A 16-minute retrospective: Minnesota’s Coleman-Franken election battle just keeps going and going

From the campaign name calling through the current lawsuit, the race and recount have combined to create the longest election process in the state’s history. The UpTake’s Mike McIntee walks us through how we got to this point.

MinnPost

Interviewing Coleman, Fox & Friends repeatedly misinforms on Coleman-Franken race

On the April 3 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade teased an interview with former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) by claiming that Coleman is “not close to giving up, even though some Democrats are vowing to make it impossible for him to win.” During the segment with Coleman, co-host Gretchen Carlson claimed, “[T]he last time I checked, Norm Coleman won the election after election night.” However, while Coleman was ahead in the vote count after election night, he was not certified the winner; his opponent, Al Franken (D), now leads by 225 votes after the results of a recount mandated by state law because of the closeness of the results.

Media Matters

Order for Delivery of Ballots

The Uptake (pdf)

Coleman: ‘We’re gonna push to the Minnesota Supreme Court’

On Fox News Radio today, Norm Coleman vowed, “We’re going to push to the Minnesota Supreme Court.” He clarified his timetable after next week’s expected election-contest trial court ruling: “We’ll file [a petition to the state's high court] quicker than 10 days.”

Minnesota Independent

Why Norm Coleman continues to fight

Though it looks like Norm Coleman will not prevail before the three-judge panel hearing the Senate election case, the battle is far from over. Coleman’s side took a hit Tuesday when the panel said it would consider counting only up to 400 more votes. Coleman quickly announced plans to appeal. But is Coleman risking looking like a sore loser?

MPR

O’Reilly Announces Plan To Boycott Minnesota (Not An April Fool’s Joke*)

So it is tonight I am announcing that until Franken leaves or is asked to leave the US Senate, I will be boycotting Minnesota. The entire state and anything that has the least bit of connection to Minnesota. This means I will not be visiting Minnesota, nor shopping at stores nor using products of any businesses headquartered in Minnesota (including Target, UnitedHealth Group, 3M, General Mills, Best Buy). In addition, I will not be watching any TV shows emanating from or about Minnesota, including Minnesota Timberwolves, Vikings or Twin games. That means, much to my chagrin, I will no longer watch the film Fargo or my beloved Mary Tyler Moore show reruns and from now on be referring to Minnesota Fats as just plain Fats.

Steve Young on Politics

A River Prone to Flooding, and Misunderstanding

The flood surge rose much faster than expected in Fargo, the state’s largest city, then peaked sooner and at a lower level than forecast — to the city’s great relief and gratitude. In the last two days — surprise again — it has gone down more rapidly than foreseen.

But the uncertainty has taken a toll.

NY Times

RNC Eight case wades into murky legal waters of conspiracy theory

In the eyes of law enforcement officials, they were the core of a vast criminal conspiracy that for two years plotted to violently disrupt the Republican National Convention (RNC).

But in the view of their allies in social-justice circles, they were dedicated activists seeking to shine a bright light on war, poverty and other injustices.

Minnesota Independent

New snow, winds complicate fight against surging Red River

A hard, sloppy and urgent fight to restrain the surging Red River of the North became harder, sloppier, colder and more urgent today, as a slow-moving winter storm threw as much as 8 inches of new snow and winds above 30 mph at weary sandbaggers in Fargo-Moorhead and other threatened cities along the North Dakota-Minnesota border.

MinnPost

Fargo Red River Flooding: Level Tops Historic Marker, Undermines Dike

The agonizing decision to stay or go came as the final hours ticked down before an expected crest Sunday, when the ice-laden river could climb as high as 43 feet, nearly 3 feet higher than the record set 112 years ago. The city got a one-day reprieve Friday night when the National Weather Service pushed its crest projection back from Saturday to Sunday afternoon, saying frigid temperatures had slowed the river’s rise. While the weather service targeted the crest near 42 feet, it said feet 43 is still a possibility.

Huffington Post

Dike break fixed, but Oak Grove school flooded

The Red River breached a dike today and sent water flowing into buildings at a school campus in Fargo in an episode the mayor called a “wakeup call” for a city that needs to be vigilant for weaknesses in levees that could give way at any time.

“The campus is basically devastated. They fought the good fight. They lost and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Mayor Dennis Walaker said. “Those things will continue to happen. I guarantee it.”

Bismarck Tribune

Coleman-Franken recount trial: The wait continues … What’s it mean? Why is it taking so long?

Two weeks and counting.

That’s where we stand as Judges Elizabeth Hayden, Kurt Marben and Denise Reilly have kept lawyers for Al Franken and Norm Coleman — and all the others who still care — waiting for rulings in the election contest trial that lasted seven weeks but ended on March 13.

Both sides expected some decisions this week, but none came.

MinnPost

Coleman won’t rule out federal appeal

Speaking to reporters at the Capitol before a weekly Republican lunch meeting, Coleman said Tuesday he’s not anticipating the case going to the U.S. Supreme Court, but he signaled that the recount trial may be far from over. A three-judge state court could rule any day on the Coleman-Franken case, but the panel has been deliberating for more than a week.

“I’m not anticipating, you know, at this point being across the street,” he said, referring to the Supreme Court. “For certain, I want to make sure that equal justice under law is applied. We’ll see how that plays out in Minnesota.”

Politico

Exec says Coleman donor ordered $100K payments

Thomas’ deposition, taken under oath on March 19 and obtained by the Star Tribune, is the first corroboration from an official at Deep Marine of allegations made by company founder Paul McKim in a lawsuit filed last year against the company.

In the two weeks before the November U.S. Senate election, two lawsuits were filed against Deep Marine — one by McKim and one by a group of minority shareholders. In them, Kazeminy was accused of funneling payments to Hays to benefit the Colemans, as well as other alleged financial wrongdoing.

Star Tribune

Thousands of immigrants held in violation of international law

A comprehensive report issued by Amnesty International USA Wednesday finds that tens of thousands of immigrants — and, in one case, a Minnesota-born citizen — have been held in detention in the United States, many in violation of international law.

Minnesota Independent

RNC Eight FBI informant found guilty on three criminal charges

Andrew Clark Darst, a key informant in the conspiracy case pending against the RNC Eight, has been found guilty of three criminal counts stemming from a January altercation in Minnetrista.

Hennepin County District Court Judge Daniel Mabley ruled today that Darst is guilty of a gross misdemeanor charge of damage to property, as well as two counts of misdemeanor assault. The 30-year-old Minnetrista resident was acquitted on two burglary counts.

Minnesota Independent

Turbines will soon churn in 11 Minnesota cities

Recycled turbines that turn renewable wind energy into electricity are expected to begin appearing this summer in Anoka, Buffalo, North St. Paul and eight other Minnesota cities that are part of a power agency.

Star Tribune

House energy panel votes to continue nuclear power moratorium

A state law prevents new nuclear power plants from being built in Minnesota, and some say that means nuclear can’t even be part of a discussion about the state’s future energy needs.

An effort to change that suffered a setback Thursday, when members of a House energy committee voted down a bill that would lift the ban.

MPR

Xcel Energy Eagle Cam
Two of the three eggs have hatched!

Red River Valley discuss flood plans

As Red River Valley communities prepare sandbags and supplies for spring flooding, forecasters are warning they could face another significant storm.

National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Frazier said a major storm system tapping into moisture from the Indian Ocean is expected to hit the Northern Plains late this week. Forecasters are still determining its track and whether it will be rain or snow, he said.

Star Tribune

Sandbagging operations shift into high gear

The race to fill 1.5 million sandbags to fight what could be record flooding has shifted into high gear with the addition of 225 National Guard soldiers and more cutting-edge equipment.

Volunteers were being bused in to Fargo’s “Sandbag Central,” a city utility building the size of a football field normally used for housing garbage trucks. About 130,000 sandbags were produced on Friday, and the operation went into 24-hour mode on Saturday.

MPR

Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg: We’ll lose this round

Joe Friedberg, the star attorney who gave the closing arguments for Norm Coleman last week in Minnesota’s Senate trial, predicts his client won’t prevail in the election contest without appealing to the state Supreme Court. When the current three-judge panel rules, Friedberg told a local radio audience, ”Franken will still be ahead and probably by a little bit more (than his 225-vote margin in the recount).”

Minnesota Independent

Did Coleman attorney ‘concede defeat’ or ‘eye appeal’?

Thursday’s statement by Norm Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg has generated plenty of interest at local blogs and national news sites alike, mainly for his opinion that it’s “probably correct” that Al Franken will come out on top when the three-judge panel hearing Coleman’s Senate election contest rules. USA Today responded by asking, ““When can we call him ‘Sen. Franken?’” And while local media have run matter-of-fact heads for the story — like MinnPost: “Norm’s lawyer: We’ll lose” — one outlet launched its story with a bold proclamation, only to replace it with a blander version within the hour.

Minnesota Independent

Michele Bachmann: I Want People “Armed And Dangerous” Over Obama Tax Plan

Asked about the White House-backed cap-and-trade proposal to reduce carbon emissions, Bachmann told WWTC 1280 AM, “I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us ‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people — we the people — are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States.”

Huffington Post

Obama’s green plan: lessons from Minnesota

Minnesota and other Midwestern states are several steps ahead of the federal government in addressing the emissions, which scientists blame for climate change. Their experience suggests that real gains can be made.

MinnPost

This was a simple assignment, really.  Drive to Lakeville, examine a car for flood damage and send an estimate to the insurance company.  It was a car that had been transported from East Grand Forks, Minnesota to Lakeville.  It was owned by a married couple with two kids, people evacuated when the Red River crested nearly five feet higher than estimated and swamped the entire city of East Grand Forks.  People who were refugees of the 1997 flood.

I watched the flood news on TV.  The Red River of the North wrested control from human attempts to subdue it.  It called out “This is MY valley, and I will have my way with it this year.”  I had not seen such a flood in all of the time I live in the Red River Valley.  The flood of 1979 was close.

In 1979, I was preparing to graduate from high school, and I was living in Crookston. The Red Lake River flows through Crookston towards the Red River in Grand Forks, North Dakota.  When the Red Lake River crested, I helped with piling sandbags and saving peoples’ homes in Crookston.  When that was done, I joined a crew of my fellow high school seniors and drove to Grand Forks to help out over there, where the water was still rising.

We worked through the night in the south side of Grand Forks, piling sandbags in the rain.  We were sent to a location in a wealthy neighborhood, piling sandbags in a protective ring around the home of a rich family.  They didn’t come out to say, “Hi,” or, “Thanks.”   We could see them inside drinking highballs.  I was of legal age and wanted one.  None were offered.

We arrived back in Crookston in time to shower and get ready for school.  We had worked among thousands of volunteers from the University of North Dakota and the Grand Forks Air Force Base.  We felt good that we had saved people’s homes and properties.

After the threat to Grand Forks was fended off, the thanks via the letters section of the Grand Forks Herald were many.  People were grateful, and we appreciated their kind words and their praise.  There was one letter writer, though, who made me particularly upset and angry, and trust me, this was not my larger experience of the people of Grand Forks. From memory:

When the sandbaggers came, there were all kinds of riffraff and especially blacks that came into our yards.  I wish I hadn’t had to put up with that.  I would rather that they had let my house flood than have blacks and long-haired college kids on my property.

That has stuck with me for thirty years, along with the question of whether or not it was written by the homeowners who watched us while they were drinking their highballs.

The 1997 flood was a much worse flood.  In 1997, the sandbagging was not enough to save Grand Forks.  The river rose higher than it had been since 1826.  Downtown Grand Forks was destroyed by explosions and fire that added on to the damage caused by the water.  The Grand Forks Herald published every day thanks to the printing presses of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and each day I saw the devastation so far away.

This time, I wasn’t there to help out.  Hundreds of people were heading north to Grand Forks to help, but I was unable to get away from work.  One of my coworkers, who was in the National Guard, was called up to help in the emergency.  I could only watch on TV and call my parents to see whether the Red River had widened to reach Hallock.  They assured me it hadn’t.  Yet.

So I felt helpless as people were evacuated from Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.  The local TV stations carried stories of cattle stranded in flowing water, unable to reach higher ground.  Some cattle were frozen standing in place as the floodwaters froze at night.

***

This was a simple assignment.  I worked for an independent auto damage appraisal company, writing estimates for auto repair.  My boss’s guidelines were clear.  If the floodwaters had reached the bottom of the seat, the car would be declared a total loss.  I didn’t need to continue to write the estimate up until the damage reached 70% of the value of the car.  I would only need to note the level of water damage.

The reason is simple.  The electronic control module, the CPU for all of a car’s computer-controlled functions, doesn’t show immediate effects of corrosion.  A flood-damaged car wouldn’t be visibly corroded, but since the ECM can’t be cleaned, the corrosion from floodwater would continue to “eat” at the electronics until they no longer functioned.  A car with such damage can run just fine until it stops.  This could happen on a freeway, while passing a big truck.  People could die.  My company didn’t want to be held liable for the deaths in such a scenario.  The policy was firm.

I contacted the owners of the car and set an appointment for the next day.  I arrived at the house where they were temporarily staying, and met the woman who owned the car.  She was trying to keep a brave face, but I could see the pain in her eyes as she smiled and thanked me for the appraisal.  I told her of my own roots in Grand Forks, and she told me how much it hurt her to have to leave.  I was getting a little verklempt myself.  I took my pictures of the damage and went back to the office.

A major contributor to the flood in 1997 was an early thaw.  Water was standing in pools in the fields when a major blizzard hit the Red River Valley. The pools froze under the snow.  As a second thaw hit, the water couldn’t drain down through the fields.  It flowed directly to the river, leading to a rapid rise.  Since the river runs north, it flows towards a still-frozen section, which causes the water to back up.  The river widens.  Dikes built to protect the towns along the river cause the flow to run faster toward unyielding ice.  The river backs up and widens even more.  The loss of wetlands speeds up the runoff towards the river.  The river widens even more.

Why are people so crazy as to build along a river that can flood so badly?  It’s the soil.  The soil is fantastic farmland.  It is a loamy clay.  Sugarbeets, potatoes, wheat, barley, sunflowers, oats, sorghum, rapeseed, flax, barley.  That’s why people stay in the Red River Valley.  But it has a price, and occasionally it demands repayment in the form of a flood.

The Natiomal Weather Service is looking at conditions in the Red River Valley and is predicting another major flood for 2009.  Fargoans are filling sandbags today, as I write this.  They can’t lay them until snow and ice have melted.  When I was driving through Fargo this last week, I noticed that they still have a great deal of snow on the ground, with ice beneath the snow.  This means possible rapid runoff.

When I see a story like this one in the Grand Forks Herald, I think of my simple assignment twelve years ago. I uploaded a file and the pictures.  Following my boss’s instructions, I had simply noted “Total Loss. Water above the bottom of the seat.  No further estimate required per guidelines.”

The adjuster, my client, called and asked for the detailed estimate.  I argued with him and explained the policy.  He wanted an estimate that showed 70% damage.  I told him it wasn’t necessary. My boss backed me up, and the adjuster relented and agreed that the car should be settled as a total loss.  Then I did something that is technically unethical, but the right thing to do.  I called the owners of the vehicle and told them how to negotiate for the maximum settlement of a total loss for their vehicle.

I did it because the adjuster was a jerk to me.  I did it because I had been unable to go to Grand Forks to help sandbag.  I did it because the highball drinkers and the letter writer who hated that blacks and long-haired college students had been in his yard are anomalies in Grand Forks.  I sincerely hope that Grand Forks, and indeed all of the Red River Valley from Wahpeton to Winnipeg, fare well and avoid a major flood in 2009.

Now, the Red River flows north into Lake Winnipeg, which ultimately links to Hudson Bay. It forms the border between North Dakota and Minnesota, passing by Fargo (the very same Fargo that had nothing to do with the Coen brothers’ film of the same name). This region gets a lot of snow some years, and when there is a lot of snow and a quick warm-up in the spring, the river carries quite a bit of extra water. This happens often enough that it is rarely a surprise but nothing close to every year. The flooding, in turn, often causes a great deal of property damage and threatens people’s well being.

We are now seeing thousands of people loading up tens of thousands of sandbags to produce miles of instant levee in the hopes of keeping the river back.

You would expect that if a river floods like this now and then, either people would not live in the flood zones, or the river would be capable of carrying more water. Well, both of those are true, and both of those are in process.

On the people side: People have lived in this valley for about 10,000 years (one of the oldest human skeletons in North America is from a nearby site), and it is almost certain that most of those people, most of the time, knew to avoid the flood zones in the spring. But more recently, different people showed up and they had less experience here. They built towns and eventually cities in the flood plain. Then they got flooded but had already built homes and buildings and roads and stuff. So they rebuilt some things, and in other cases moved, and have slowly improved anti-flooding technologies. Over time, the process of the people of the Red River Valley getting out of the way (and to a smaller extent, adapting to or diverting the floods) will be complete. This will probably take another 100 years. So, that process will have been about a two-century-long process, or about ten generations.

Which would be remarkably fast for humans.

On the river side of it, the river is actually moving an incredible amount of water in an incredibly short time considering that it is essentially flowing upstream. Well, okay, technically it is not really flowing upstream (that would be impossible), but the giant river channel that the Red River flows in is not carved into the landscape to move water north. It is carved into the landscape to move water south. But over the last days of its flow in ancient times (in geological terms, so maybe decades? centuries?), the giant Warren River slowed down its flow and the river channel filled with sediment and clogged up. Whatever rivers are now flowing up (the Red) or down (the Minnesota) this channel of the once greatest river ever are tiny trickles running in irrelevant directions on the top of this sediment.

In other words, the Red River, though it flows in an ancient channel, is pretty much a brand new river on a brand new landscape. In no time at all, the Red River will cut its channel clear of sediment and start eroding into the parent rock, and it will eventually form a deep and wide channel that will easily contain any amount of snow melt.

I’m guessing about ten thousand years. Maybe twenty. But not more than twenty five, anyway.