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Party heads Martin and Sutton verbally duel over gun campaign piece

By Jay Weiner | 02/08/11

A war of words erupted today between the chairmen of the state DFL and Republican parties over a campaign piece, paid for by the Minnesota Republican Party, in the special election on the Iron Range.

The open seat, a special election set for next Tuesday, is a three-way contest with GOP candidate Paul Jacobson, DFLer Carly Melin and the Independence Party’s Cynthia Kafut-Hagen.

In the mailer sent to voters this week, a hunter is aiming a gun with the words “Take Your Best Shot.”

On the backside of the piece, Melin is called a “fake.” It reads: “Paul Jacobson Knows … Our Gun Rights Can’t Be Silenced.”

In today’s Duluth News Tribune, Gary Cerkvenik, a veteran DFL operative and Melin backer, linked the flyer to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords last month and blamed GOP state Chairman Tony Sutton.

“We are a month away from this national tragedy and the whole gun-and-crosshairs debate, and this yahoo [meaning Sutton] puts this out?’’ Cerkvenik is quoted as saying. “The whole country was saying we have to put an end to this kind of politics. But here he is basically saying take your best shot at Carly Melin. This is outrageous.’’

This afternoon at the Capitol, newly elected DFL state Chairman Ken Martin held a press briefing to echo Cerkvenik’s words.

Said Martin: “Our leadership in this country, on both sides of the aisle, called on everyone to tone down this rhetoric … There’s no place for this kind of rhetoric … There are more important issues, jobs, education, [the state] budget deficit, which the Republican candidate and Republican Party should be focusing on. Instead they are turning to the nasty device of rhetoric that really should be toned down, given what happened in Tucson.”

He called the gun issue on the Range “a classic wedge issue” and the mailer “really despicable.”  Martin said: “This kind of rhetoric creates an environment where our elected officials and our candidates have to worry about their own safety.”

The DFL chair called on the GOP to “disavow this attack,” meaning the flyer. (Jacobson has distanced himself from the mailer.) 

But Sutton has no intention of doing that.

In an interview with MinnPost, Sutton said: “I think it’s absolutely shameful and unconscionable that they would attempt to link this flyer — which is obviously a hunter — to anything more nefarious. That they try to link this to the tragedy in Arizona is unconscionable.”

Sutton went on: “I think they [the DFL] should apologize for, instead of talking about the issues — sporting issues, Second Amendment issues — they’re trying to obscure the fact that their candidate is out of touch with the people on the Range.”

But “Take Your Best Shot”? Is there no danger in that?

Said Sutton: “Absolutely not, that is ridiculous beyond belief. I’m sure the liberal chattering classes might want to believe that. But we’re not going to stop talking about issues that are important to people in Minnesota, especially people on the Iron Range, for whom jobs and other issues are important, such as Second Amendment rights … They’re trying to silence our ability to talk to voters about hunting issues and gun rights. How low will they stoop?”

For his part, Martin, who is in his first week as DFL head, allowed that the gun issue is legitimate and the use of guns in ads or flyers is not necessarily prohibited.

But, he said, “I can tell you that we will be a little bit more careful.”

The open seat was held by Tony Sertich, who was recently appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton to the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board.

Martin predicted Melin would win in the longtime DFL district. Sutton acknowledged a Republican winning from Hibbing is going to be tough, but he wasn’t ready to concede.

“There’s opportunity,” Sutton said. “We think we have a really good shot.”

Comments (8)

Submitted by Jim Boyd on February 8, 2011 - 6:35pm.

I actually tend to agree with the Republicans in that this is clearly about hunting, to me at least. And it is silly on its face: No one is threatening hunting rights, and the GOP candidate has no evidence that the DFL candidate would do so. It's a threat created out of thin air. Dumb, but not dangerous.

Submitted by Ann Jalonen on February 8, 2011 - 7:52pm.

At first I wanted only to comment on Sutton's closing remark: "I think he's got a good shot", but the headline also gave me pause. Dueling, huh? Is it possible to escape the (gun)play, verbal or otherwise, by anyone?

Submitted by Paul Brandon on February 8, 2011 - 7:57pm.

So Jacobson thinks that guns are more important than jobs are to the Iron Range?
And in the context of the words "take your best shot" the picture of the gun (what is it pointing at?) is at best ambiguous.

Submitted by Ross Williams on February 8, 2011 - 8:50pm.

This is actually brilliant calculated, political maneuver. It was intended to inflame loyal Democrats. They successfully provoked a DFL response that tends to confirm the "Carly Melin is anti-gun" message they were trying to deliver. The more people are talking about guns, the better from the Republican's point of view.

Is this kind of rhetoric dangerous? Yes, it provokes people who are emotionally unstable. But you are never going to make a direct causal link between this kind of thing and someone getting shot. And the most ardent gun supporters are going to see this as the kind of overreaction they hear in any call for controls on guns.

Score one for cynical politics.

Submitted by Cecil North on February 9, 2011 - 9:53am.

Other than the fact that the Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting rights (is there such a thing as "hunting rights"?)...

Submitted by Bob Parker on February 9, 2011 - 9:56am.

This is clearly another Republican diversion of attention-to-the-real-issues schtick, and a pretty ham-handed one at that. In fact, it is so overdone it could have been written by the Onion. Let's just forget about all that job loss, housing insecurity, agricultural issue and land use that needs attention. But I guess they know (or think that they do) who they are playing to. If I lived up on the Range, I'd be fairly offended by their assumption that I couldn't figure this out, and that this was the most important issue in this special election. I really wonder if any true, dedicated hunter actually thinks that anyone is ever going to try to limit access to hunting equipment-- that is, real hunting equipment, not full-auto .50 cal stuff.

I particularly liked the "Liberal St Paul politicians" part. As if all of the Representatives came from here. And all are liberal.

Keep it up Mr. Sutton. You're doing a fabulous job.

Submitted by larry boss on February 9, 2011 - 12:19pm.

Tony (Quisling) Sutton is an embarrassment to the GOP and this is further proof. The GOP has moved so far to the mean spirited right that Minnesotan will reject them in 2012. Sutton's reelection as party chair is the best thing the DFL could ask for. Governor Dayton just needs to wait out the 2012 election and he will have a DFL House and Senate.

Submitted by Nancy Gertner on February 11, 2011 - 8:03am.

Hey Tony: Can you spell B - A - C- K - F - I - R - E ?? Or
R - E - C - O - I - L ?? Did You "Focus Group" this Lit Piece? Do you believe that the People (eligible voters) of MN 5B think that their "Gun Rights" (if derived from the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a Federal document) can be changed by a group of "Saint Paul Liberals?"

So great job, Tony. Jacobson can distance himself from the producers of this stupid lit piece. But he can't distance himself from you since you're linked to the same party. Way to go! Handicap your candidate.