Senjem then vs. Senjem now

Posted at 2:42 PM on August 14, 2008 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

The miracles of audio tape gives us some detail into Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem's thoughts on Mark Olson.

When asked about Olson's candidacy on July 22nd, Senjem said this:

"Well, we welcome Mark. I mean democracy is a wonderful thing. If people want to run for office, they have that opportunity. Mark will go through the process now, through the endorsement process. We'll see where that leads. Certainly if he emerges he's our candidate and certainly we're riding with him."

After MinnesotaDemocratsExposed raised concerns about Olson's candidacy on Wednesday, Senjem said this:

"Character and integrity in this case rise above party and process. And we felt that Mark, given his circumstances in life, specifically his conviction for spousal abuse, really didn't pass the test if you will for the kind of candidate we wanted."

Update:

Senjem just told Tim Pugmire that he hadn't thought much about Olson's candidacy at the time. He said upon further reflection, looking back at the court records and thinking through the implications of Olson actually winning led the caucus to come to the conclusion to exclude Olson.

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Comments (1)

From an SD16 Republican:

Thank you so much for posting this. I think Sen Senjem was counting on SD16 not to endorse him. Mark Olson's enemies were overly optimistic and never expected a situation where he would be the GOP endorsed candidate. Sen Senjem has made this mysterious 180 in an attempt to keep one of the most blatantly conservative members of the House of Representatives out of the Senate, not because he had further chance for reflection on Mark Olson's case. Sen Senjem has had the facts and had all summer to "reflect." This has nothing to do with Mark's case (where he was acquitted of beating his wife FYI), but rather an independent thinker going and disturbing the buddy-buddy world of the senate. The MN Senate is one of the most liberal bodies in American politics, and I am sure they would like to see it stay that way.

If you want to know more on this, consider checking out my blog: www.whattherepubliccando.blogspot.com

Posted by Chris Kumpula | August 18, 2008 12:22 PM

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