendall Qualls

As we celebrate America’s independence, Kendall and Sheila give us a glimpse into their family and their love for America as they visited America's National Parks and historical monuments over the years.
Happy Fourth of July!

CLICK HERE to view the video.

From our candidate for Congressional District 5, Lacy Johnson

I wanted to write you today with some thoughts about what Independence Day means to me personally.

Independence Day represents the freedom to live our lives as we see fit, to speak and think and worship free from an overreaching, autocratic government.

Independence Day represents the opportunity to be rewarded for hard work, to succeed and prosper in our free enterprise system.

Independence Day represents the responsibility that we all have to provide for our families and take control of our own destinies.

I am in awe of the courage of our Founding Fathers. They signed the Declaration of Independence with the full knowledge that if their revolution failed, they would be hanged as traitors. But to them – and to our benefit today – the cause of liberty was important enough to risk their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

We owe them a debt of gratitude.

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is a controversial change in the way that we would vote in local elections. Although it is very hard to argue that modifying Bloomington’s election procedures is an essential action during the on-going medical emergency, the Bloomington City Council voted to request that the Bloomington Charter Commission hold a public hearing on it.

On June 11, the Bloomington Charter Commission met by teleconference to hear public comments on RCV. The Bloomington City Attorney asked the Commission to approve placing on the ballot in November 2020 an amendment to the City Charter to require RCV for city offices.

Public testimony by teleconference is far from an ideal means of public discussion of important topics. While the Commissioners are able to see each other by video link, the public attendees and the Commissioners are only able to hear each other and could not see each other. The audio was often garbled, leading to frequent requests for repeat of information. As has happened in previous council public comment sessions, one resident was disconnected from giving testimony and another was not recognized by the operator, further highlighting the technology barriers to a free and open discussion.

After over two hours of public testimony and internal discussion, the ten Commissioners present split on a motion to approve. They then voted to adjourn the meeting, believing that the tie vote meant that the motion to accept placing a RCV Charter amendment on the November ballot had FAILED. But wait, that wasn’t the end.

It is unclear at this date when the Charter Commission will reconvene, but August 3rd is the deadline to get on the ballot as a referendum. The next time, all of the Charter Commission members may be present, and the outcome of the voting is not assured, We must be vigilant in the coming weeks. The well-funded, organized and persistent pro-RCV group has now faced some challenge. Your further support is needed to get the word out there.