Also known as the re-election fundraising campaign for House Reps Lucero, Bahr, Heinrich and Mekeland.
“The Mingling”
I was running about 20 minutes late. So maybe it was my misunderstanding or I missed most of the “mingling” part, but prior to the speeches starting- which would continue for the next hour and a half, I spoke with Rep McDonald and Rep Cal Bahr first. I overheard them arguing about whether the emergency powers were unconstitutional and knew I had to be a part of that conversation. Bahr was saying it was “technically legal” while McDonald disagreed on the basis of the churches being shut down. I was actually the one who brought up shutting down churches. We ended up not coming to a consensus on this.
Before the speeches really started, there was the pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and a prayer from a black minister- think his name was Tim. I had my son with me and we are Jewish so that part was a little bit awkward.
Lucero: the first thing that Lucero discussed was false accusations of being a RINO. I was unaware of these accusations and he didn’t detail where they came from nor what they were exactly. I have been following Lucero for several months now and he has never struck me as being a “lazy politician”. It seems like he’s quite active, both in making bills, making appearances, public speaking and pretty much what you would expect a representative to do. Lucero also took a moment to highlight that the media ignores what he and most of the Republican Party has been doing in Minnesota.
Examples included multiple attempts to impeach Walz, authoring bills to stop Vaccine passports and other relevant actions. Will attach a photo of his flier.
Lucero spoke the most about the issues I care about- which are stopping the unilateral abuse of power by the Governor and stopping the fairly obvious attempt to turn the US into a communist empire. He said communist even. Later Reps would water it down to “Democratic socialism”.
Rep Cal Bahr spoke next- I liked him because he seemed more straightforward than others. He spoke about campaigning in ones district, day to day activism, helping to undo the brainwashing (he didn’t put it that way, but I think that’s what it boils down to). He applauded the grassroots efforts of Minnesotans occupying school board meetings. He mentioned Walz’s abuse of power and it was at that point that I started shouting out questions. My question was “how does Walz still have so much power when he has admitted IN PUBLIC that there is no public health emergency anymore?” That’s not made up. He’s said that- repeatedly.
Talking with Gazelka:
Bahr answered my question, sort of, but at this point I was distracted by Paul Gazelka standing in the back of the room and resolved to interrupt his conversation and see what I could find out from him. But I led with, “I troll you on social media, I don’t think you have the votes to run for Governor, are you really planning on that?” He said “yes, I feel like I should- I have the backing of the Gun Owners Caucus, the NRA…” and I said “but you realize if you don’t win, we’re getting four more years of Walz and that will destroy us”. He acknowledged this but I don’t think it sunk in.
I asked him “why do we still have Jan Malcolm? She works in PR! I am a nurse and as such, this whole thing is, well, infuriating. Is it because she’s a lesbian, you are worried about backlash from that community?” He said “it takes 34 senate votes to get rid of a commissioner” and told me a personal story, at which point I told him I’m not a reporter and that I’m not taping him. Which was both true.
Gazelka made it clear to me that removing Jan Malcolm was simply off the table. I did commend him on the removal of the environmental commissioner. That was clever. Surprisingly (to me), Gazelka was calm and classy through the entire conversation. I didn’t view myself as so much being rude as “just giving it to him straight”, which is how I like to get my information also. Plus, I didn’t know when I’d be getting another opportunity to dissuade him from gambling our state like this- so I seized the moment.
Having a Cigarette Outside With the PR Guys:
At this point, I was whisked away by two guys who were not dressed up. One of them was maybe in his 30s and the other one I incorrectly assumed was his son, but turns out they’re both working on the PR issues- specifically social media. I was thrilled to see that after complaining that the media doesn’t cover them- the republicans at least were making a PR effort, something I’ve been repeatedly pushing for since I left the Democrats last year.
One of the Reps joined us, explaining that we had to hide in back because public officials have to smoke cigarettes in secret haha. It was true though. I mentioned that I was quitting at 40- which is coming up- and he said “oh yes I said that too, also said that at 30 and 20”. This Rep was the sort of person I could get along with.
Anyways, I exchanged info with these guys, they were mostly confused about who the hell I am and what I do. I am not sure I fully explained myself and I didn’t have a rote answer to that either. “I am trying to save Minnesota?” That’s my agenda, basically. And I run a social media group and seem to have some talent for writing and research.
Back Inside The Speeches Continue:
Lucero was back on deck. He was addressing issues that I knew had come up many times amongst people I’ve spoken to- election integrity, mostly.
I think Lucero said he was part of the lawsuit against our Secretary of State, Steve Simon that lost at first but is later won in the court of appeals?? I may have info wrong here but I am almost certain Lucero said “(Simon) is in defiance of 3 cases of election fraud”…will double check on this.
There was discussion of election integrity involving 2022 Biden- this was brought up by Child Protection League member and President I think, Michelle Lentz. I don’t recall if there was a clear answer although I reference to Simon (I believe) Lucero said that the win in the court of appeals “affirmed” direct quote- “affirmed election fraud had occurred”.
Rep. Carlson from Crawford spoke for a few minutes again about the media misrepresentation of republicans and the omission of their positive actions. There were further calls for volunteers- door knocking, running for office, running for school board. It was then revealed that the PR guy I exchanged contact info with was their new media director.
Second Amendment Talk:
Rob Doar- political director of the Gun Owners Caucus then spoke for a few minutes about how he was working to protect second amendment rights. I can’t say I was completely on board with his story illustrating his support as it was a controversial story. He discussed how someone who I think was charged with some sort of domestic issue had his gun taken away- which if the guy is guilty- it’s my opinion and fact that he shouldn’t have a gun as guns and abusers don’t mix very well- I think the statistic is that having a gun around an abuser makes homicide 100 times more likely. I’d have to review that, however.
Anyways, he made his point- the republicans are absolutely going to support gun ownership.
Somehow, impeachment of Walz came up again and this time it was framed as “but we’ll be left with Peggy Flanagan”. I had learned by now to stop yelling out questions and rather started writing notes and having my son deliver them.
For some reason, maybe it was because Gazelka had seemed more laidback and accessible- I wrote him a note stating “the left is tearing Flanagan apart on Line 3, let them fight. The left is splintering and that’s essential for us to recover our state”. And it’s true. The Democrats are no longer one party. There are the ones that are more like me 5 or 10 years ago and there are ones that are totally okay with destroying the state and it’s people to create a new order and eliminate any semblance of representative government.
Tiff with Senator Matthews:
I can’t recall who it was who said “they’re completely doing away with police officers in Minneapolis” which is old news but okay- this was my last outburst. I hollered “what do you think about Biden’s push for UN Peacekeepers across the ENTIRE country??” Oh wait I remember who it was- Senator Matthews. His response: “not my district”. I was shocked into silence. I was thinking “maybe not yet, but it’s coming, so you all are going to have to be ready for this. Unless you’re okay with it!” Oh, I also asked about libertarians. I just said “where do you stand on libertarian involvement?” A decent answer was made “we’re happy to have them involved” although I think a better answer would have been “we will work with anyone that’s fighting along side of us!”
Matthews also threw his support behind Gazelkas run for Governor. Gazelka then grabbed the mic one more time to remind us of Senate File #1- supporting business? I don’t know. Things seemed a bit chaotic at this point and I overheard Mekeland saying nobody had bid on his gas card. They had a raffle, not sure if I mentioned. So I went over to the table and “drunk bid” on everything I was even mildly interested in.
Gazelka Brief Speech:
I don’t know if this was news to anyone but he basically announced that he is running. What went from “probably” was now a certainty. He mentioned House File 8 and House File 9- which I’ll have to look into. Gazelka says his other big issue- in addition to protecting gun ownership is crime. That’s when things got more interesting.
The Most Interesting Part of the Evening
An audience member told us about the Minnesota Freedom Fund (which I already knew about) but also talked about a larger celebrity freedom fund which is basically paying bail for criminals being charged with some serious crimes- like murder. So if there is bail set, murderers are walking away much more easily with that bail help. Personally, I see no justification for murder and think murderers are pretty much the worst of the worst. I’m a pacifist- I only believe in using violence for self defense.
The minister or whatever he’s called- sorry I really don’t know!- he grabbed the mic and yelled at everyone in the room. It was epic. He said “listen up White people! The cities are overrun with crime and YOU think you’re safe out here! You’re not!” So I piped up and said “hey, I’m in the suburbs and crime is up where I live too!”
He said “thank you!” And gave the mic back to whoever.
Representative McDonald from Wright county spoke and it was a moving speech about human rights and it was obvious that McDonald is very much a Christian. He was inclusive, however, in discussing Judeo-Christians and overall, I did tune out a bit but he seemed so genuine. He also celebrated the overflow of people showing up at school boards to object to CRT. He encouraged us to run for school boards. I hated to mention that I had heard that school boards were on the chopping block and that the state may be taking over public schools completely.
The Evening Concludes with Me Shooting a Few Dirty Looks:
So, they hustled us out of there pretty quick after the speeches. I was informed that I had won every raffle I had put in for- the wine basket, four tickets to any Twins game I wanted to attend, and two gift cards.
In exchange, I got some personal phone numbers. I think. I have not tried them yet. Very interesting evening and you better believe that there will be a follow up article to this- more like a letter- to the republicans I met the other night filling them in on how to not lose the state.
Also I had a final glass of wine and complained loudly at the bar about “we the people” and “why couldn’t we ask questions” and this is our state…to my son but loud enough so that everyone who walked past me and may have doubted whether they are a RINO or not would hopefully be stepping up their game. I also unabashedly had a cigarette right in front at a table.
Short Stories by Kristina Tehrani 