Category Archives: St Paul

HD66B, Politics, St Paul

LWV Forum for HD 66A & 66B Candidates October 11th, 7pm at SPNN

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What:  League of Women Voters Forum for HD 66A & 66B Candidates

When:  Friday October 11th, 7pm (Live); rebroadcast on the MySPNN YouTube Channel. We will repost the video here.

Where:  St Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) Studios, 550 Vandalia St #170, St Paul MN, 55114 Map

Submit Questions; To submit questions for consideration to be asked of all the candidates, they can’t be one candidate specific, uncivil in any manner (LWVSP Candidate Event Rules 2024). Send to lwvstpaul@lwvmn.org

This Forum was Originally scheduled for September 27th, but the League of Women Voters postponed it for no real reason. They did reschedule it for Friday October 11th live at SPNN Studios at 7 pm. We will post the video here after it is posted on the MySPNN YouTube Channel.

The Candidates in HD 66A

Fadil Jama,  website: FadilJama.com

HD 66A Republican Fadil Jama

Rep Leigh Finke

Known for:

  • The Tampons in Boys Bathrooms in Public Schools bill. Governor Tim Walz unfairly gets blamed and teased for this bill, but he signed it into law.
  • Making Minnesota into a Sanctuary State for Gender Affirming Care (aka Child Sterilization) without the consent of a parent, nor any informed consent. This is not “Reproductive Freedom” for these poor victims who will never have children of their own.
  • Ban on counseling for LGBTQ people who want to become “Straight” (It violates Religious Freedom as often Pastors are on the front lines of this issue). It is a confusing title as it’s a ban on Conversion Therapy. The conversion is not related to becoming transgender.
  • Ban on Assault Weapons
  • Changing Pedophilia into a sexual orientation
  • Was the USA Today’s 2022 Woman of the Year. Leigh Finke is really a man named Chris Zumski Finke.
  • He has written a few books aimed at children, “Queerfully & Wonderfully Made,” and “Welcoming & Affirming.”
  • If you want more information there’s a video by the Truth Hurts Rumble Channel click here

HD 66B Candidates

Greg Copeland, Website: GregCopeland911.wordpress.com

HD 66B Republican Greg Copeland

Rep Athena Hollins

Known for:

  • Author of the Conversion Therapy Ban. This is a First Amendment violation of the Religious Establishment Law as noted above in Rep Finke’s list, pastors tend to be targeted by laws like this.
  • Tells people she is a Pansexual, as if she thinks people care more about her sexuality than representing the people of the District.
  • Was for Rep Dave Pinto’s Universal Background Check on private sales and admits it won’t stop gun violence, and she owns a gun
  • Was for the Red Flag Gun Law. She’s a lawyer and knows that this law would circumvent due process.
  • Author of the Universal Basic Income legislation that failed to pass. It would give those that qualify for it from $500 to $1200 per month. The money would not be counted as income, yet the title of it indicates it is an income.  Everywhere it has been tried it usually increases taxes on income earners and produces a lot of resentment, and in some European Countries it is canceled quickly.
  • Advocates Ranked Choice Voting, Automatic voter registration, Felons Voting (without getting their other rights back)

If you watch any of these League of Liberal Women Voters Forums you’ll see what not to do if you run a debate.

  • They mash together 2 Districts in one Debate which makes 4 candidates with 2 views. Often times the weaker candidate in the other district will get talking points from their colleague in the other district
  • They don’t have great sound quality to their forums. It’s laughable being they are in a building with the equipment to have good sound quality: The SPNN Studios. Sometimes the LLWV will have no microphones for the candidates to use like the Special Election in 2011 for Ward 1, and in Ward 3 in 2023.
  • They don’t use questions from Conservatives in any of their forums. They use questions that don’t allow their Liberal pals to be either accountable for their actions in office, or be uncomfortable in answering them.  They ask questions that prop up Liberal talking points like the legitimacy of Climate Change, Achievement Gap, Equity & Inclusion. None of these ideas can be tested with science and can be proved to true, nor be anything other than issues that no one cares about.
  • They will also cancel forums without warning to Republican Candidates, but will run them when they can’t attend.

There needs to be standards at the State Level that must be met in order for a host of a Debate to run them.  The LWV is not nonpartisan as they claim. They get away with a lot of their schtick because there’s no competition. Look at our Public Schools, there is no competition to teach kids and therefore they can be slack in their efforts, same goes for having forums/debates.

2A, HD66B, St Paul

MN Gun Owners Caucus Illuminates about DFL Gun Control Bills to St Paul GOP Candidates

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Meet & Greet the St Paul Republican House Candidates
6 of 7 Candidates invited attended the Meet & Greet. from Left to Right, Fadil Jama (HD 66A), Dan Walsh (HD 64A), Mike Hilborn (HD 65B), Scott Hesselgrave (HD 67A), Greg Copeland (HD 66B), present but not pictured, Peter Donahue (HD 64B)

The MN Gun Owners Caucus was invited to help St Paul Republican Candidates to understand what they may be up against in debate/forums and in town halls against DFL career politicians, concerning gun laws and regulations, which are unconstitutional due to the Supremacy of the US Constitution over State Constitutions.

The nonpartisan nature of the MN Gun Owners Caucus was such that if they called this meeting, instead of the HD 66B Republicans, they would be required to invite DFL Candidates to the event. Lawful Gun Ownership is a nonpartisan issue, yet too often DFL legislators and their party are hellbent on adding cumbersome regulations that pose to be “gotcha” laws that will make any law abiding gunowner into a criminal or go insane trying to follow all of them.

Many examples of “gotcha” laws are posed as “Reasonable” Gun laws.  One such law that was proposed in a bill by Rep Kaohly Her HD 64A DFL was the Safe Gun Storage Bill where guns would need to be locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition. Thankfully this “Gotcha” bill which was Insane & Unreasonable failed thanks to the MN Gun Owners Caucus. Rep Kaohly Her at the HD 64 A&B Forum  on Sept 17th said she was a gun owner and stores her gun separate from her ammunition, unloaded and locked at her home. Hopefully her home isn’t located and invaded by armed criminals as she just stated her home doesn’t have an accessible firearm ready to thwart a crew of career criminals wanting to steal and possibly kill anyone who gets in their way. We pray that day never happens to her, or anyone else.

MN Gun Owners  Caucus Explained What they Do
MN Gun Owners Caucus, Comms Director, Nick Majerus explained about how gun laws and what the organization does

Nick Majerus explained about many gun laws that were put into an omnibus anti-2A bill and how the bill failed. It failed because gun ownership is nonpartisan and Rob Doar a full time lobbyist for the organization lobbied legislators to see the insanity of certain laws, and also worked to water down bills that looked like they were headed toward passage due to party line votes and Big Money organizations pushing for gun control.

Bryan Strawser is a co-founder and Chairman of the MN Gun Owners Caucus.

There are 2 main In-Session Events the MN Gun Owners Caucus invites Law Abiding Gun Owners to the Minnesota State Capitol Building. It is for Rally Day, as well as the Lobby Day. We posted both of those days this year.

May Lor Xiong Addresses the Audience

May Lor Xiong, the Endorsed Republican Candidate in CD 4, running against Betty McCollum

May Lor Xiong talked about the importance of being safe and defending oneself and your family. She cited how despots and Communists will tell people who they want to protect you while they take some of your money, but after they take your guns away they might take you away and no one will ever see you again.  All Communist regimes do this.

Questions and Answers with Nick Majerus

Nick Majerus answered questions from Candidates and from the audience at the event room at the American Legion Post 577.

One of the questions was about the most recent obscene MN Supreme Court Ruling in MN v Blevins. Mr Blevins had been threatened with a knife on the Light Rail Station near the US Bank Stadium. Blevins pulled a machete in self defense. He then gets charged with second degree assault-fear using a weapon.  They said from the camera footage on the platform Blevins did not retreat. Yet there is no such law or requirement by anyone wishing to defend themselves. The Majority opinion was that Blevins didn’t retreat and he caused fear with his machete and thus guilty. The dissenting opinion by Justice Thissen and the case can be read here.

St Paul Republican Candidates Address the Audience

Each of the Endorsed Candidates that attended the event got up and addressed the audience. There were 7 candidates who were running, only Sharon Anderson who beat the endorsed Republican Candidate AJ Plehal, did not attend the event.

Those in attendance were HD 64A Dan Walsh, HD 64B Peter Donahue, HD 65B Mike Hilborn (there was no candidate filing for HD 65A), HD 66A Fadil Jama, HD 66B Greg Copeland, and HD 67A Scott Hesselgrave.

American Legion Post 577, 1129 Arcade St, St Paul MN 55106

Thanks to the American Legion Post 577

HD 66B Republicans would like to thank the American Legion Post 577, at 1129 Arcade St, Saint Paul MN 55106, for having a real nice establishment for us to hold our event at. They are having a Booya on Saturday October 19th.  They have a beautiful building, and a great atmosphere inside.

This post was a write up about an event planned by HD 66B Republicans for the sole purpose of educating the public, candidates, and anyone interested in lawful gun ownership.  We thank all the invited Republican Candidates of St Paul for the MN House. We are glad to bring attention to some really great candidates other than our own endorsed candidate Greg Copeland, and May Lor Xiong.

Thanks to the MN Gun Owners Caucus to help educate those who attended our event.  We are not associated with them, though some of our BPOU delegates are members of their organization.  — Admin

 

HD66B, St Paul

Mike “Bones” Hartzell Resident of Rice St Passes Away at 71

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Rice Street has lost its most famous Resident Mike Hartzell aka Bones.  We at MN HD 66B Republicans will miss Mike. Here is an article written by Fred Melo a reporter at St Paul Pioneer Press on December 3, 2018. ~~ Publius Jr

Mike “Bones” Hartzell, shown in a Jan. 1997 file photo, has been a familiar sight winter and summer along Rice Street from University Avenue to Maryland Avenue. Hartzell is known for his caravan of carts and wagons, including his heavily-loaded wheelbarrow. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)
| fmelo@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press

In St. Paul’s North End, Mike Hartzell was known by another name, one that drew familiar nods and warm smiles from storefront to storefront. “Bones” called Rice Street home, and residents and business owners claimed him as their own.

When television and newspaper reports described him as homeless, some bristled.

“The writer missed the point,” said a reader, responding online after a Feb. 2017 news article about a state legislative proclamation recognizing Bones on his 70th birthday. “Bones isn’t homeless. Rice Street is Bones’ home!”

Bones, a Vietnam veteran who swept and shoveled Rice Street’s sidewalks for his meals and found community outside its bars and stores, died Sunday following an illness, according to friends and family. He was 71.

In Feb. 2017, two state lawmakers read a proclamation at Lonetti’s Lounge on Rice Street honoring Bones on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The celebration included a nacho bar, cake and ice cream.

The proclamation recognized “Bones as an upstanding citizen of St. Paul and icon on Rice Street.” It noted that Bones attended Washington High School and, after graduation, served in the U.S. Armed Forces in Vietnam, a period that Rice Street locals say he never liked to talk about.

It went on to say: “After discharge, Bones became highly independent, caring for the North End neighborhood to the best of his ability … He is a steward of the community, cleaning up streets and sidewalks along Rice Street and caring for the health of abandoned pets.”

“He believes the world without walls is his home and has worked hard to keep the community safe … Bones became an iconic figure on Rice Street, and all stores in the area welcome him with respect.”

A Facebook page that was created a few years ago to track his exploits drew more than 11,000 followers, and a smattering of impromptu pictures of Bones on his bicycle. When his bicycle was stolen, the neighborhood sprang into action, scouring corners until it was returned to him.

Keith Skip Duffney, one of many Rice Streeters who considered Bones an unofficial extension of his own family, told the Facebook community on Nov. 20 that “Mike is still in hospital with pneumonia and a very weak heart. He is being stubborn about his care and he would like to go to VA hospital. We are trying to get him moved but that is not easy. We don’t really know what will happen here but praying for recovery.”

“I know Mike has been lucky to have all of you caring for him all these years,” he added.

On Sunday morning, as it became clear Bones had been transferred to hospice care, Jeremiah Welter posted, “I don’t know when things took such a turn for the worst? He seemed alright when we went and (saw) him in the hospital. He is very strong-willed and resilient though.” By Sunday night, Welter and others associated with Tin Cup’s Bar were fundraising for an engraved bench in Bones’ memory

Memorial Gathering on December 11th

A memorial gathering will be held from noon to 8 p.m. Dec. 11 at Bradshaw Funeral Home, 1078 Rice St. There will be a time of sharing at 3 p.m. and a prayer service at 4 p.m. A community gathering at the Klub Haus, 1079 Rice St., will follow.