Minnesota

Millions To Be Spent In Minnesota's Gay Marriage Fight

David Taintor | February 15, 2012, 6:15AM

Washington state has legalized gay marriage, New Jersey might not be far behind, but just over the horizon a bruising battle over marriage equality is looming in Minnesota, where special interest groups are preparing to spend big to affect the outcome.

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Gay Marriage

Anti-Gay Marriage Groups Lose Another Battle To Keep Supporters Secret

Jillian Rayfield | November 29, 2011, 5:08AM

Gay marriage opponents are fighting (and, for the most part, losing) the battle to keep their supporters and donors secret from the "homosexual lobby" that they claim is seeking to intimidate them.

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Bradlee Dean

Controversial Anti-Gay Preacher Writes Letter To Obama, For Some Reason

David Taintor | September 12, 2011, 9:38AM

Bradlee Dean

Bradlee Dean isn't just Minnesota's favorite anti-gay preacher -- he's also a concerned citizen. He's worried about the future of America, and so, he's decided to write President Obama a letter. And he apparently thinks the president might be interested in what he has to say.

In the rambling, three-page letter, Dean writes about his troubled past, his insecurities and the eventual path to his current faith. He writes about a "radical homosexual agenda" backed by the government. And while Dean didn't vote for Obama, he writes that he "rejoiced in heart" at Obama's election. But Dean's not impressed by the president's first term.

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Minnesota

NOM Loses Bid To Keep Anti-Gay Marriage MN Donors Concealed Out Of 'Harassment' Fears

Jillian Rayfield | July 6, 2011, 6:00AM

Anti-gay marriage protesters

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board rejected the National Organization for Marriage's bid to keep corporate donors anonymous in the state's gay marriage fight, which it argued was to protect the donors from "harassment, property damage, a chilling effect."

And regardless of that decision, lobbying records examined by the Minnesota Independent show some of the biggest individual donors behind the effort for a ballot initiative that would ban gay marriage. Among them, the owner of a DVD company who is a big contributor to Republicans, the meat mogul Rodney Huisken, and staffers for the Minnesota Family Council.

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Gay Marriage

Minnesotans Evenly Split Over Vote To Constitutionally Ban Same Sex Marriage

Jon Terbush | June 2, 2011, 12:22PM

Demonstrators both for and against a constitutional ban on same sex marriage inside the Minnesota State Capitol

As California's constitutional ban on same sex marriage winds its way through the courts, a showdown over a similar marriage-defining referendum is brewing in Minnesota. And according to a PPP poll released this week, that battle could be hotly contested, as it found voters there are evenly split on the issue.

In the poll, 46% of registered voters said the state should amend its Constitution to stipulate that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, while 47% said they opposed such an amendment.

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Bradlee Dean

Anti-Gay Preacher: Please Give Me Money To Hire A Publicist

David Taintor | May 24, 2011, 3:01PM

Bradlee Dean

Controversial preacher Bradlee Dean's morning prayer on the Minnesota House floor Friday has garnered him so much attention he's now asking supporters for money to hire a publicist.

"WOW! Did you ever think going to the Capitol to give a prayer paying homage to the Founders, the Veterans and Christ could be so offensive to our politicians?" Dean wrote to supporters, the Minnesota Independent reports. "We certainly didn't start this fight but we are more than willing to respond! Our small ministry team has been going non-stop the past 72 hours to not only defend the truth but to continue fighting for the foundation that made this nation so great."

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voter fraud

Republican Majorities Pushing Photo ID Voter Requirements Across Country

Rachel Slajda | January 31, 2011, 1:10PM

A voter shows ID in Atlanta, Ga.

With Election Day three months behind us and new legislators settling in across the country, Republicans in many states are trying to push new laws that would require photo ID at the polls. The laws, they say, would prevent rampant voter fraud.

Seven states already have laws requiring photo ID at the polls. Another 19, including some of the states below, require some form of identification, but it doesn't need to have a photo.

Critics say it such requirements impose undue hardships on those trying to vote, reminiscent of the literacy tests of yore that kept black voters from voting in the South.

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Tom Hackbarth

No Charges For Minn. Pol Found With Gun Outside Planned Parenthood

Rachel Slajda | December 10, 2010, 8:34AM

Rep. Tom Hackbarth (R-MN)

The St. Paul, Minn. city attorney will not press charges against Tom Hackbarth, a Republican state representative who was handcuffed by police last month after they found him lurking outside a Planned Parenthood with a gun strapped to his hip.

Hackbarth had told police that he didn't even know he was in the parking lot of a Planned Parenthood. Instead, he said, he was looking for a woman he had been on a few dates with who lived in the area and who, he said, had blown him off on a date that night.

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Minnesota

Minn. Pol With Gun Outside Abortion Clinic Says He Was Just In Area 'Checking On' His Girlfriend

Rachel Slajda | November 24, 2010, 12:10PM

Rep. Tom Hackbarth (R-MN)

A security guard at a St. Paul Planned Parenthood clinic called the cops last week after he spotted a Republican state lawmaker with a loaded gun in the parking lot. But the pol says he was only "checking on" his online girlfriend, who he thought may be on a date with another man -- a claim police have not been able to corroborate because the man did not have a phone number or address for the woman.

According to the police report, a security guard reported the man, Rep. Tom Hackbarth, after he saw him get out of a pickup truck in the parking lot with a loaded gun in a hip holster. The guard saw him walk into an alley near the clinic.

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voter fraud

Election Judges Dealing With Aggressive Poll Watchers In Minnesota

Ryan J. Reilly | November 2, 2010, 2:06PM

A polling place in San Francisco, CA

In Hennepin County, Minnesota -- one of the counties where conservatives groups have implemented an anti-voter fraud campaign called Election Integrity Watch -- election judges have had firm exchanges with overly aggressive poll watchers who did not seem to know their the role.

"I think we were very firm, we had to be very firm with some of the polling place challengers who wanted to have more range in the polling place than the law permitted them to," County Elections Manager Rachel Smith told TPMMuckraker. She said challengers were "having some questions" about where in the polling place they were allowed to stand.

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Minnesota

MN Anti-Voter Fraud Group: Ignore Judge's Ruling Against 'I.D. Me' Buttons

Ryan J. Reilly | November 2, 2010, 7:22AM

Minnesota Majority, one of the groups behind the anti-voter fraud initiative in the state called "Election Integrity Watch," told supporters in an e-mail last night to go ahead and wear their "Please I.D. Me" buttons and Tea Party apparel to the polls today despite a federal judge's ruling yesterday that such items would interfere with the elections process.

The e-mail said that anti-voter fraud advocates will "have a decision to make" if an election judge questions the items they are wearing. "You can simply remove or cover the challenged item and you'll be allowed to vote, or you can refuse and demand your right to vote and the election judge will allow you to vote, while also recording your name and you could be charged with a petty misdemeanor," says the e-mail.

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Minnesota

Federal Judge To MN Conservatives: You Can't Wear 'I.D. Me' Buttons At Polls

Ryan J. Reilly | November 1, 2010, 3:12PM

A button from ElectionIntegrityWatch.com

A federal judge ruled on Monday that conservatives in Minnesota rallying against voter fraud will not be allowed to wear their "Please I.D. Me" buttons to polling locations, according to the Associated Press.

Minnesota Majority, one of the groups that is taking part in the Election Integrity Watch group, sued last week because of a ban on their pins at polling places. County Attorneys in two counties in Minnesota said those buttons count as campaign material. Minnesota Majority countered that their buttons were protected by the First Amendment and that the voter I.D. issue was not on the ballot -- and thus the buttons weren't a violation of electioneering laws.

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voter fraud

Minn. Poll Watchers May Sue Over 'Astonishing' Ban On 'I.D. Me' Buttons

Ryan J. Reilly | October 28, 2010, 8:42AM

A button from ElectionIntegrityWatch.com

One of the conservative groups in Minnesota supporting the "Election Integrity Watch" program is considering filing suit over the ban on their "Please I.D. Me" buttons in polling places.

"It's simply a First Amendment issue, so we're going to fight them on this," Dan McGrath of Minnesota Majority told TPMMuckraker. "We're consulting our attorneys right now and preparing a possible federal lawsuit."

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voter fraud

MN County Attorney Says Conservative Voter Buttons Are Banned

Ryan J. Reilly | October 27, 2010, 11:18AM

A button from ElectionIntegrityWatch.com

The buttons that Minnesota conservative groups want their supporters to wear to tell poll watchers to ask them for their I.D. won't be allowing in polling stations, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman tells TPMMuckraker.

"You can't wear campaign buttons in a polling place, state law says you can't. And election judges can't even wear, you know, 'Stamp Out Election Fraud.' So that's going to be interesting in the next few days," Freeman said.

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voter fraud

Minn. Conservative Group's Voter Fraud Allegations About Five Percent Accurate

Ryan J. Reilly | October 27, 2010, 10:09AM

Hennpin County Attorney Mike Freeman

A County Attorney in Minnesota -- where Tea Party and conservative groups are staging an anti-voter fraud push -- has charged 47 individuals in voter fraud cases stemming from the 2008 election.

But Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman told TPMMuckraker that conservative groups have exaggerated the threat of voter fraud. He also said that their investigation revealed that there was no coordinated campaign to commit voter fraud. Freeman said that 43 of the cases involve felons who were ineligible to vote and four cases involve double voting.

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Minnesota Majority

Tea Party, Conservative Groups In Minn. Put $500 Bounty On Voter Fraud Convictions (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | October 15, 2010, 1:27PM

A button from ElectionIntegrityWatch.com

Conservative groups in Minnesota are offering a $500 reward for tips leading to voter fraud convictions.

Minnesota Majority, Minnesota Voters Alliance and the Northstar Tea Party Patriots have teamed up on a project they call Election Integrity Watch and are running radio ads promoting what they say is a program to train "thousands of citizens of what to look for at the polls."

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