Stanley Hubbard is a major contributor to Koch brothers’ new super PAC

No real surprise, of course. Ken Vogel and Mike Allen of Politico check out the big donors to the Koch brothers’ newest PAC. “In fact, at least one donor to the super PAC — billionaire Minnesota media mogul Stanley Hubbard — has urged fellow donors, including Charles Koch himself, to become more open with their views and political spending. ‘You should stand up for what you believe in and hope that others will follow, or they’ll at least talk to you about it,’ said Hubbard, whose family company Hubbard Broadcasting donated $150,000 last month to Freedom Partners Action Fund. ‘We have never been people who are afraid to say here’s what we believe in.’ … ‘The Koch brothers are great Americans and they have demonstrated over a period of time that they’re willing to do far more than most people are willing to do for their country in terms of political involvement and giving,’ said Hubbard, who attends some of the the twice annual fundraising seminars staged by the Kochs. ‘We’re very proud to be a part of that.’” Say what you will, he gets points for candor.

In a rather less engaging manner than our Doug Grow (IMHO), the Strib’s Rachel Stassen Berger covers yesterday’s dueling secretary of state press conferences. On the matter of the GOP’s sudden commitment to online voting for military members she writes, “Severson said military members were ‘conspicuously excluded’ from the new absentee ballot law, which allows anyone to vote absentee whether or not they can show up at the polls on Election Day. ‘Every military person that’s overseas has to put an excuse on the ballot,’ Severson said. Not so, according Nathan Bowie, spokesman for the secretary of state.”

At MPR, Tim Pugmire adds, “In addition, lawmakers authorized a new online voter registration system this year that allows military personnel to more easily apply for absentee ballots. Secretary of state is the only open statewide contest this year.”

The SEIU is taking another run at organizing local instructors/professors. Maura Lerner of the Strib says, “The Service Employees International Union is taking on an even bigger challenge: to organize thousands of professors and instructors at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus.  Even supporters say they’re facing an uphill battle. … The move is part of the union’s Adjunct Action campaign, which has been crisscrossing the country trying to organize adjunct faculty — essentially low-paid temporary instructors. In Minnesota, the union vote succeeded at Hamline University, lost at the University of St. Thomas and was postponed at Macalester College.”

WCCO-TV’s Pat Kessler takes particular interest in the Vikings stadium phase of yesterday’s gubernatorial debate. “Johnson accurately noted that the governor promised not to use general funds for a stadium, a promise Dayton later broke after gambling money from pulltabs never materialized. And Dayton admitted he was unaware the stadium bill he signed included personal seat licenses. ‘Personal seat licenses were not in the bill,’ Dayton said. ‘[The Vikings] changed the name to ‘stadium builders license’ to disguise it.” Goodness! That almost sounds nefarious. Who would have imagined?

Health care equity: How do we get there?

Addressing the biggest barriers to meaningful reduction in health-care disparities
Oct. 21 breakfast event at Northrop sponsored by UCare

The guv does get some love from The Crookston Times. In an editorial, managing editor Mike Christopherson writes, “With Dayton in the governor’s mansion and a Minnesota Senate and House both led by Democrats, Greater Minnesota is better off now than it was at the end of Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s two terms. So when you’re thinking about who to vote for to be Minnesota’s next governor next month, are you willing to vote for Republican gubernatorial challenger Jeff Johnson because you buy into his contention that Dayton has ‘abandoned’ Greater Minnesota? …  If you look at school funding, property tax relief, state aid to cities like Crookston and transportation funding, just to name a few, Dayton and the DFL-led legislature have delivered for Greater Minnesota.”

Kessler’s WCCO-TV colleague Esme Murphy interviews Jennifer Hasselberger, the woman who blew the whistle on the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. “In her first in-depth television interview, the whistleblower … says Archbishop John Nienstedt must step down. Jennifer Haselberger, Nienstedt’s former top legal adviser, said Monday’s announcement of new policies to protect children is a significant victory, but believes new leadership is needed to implement them. So, Haselberger said not only Nienstedt should go, but all the top leadership of the Twin Cities archdiocese should leave as well.”

Not sure what took this long. The Strib story by Alejandra Matos says, “The board of Community Action of Minneapolis has suspended its longtime chief executive without pay after a state audit found the agency had misspent taxpayer dollars. The board approved Bill Davis’ suspension Monday. It is in place indefinitely. … The suspension comes two weeks after the organization was shut down by the state after an audit by the Department of Human Services found leaders of the organization misspent more than $800,000 between 2011 and 2013 in taxpayer money on travel, a celebrity cruise, spa visits and a personal car loan to Davis. Davis could not be reached for comment.” It might be the cell service. It gets funky on cruise boats.

This will spike the local ratings. Jay Gabler at The Current says, “After a daylong tease, Prince has announced via Twitter that he and 3RDEYEGIRL will be musical guests on Saturday Night Live on Nov. 1 with host Chris Rock. Prince has been a musical guest on SNL twice before: in 1981, performing ‘Party Up’; and in 2006, performing ‘Fury’ and ‘Beautiful, Loved and Blessed.’ Additionally, he appeared on the 1989 15th anniversary special. He’s also been impersonated on the show by Fred Armisen, Chris Kattan and Billy Crystal.”