Mary Pawlenty decides against run for Congress

Too bad. It would be entertaining to revisit the Pawlenty legacy. The AP reports, “Mary Pawlenty has ruled out a run for what will be an open congressional seat in Minnesota. The former judge and wife of ex-Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced her decision Tuesday after more than a week of deliberation. She had received encouragement to run for the seat being vacated by Republican Rep. John Kline after seven terms. Pawlenty said in a statement that her work as a mediator is best for her at this phase of life.” Can Mike Parry file for a change of residency?

Meanwhile, the AP also tells us, “Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s son is looking to get a start in politics. Jake Coleman announced on Tuesday a bid for a state Senate seat representing southwestern Twin Cities’ outer suburbs as a Republican. GOP Sen. Julianne Ortman announced this year she won’t run for a fifth term in the seat. Coleman is a 29-year-old who lives in Chanhassen. He’s worked for Rep. Erik Paulsen for the last four years.” The guess would be he can talk injurious impact on the medical device industry with the best of them.

Wasn’t the team itself indignity and injury enough. Stribber Paul Walsh tells us, “A man in a Minnesota Vikings jersey was kicked and punched by several people outside the San Francisco 49ers’ stadium after the NFL game Monday night, and police said they are trying to determine the identities of the attackers. A 70-second video is quickly making the rounds on the Internet that shows the assault outside Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. Police Lt. Kurt Clarke verified the video and the department is in touch with the victim and working to identify suspects. No arrests have been made. Clarke would not say how seriously the victim was hurt, who he was or where he is from.”

I swear I had a twenty in the pants I was wearing yesterday. KMSP-TV’s Mike Durkin says, “The amount of unclaimed money being held by the State of Minnesota has reached a record $711.5 million, which is triple the amount held in 2005. One in 20 Minnesotans have more than $100 in unclaimed property, and two lawmakers say the state isn’t doing enough to put that money back into your pockets.”

I always love this phase of a scandal. The Strib’s Patrick Condon says, “The Minnesota DFL is likely to donate $2,065 to charity in order to offset political donations from a federally indicted former nonprofit CEO that were made since current DFL Chair Ken Martin took office. Martin said Tuesday afternoon that he determined that was the amount that Bill Davis, the former Community Action of Minneapolis CEO, donated to the DFL since Martin took over the party in 2011.”

Crackdown. WCCO-TV says, “Authorities say a campaign to crack down on impaired driving from Aug. 21-Sept. 7 resulted in more than 1,500 arrests across Minnesota for DWI. During that same time period last year, there were 1,340 arrests for DWI. This year’s campaign also included five traffic deaths where alcohol was involved, a mother who was driving drunk with her child in the car and a driver arrested who was at nearly five time times the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.”

Step away from the social media, pal. Beatrice Dupuy of the Strib reports, “Grant Nichols, a member of the Columbia Heights school board, will remain in his seat after the school board voted Tuesday on whether to remove him for anti-Muslim comments that he allegedly put on social media. Emotions ran high at a special meeting held to address the comments. Columbia Heights students, faculty members and parents voiced their concern over the comment — posted using Nichols’ Facebook account on a Star Tribune story shared on Facebook — saying that Muslims are unsanitary and do not clean up after themselves. Nichols has denied that he wrote the comment, which has since been deleted.”

Also in the realm of curious comments and comparisons, John Reinan of the Strib says, “In a freewheeling legal hearing Tuesday, ­attorneys for Black Lives Matter defendants argued that charges should be dismissed against the alleged organizers of a massive demonstration last year at the Mall of America. Jordan Kushner, representing four of the 11 organizers, compared their actions to the ­marching zombies of Minneapolis in 2006 and the Vietnam-era Chicago Seven. The zombies marched to protest consumerism, while the Seven were among the throngs of anti-war protesters who disrupted the Democratic National Convention in 1968. In both cases, courts upheld the right to political protest, Kushner argued before Hennepin County Chief Judge Peter Cahill.”

The Como Pavilion restaurant was a big hit. Frederick Melo of the PiPress says, “Como Dockside restaurant and bar at Como Lake Pavilion is on track to report as much as 10 times higher commissions than the previous establishment in the space, according to St. Paul city officials. From May 8 through Aug. 31, Como Dockside revenues totaled $1.02 million, though August data are still preliminary. Total revenues are projected to exceed $1.65 million by the end of the year.”

In-the-Wake-of-Walker Watch: In the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, James Rowen writes about yet another difference between us and them. “The divide between progressive Minnesota and the Wreakhavocstan that Wisconsin has become under Walkerite Republicans is highlighted today by Minnesota actions on behalf of its citizens and their environment. While Wisconsin’s ‘chamber-of-commerce’ DNR is carelessly green lighting a major crude oil pipeline expansion without a full environmental review, Minnesota is being ordered to conduct that very level of review for a different pipeline in its interconnected system … . Can you imagine such a Minnesota-style, publicly-spirited ruling and action in Wisconsin, especially if it ended up at the Wisconsin Supreme Court, itself effectively a subsidiary of corporate interests?” But sir, that is exactly why “it” is working.

Bonus Walker Watch. This from Peter Spiliakos of the National Review. “Walker has since tried to repudiate his earlier immigration extremism, but he just can’t get it right. Whether it is building a wall along the Canadian border, or ending birthright citizenship, Walker is coming across like a man who is saying things he doesn’t believe (or even understand) to people that he doesn’t respect. If it was just a Scott Walker problem, it wouldn’t matter. Walker is just one politician. The big problem is the social gulf between establishment Republican politicians and large sections of the right-leaning electorate is so big that the politicians can’t even imagine what many of their voters are thinking.” Heh.