What? Denny lied? You could knock me over with a feather. And that's the judge talking, not just the court of public opinion. The Strib's Dee DePass continues her coverage of all things Denny Hecker with Wednesday's frankly startling assessment — from the bench — of Team Hecker's courtroom performance over the past few months. The decision that Hecker owes Chrysler Financial $80 million and that it will not be discharged through bankruptcy means everyone's favorite car dealer will need a few more years in the workforce to make good on his bills. Writes DePass, "As soon as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel announced his decision from the bench, Hecker stood up, uttered an expletive and left the courtroom with one of his two attorneys. Hecker was soon heard yelling expletives in the hallway." I guess this means no private jets to the Masters this year.

MaryJo Webster's story in the PiPress includes a bit more salt. "Just as Kressel finished his ruling, Hecker said in a loud whisper, 'Unf---ingbelievable.' " The decision was the harshest the court could lay on Hecker. " '[Hecker] lied to Chrysler Financial, he lied to me', Kressel said. 'It seems the severe sanction for a severe violation of the rules is the only way I can go.' "

Oh, great. Tom Petters. Denny Hecker. Trevor Cook. And now Father Chukwu. The LaCrosse Tribune tells the story of a Catholic priest facing charges for swindling two Wisconsin parishes out of $200,000. "Chukwu, 59, spent $6,000 in 2008 to buy and mail a 40-foot container filled with $100,000 in artificial flowers, candlesticks, pedestal tables and other merchandise to Nigeria for profit, the complaint stated. Chukwu spent $50,000 filling an earlier shipment."

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided that corporations need a little help getting their voice heard in Congress, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is playing hardball to get at our local Legislature. The group filed suit Wednesday to strike down state restrictions on companies' campaign, uh, involvement. The Strib's Paul Walsh writes, "If allowed, the chamber's suit says, corporations would be able to support candidates through ads and commercials, through political endorsements on corporate websites, the chamber's blog and letters to businesses, as well as with rallies and phone banks. When asked how a favorable ruling would affect campaigns in Minnesota, [Chamber President Dave] Olson said: 'It's too early to tell. This is going to help some people in organized labor, too. It's not just about the business community'." Riiiight.

We don't want to make cheap generalizations, but there is something a bit ironic in the Elk River school district, very close to the heart of the often hysterically tax-averse 6th District, pleading to the state for more taxpayer [i.e. "socialized"] money. Norman Draper's Strib story tells a familiar tale in this recessionary-unalloted era. Rapid expansion. Heavy borrowing. Crippling debt. " ... [B]ooming student growth in the early part of the decade fueled a need for more space, much more space. That led to bond referendums in which voters approved more than $160 million to build new schools and renovate existing ones. As a result, the district now has $180 million in debt, counting both principal and interest. The district is making payments of about $20 million yearly on that debt, said Superintendent Mark Bezek." We anticipate all base-obsessed politicians to rush to Elk River's assistance and demand a prompt in-flow of funds.

That stimulus money — half of which is waiting for projects to commence work this year — continues to roll in to Minnesota. Dave Orrick and Mary Divine write in the PiPress that the Union Depot, part of the proposed high-speed rail link to Chicago, picked up $35 million, but the controversial St. Croix-spanning bridge south of Stillwater, got squat. "The U.S. Transportation Department announced the depot grant as part of a $1.5 billion portion of the $787 billion stimulus plan. Wednesday's portion is known as TIGER: Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery. Amid the rattle of jackhammers ripping up St. Paul's Fourth Street ahead of the Central Corridor light-rail line — a different but related project — elected and business leaders Wednesday morning heaped praise on the Obama administration and the St. Paul Depot plan for creating jobs and attracting investment." The (not entirely unexpected) irony is Cong. Michele Bachmann, a regular critic of wasteful Stimulus spending, lamenting the denial of ... stimulus money ... to her district for the bridge ... which is facing a law suit from the Sierra Club.

Anne Baxter at MPR files a story that says property foreclosures in Minnesota in 2009 were down 12% from 2008. The story's hook is a Wells Fargo workshop for troubled mortgages at the RiverCentre. says Baxter, " ... while the actual sheriff's sales numbers were down in 2009, signs of trouble still proliferated. Mortgage delinquencies were on the rise, and pre-foreclosure notices in Minnesota climbed higher than actual foreclosures. Experts say that means there are still a lot of troubled mortgages out there; they're just taking a long time to work their way through the foreclosure process and show up in sheriff's sale data."

A related AP story reminds readers that the Minnesota Legislature is reviewing a foreclosure mediation bill. "The legislation would require lenders to provide an individual on their behalf to negotiate a foreclosure with the homeowner. The bill passed the Legislature last session but was vetoed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty."

The incestuousness of the Minnesota Democrats Exposed blog and the state Republican Party can get kind of amusing at times. Like when it manages to gain an "interview" with GOP Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb (i.e., the founder of Minnesota Democrats Exposed). This exclusive comes in the context of the Anoka County convention that tossed out 10-year veteran Sen. Debbie Johnson in favor of endorsing a more, um, "conservative" candidate, Michelle Benson. The author of the piece, Luke Hellier, first chats up party boss Tony Sutton: "Following my conversation with Mr. Sutton I spoke with Deputy Chairman Michael Brodkorb who works at the State Capitol for the Senate Republican Caucus. Michael said, 'I want to echo what Chairman Sutton said.  I ... completely support the endorsement process.  The delegates decided that Michelle Benson should be their next senator and I am 100% behind her candidacy'." The comments get good. Reader "Chris" says, "The more I think about this the more angry I get. It’s one thing to throw out liberal Republicans like Sheila Kiscaden or Ron Erhardt. But what happened to Debbie Johnson is akin to fratricide. Sen. Johnson has an election certificate which gives her the privilege of representing 80,000 constituents. Why should 40 or 80 of them have the right to essentially throw her out of office? There are thousands of Republicans who don’t show up for caucuses or their endorsing conventions. It’s time to end this madness and go to a primary system."

If you missed Bob Collins' "NewsCut" blog fact-checking the incessant claims that taxes — and taxes alone — are responsible for businesses leaving Minnesota, it's worth a read, and again, the commenters, of a better caliber than your usual Strib or PiPress troll, are worth your time. Asks one, "If lawmakers are so concerned about lower corporate tax rates why aren't state tax laws conformed with federal depreciation tax deductions to give small business the same faster write-off for capital expenditures that they enjoy for federal tax purposes?" Hmmmm.

Finance and Commerce normally restricts its reporting to business activities around town. But a "special" to the publication, by Kevin Featherly, has raised some dust. He reports on a speaker invited to the Woodbury Mayor's Prayer Breakfast. A week ago, it was announced that Maria Anne Hirschmann, "a Czech-born immigrant, would be the keynote speaker. When she was a young woman, Hirschmann reportedly was a Nazi youth leader. She says she later rejected Nazism and became a Christian." O-o-o-K. Whatever. But despite the Mayor and other supporters' insistence that Ms. Hirschmann will confine her talk to her life-story and conversion, there is the matter of her fundamental mind-set, as evidenced by these reported comments in a newspaper interview, according to Featherly: "Obama is the result of a trend in America that is going away from the Judeo-Christian ethic. Obama is a socialist, one step from communism. He could pave the way for a future Antichrist." She also told the newspaper that she sees the war on terrorism as a conflict between Christianity and Islam: "If the U.S. military does what God tells them, he will bless America."
 
"Her viewpoint, at least as it relates to Obama, is not without support. Joanne Glasspoole, a partner at [the Woodbury Prayer Breakfast] event sponsor Indigo Creative Solutions, says she believes Obama is dangerous for the country. She also says she believes he was groomed for the presidency by Muslim jihadists. 'I don’t trust Obama, I don’t like Obama,' Glasspoole said. 'I don’t think he is the Antichrist, but I think that he is a false prophet.' "  Whoa! And let's all bow our heads in Christian fellowship.