Big Wanker of the Republican Party

Randy Wanke, St. Paul; communications director, Republican Party of Minnesota whines like the big baby he must be about how the Star Tribune has no conservative columnists in its Metro section -- conveniently overlooking the fact that columnist James Lileks is a bozo right-winger just like Wanker. Ok, so most of the time Lileks is confined to attempting to write a humor column, but his outtings on the editorial pages are far too frequent and full of right-wing bile. But I don't see Wanke calling for more liberal commentators at Fox news, or on jerkwad Jason Lewis's radio show.

Just another crooked politician enriching himself at taxpayer expense

Former Rep. David Bishop, Republican-Rochester, bought into a development venture that assembled more than 450 acres alongside Hwy. 63, and met with MnDOT officials to talk about and then voted for a spending bill to build interchanges connecting to his land, according to a Star Tribune report.

Like all legislators, Bishop was required to disclose his financial interests -- including property -- so the public could determine whether he had any potential conflicts of interest.

As a legislator from 1982 to 2002, Bishop routinely listed his property holdings, sometimes in great detail. But he never disclosed that in 1997 he had bought into a development group that controlled 450 acres along Hwy. 63 between downtown Rochester and the city's airport. The investors planned major commercial developments, including housing, a business park and large retailers. Bishop's report said only that he had acquired "development land southeast, southwest and northwest of Rochester."

The public disclosure board demanded specific locations and acreage. Bishop responded a month later, itemizing details about land he had owned for years. But he omitted 21 acres he acquired in 1997 along Hwy. 63. He continued to omit that land in later disclosure statements, and he also did not report his 25 percent interest in joint ventures formed to develop the entire 450 acres.

After being questioned by the Star Tribune in late January, Bishop amended his financial disclosures again to report the 21 acres. He said he had meant to report the development land all along, but mistakenly had listed the legal descriptions of two small parcels he had owned up the road. He couldn't explain how he confused those 1-acre parcels, which he had previously disclosed, with the much larger spread he had just acquired.

Bishop did not list on the amended forms his interest in the joint ventures that owned the rest of the land. Earlier this month, after the newspaper questioned why his amended statement failed to disclose his interest in the entire property, Bishop said he and his lawyer "did kind of a sloppy reading" of the law before filing his amendment.

Sure he did, Mr. Bishop. And I've got a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

Welcome to the new theocratic fascist state!

Or at least, it will be if boneheads like Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer and Minnesota State Senator Michael Jungbauer, both Republicans, have their way. Jungbauer wrote in a letter to a constituent that separation of church and state is "a false belief" and that "It is legal for a state to establish and promote a religion." Kiffmeyer told a conference that "separation of church and state" was a destructive idea. Then there was Minnesota State Senator Michele Bachmann's little prayer escort in the Senate chamber.

John Locke, our founders' intellectual father who proclaimed the natural rights of man, inconsistently argued for a national church, and nine of the original thirteen colonies had state religions. Patrick Henry supported Locke's idea of a state-church alliance, but it was Madison's views that prevailed in the adoption of the Constitution. You can't have it both ways, Madison argued -- you either have a religious state or a state that protects individual liberty.

Or, if we're really going to have a state church -- let's make it the Catholic Church. I'm nominally Catholic and that would suit me fine. But since most of these right-wing nut cases are not, they would be quite unhappy I suspect. And that would make me even more amused.

So, to recap:

Kiffmeyer: Ignorant, stupid, right-wing nut case.
Jungbauer: Ignorant, arrogant, right-wing nut case.
Bachmann: Ignorant, hypocritical, right-wing nut case.

Is this a great state or what?