Catharine Richert of MPR puts the PoliGraph fact-checking microscope over an anti-Rick Nolan ad from Norm Coleman’s PAC: “ ‘In the 70s, Nolan backed a bill to replace Medicare with a European-style health program. Under Nolan's plan, Medicare would have ended all together,’ the ad states. AAN's facts are correct. But the ad implies that Nolan wants to take coverage away from seniors all together. That's misleading. … Nolan has never made his support for a single-payer health care system a secret. In a questionnaire published by the Brainerd Dispatch last month, Nolan said he believes the health care system must be reformed and that public health insurance option would help lower health care costs, but that a ‘single payer national health insurance is the best long term solution.’ All that said, this ad might leave some viewers with the impression that Nolan supported a bill that would have left seniors hanging on health care coverage and that Nolan opposes Medicare. Neither is the case.”
Fraud Watch. The Strib’s Dan Browning reports: “Twin Cities developer and hotelier Jeffrey Wirth was sentenced Wednesday to 4 1/2 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $6.45 million in restitution for what prosecutors characterized as one of the largest tax fraud conspiracies ever in Minnesota. Wirth, 53, of Plymouth, took the news with aplomb. Outside of court, he smiled broadly as he hugged and shook hands with more than a dozen family members and friends who attended the sentencing in a show of support. … Wirth, the owner of the Wirth Companies in Brooklyn Center and about 30 other business entities, is best known as the developer of the Grand Lodge Hotel Waterpark in Bloomington and the Grand Rios Hotel and Water Park in Brooklyn Park. He also spent about $54 million turning the old Minneapolis Athletic Club into the luxury Grand Hotel Minneapolis. … Millions of company dollars also went into an 18,000-square-foot custom home and 15-car garage that they built on an island in St. Albans Bay on Lake Minnetonka.”
Browning also writes: “John O. Murrin III, who built a successful Twin Cities law practice around the referral service he founded called DIAL L-A-W-Y-E-R-S, was suspended by the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday over a series of verbose, "frivolous" lawsuits he filed seeking to recover his losses from a purported Ponzi scheme. … In 2007, Murrin and his wife filed a 131-page lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court against nearly 50 defendants. Judge Denise Reilly agreed with the defendants that it was so confusing as to be incomprehensible. She said the suit cited statutes that had been repealed, renumbered or never existed.” Beware the fury of a barrister bamboozled.
There’s a moose loose in southern Minnesota. Brian Ojanpa of the Mankato Free Press writes: “A moose, far astray from his northern Minnesota habitat, has been making the rounds lately in the southern part of the state — most recently in Sibley County. Sisters Karen Klenk and Vicki Mueller were driving to pick raspberries the other day when the animal was spotted in a prairie along County Road 10 about five miles from Winthrop. … Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Kurt Haroldson said moose that roam afar are most likely from northeastern Minnesota, where the state herd is concentrated. ‘Generally, it’s young bulls who do this. They just have a lot of wander in them.’ ”
Did you see the five Minnesotans on Forbes’ Richest Americans list? Google Map them for Halloween treats.
The accusation is “stalking” … by social media. Baird Helgeson of the Strib says: “The lead group backing the marriage amendment on Wednesday accused the other campaign of stalking supporters on social media. ‘For those who support the Minnesota marriage protection amendment, this is simple harassment,’ said Autumn Leva, spokeswoman for Minnesota for Marriage. ‘This latest move …. also demonstrates the type of behavior Minnesotans will see more of if marriage is ever redefined.’ The group is reacting to a recent Facebook post by a leader of Minnesotans United for All Families urging supporters to use a special program to identify and then contact their Facebook friends who might be voting in favor of the measure.”
Zombies will be allowed to make all the noise they want in St.Paul. Frederick Melo of the PiPress says: “[T]he St. Paul City Council has approved a noise variance for an all-ages zombie fest at Midway Stadium. Live bands will perform at ‘Zombie Island’ from 2 to 10 p.m. Oct. 13 at the ballpark on Energy Park Drive. The festival also will host a zombie carnival, fireworks, the world's largest inflatable zombie (aka Phil) and an attempt to break the world record for the largest gathering of zombies. Shuttles will take pub-goers who buy $19.99 wristbands and dress as zombies between Zombie Island and bars in Minneapolis' West Bank neighborhood." How exactly will they tell the difference between the zombies and the usual denizens of West Bank bars?
Here’s the Strib editorializing on Mitt Romney’s “47%” fiasco: “Sounding every bit the out-of-touch multimillionaire, Romney added that it wasn't his job to ‘worry about those people.’ If his campaign continues on its current course, that might be well be true.
When he might have been in full damage-control mode Monday, Romney could bring himself to say only that his fundraiser comments were ‘inelegant.’ And on Tuesday he suggested that it would be a great time for a national debate on dependency, entitlements and Obama's support for ‘redistributionist’ policies. The Republican nominee seems committed to a campaign that pits classes. That's an especially dangerous path for a candidate who has yet to prove that he understands the struggles of average Americans.” Although, if you define “average” as those living only off capital gains, he’s a lot closer.
The contrast is rather striking … David Hanners of the PiPress reports: “The same day Amy Senser asks a judge to release her from prison while she appeals her hit-and-run homicide conviction, a woman on probation for a similar crime — with eerily similar circumstances — will be trying to stay out of prison. Taylor Rose Hohmann, 22, of Plymouth, got probation for the March 2010 hit-and-run death of a Crystal man. But she has now been charged with driving while intoxicated and Hennepin County prosecutors want her probation revoked. … Hohmann is scheduled for a probation violation hearing Monday. Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman said Wednesday that his office wants her sent to prison to serve her sentence. An hour before Hohmann appears in court, a different judge will convene a hearing to decide whether Senser, wife of former Minnesota Viking-turned-restaurateur Joe Senser, should be sprung from prison while she appeals her conviction.”