Minnesota Majority under the microscope

Posted at 4:31 PM on October 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is asking prosecutors to look into a phone call that Larry Johnson of St. Paul got from a woman questioning him about his voting record. According to Ritchie, who held a news conference this afternoon, the woman said she was working with Jeff Davis, who heads Minnesota Majority.

This is the group that I mentioned last week was claiming many of the new voter registrants gave addresses that had empty lots.

What is Minnesota Majority? It contends Minnesota school children are being indoctrinated into homosexuality, and it also questions the Republican values of former Democrats such as Norm Coleman and Joe Lieberman.

The group and Ritchie have been exchanging letters in the last week over the vacant-lot claims.

It has -- or had -- ties with former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, who was a consultant with the group. Kiffmeyer also comes up as part of another group -- Minnesota Voters Alliance -- which was in the news today for demanding photo IDs when voting. She's on that group's advisory board. She's currently running for the state Senate House and may be best remembered for a warning she sounded (as quoted here in the Washington Post) about terrorism at the polls:

ritics of the warnings point to Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer's effort to raise terrorism awareness as an example of how election security measures could chill turnout. Kiffmeyer (R) gave local election officials fliers that warned voters to watch for unattended packages, vehicles "riding low on springs" and "homicide bombers."

Bombers may have a "shaved head or short hair," "smell of unusual herbal/flower water or perfume," wear baggy clothes or appear to be whispering to themselves, the flier warned.

Several local election officials were outraged over what they saw as an attempt to discourage voting with excessively dire warnings and stereotyping descriptions that could single out voters from specific religious, racial or ethnic groups for harassment. They refused to distribute the fliers.

So far, Minnesota Majority has not responded to requests for an interview. But the group released a statement saying it has done nothing wrong.

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Comments (7)

Kiffmeyer is running for MN House, not senate.

Posted by linda | October 30, 2008 8:45 AM

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In case anyone wants to ask the Minnesota Majority for an interview, or to politely ask them about why they are intimidating legal voters in our fair state, Jeff Davis helpfully posted this earlier this year.

> Jeff Davis
> President, Minnesota Majority
> 1730 New Brighton Blvd, PMB 233
> Minneapolis, MN 55413
> jeff.davis@mnmajority.org
> 651.633.6773

Posted by Gary | October 30, 2008 9:31 AM

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Well, as it happens, Minnesota Majority put together a press conference on Thursday and refuted Ritchie's trumped-up attempt to suppress further questioning about anomolies in the voter rolls.

The volunteer accused of voter intimidation responded herself. Not a single sentance she uttered at that press conference was broadcast on any of the TV news outlets that had ran wild with Ritchie's accusations all day long.

This was probably the most one-sided coverage I've seen. Truly appalling.

Here's Jean's response to Ritchie's hasty, inaccurate and irresponsible accusations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btX-cr4wZMg

Posted by Dan | October 31, 2008 11:49 AM

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Did anyone see the story on Fox 9 on Friday, the 24th, when the news crew actually called the homes of some of the "anomalies?" Guess what? There are people in this state with the same names. And how many people notify the voter registration record-keepers when they move to new homes? None of these people are committing crimes unless they actually try to vote more than once.

I think this group is scary, and motivated by something other than patriotism.

Posted by Elizabeth | November 1, 2008 10:04 PM

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"None of these people are committing crimes unless they actually try to vote more than once."

The Secretary of State's voter rolls seem to indicate (perhaps erroneously - data handling seems lax at the SOS office) that some duplicate records do show voting activity in the same election for each registration in some years.

Posted by Dan | November 3, 2008 2:36 PM

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I don't think that Minnesota Majority is any more scary than Acorn.

Posted by Aaron | July 13, 2009 10:44 PM

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If the average person is not educated enough to understand the dangers of false conservatism, then they certainly won't be savvy enough to see how AstroTurf organizations like MN Majority really work. We get the government we deserve.

Posted by Tom | October 17, 2009 9:43 AM

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