Reed looking toward DFL primary after union snubs

Posted at 3:32 PM on October 9, 2009 by Tim Pugmire (5 Comments)

Sixth District Congressional candidate Dr. Maureen Reed says she'll no longer pledge to abide by the DFL endorsement after being overlooked by several labor unions.

Since entering the race five months ago, Reed has said she would seek the DFL party endorsement to challenge incumbent Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. But Reed's pledge to abide by that process is now wavering. State Sen. Tarry Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, who's also running in the 6th district, has been piling up several key endorsements from organized labor. Reed says she now wants to keep her options open, including running in a primary, because she never got a shot at those union endorsements.

"We weren't even screened," Reed said. "I didn't even get a call saying we're going forward, would you like to come in Maureen and screen with us? And that's been disappointing to me. If this isn't an open and fair process here, maybe I should keep my options open."

The Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council and the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters have confirmed that Reed was not screened for endorsements that went to Clark. Officials with the Minnesota AFL-CIO and Minnesota Nurses Associations say they interviewed both DFL candidates for endorsement and Clark prevailed. Other unions have not returned phone calls.

Clark said she is focused on her campaign, not Reed's.

Comments (5)

What Reed's saying makes sense to me- I'm sure the people in the 6th would rather get the chance to make up their own minds, rather than letting the unions and the special interests make the call for them.

Posted by Allison | October 9, 2009 4:41 PM

It is because of people like Reed that we will never win the 6th district.
She helped to elect Pawlenty and now she is going to ensure a Bachman re-election..
Those coming out of the Independence party don't really care about Minnesota, they only care about
putting their names out there to further their careers.
If she was realistic she would know she doesn't have a chance in hell.

Posted by jana | October 11, 2009 8:58 AM

Jana...
Hatch cost himself the election by calling a reporter a republican whore on the record. Hatch was ahead in the polls before that comment. Hutchinson's numbers were the same 6% before and after the comment. Even Hatch's staff acknowledge that Hutchinson had nothing to do with Hatch losing.

Also, I don't know if you've seen this from an article on Politics in Minnesota, but the difference between how Barack Obama performed in SD15 (Tarryl's senate district) and CD6 is Twenty-Two Percent. 22%. (He lost CD6 by 8% and WON SD15 by 14% (that's more than Tarryl wins by) Tarryl has only run and won in the MOST liberal district in the 6th. That combined with the availability of hours upon hours of youtube videos of Tarryl talking about raising taxes, raising new revenues, voting for public funding for stadiums, and raising her own pay during tough budgeting years doesn't speak at all well to her ability to run an effective campaign in the 6th. Tarryl Clark can not win in the 6th district.

Tarryl hasn't earned any endorsements, she's been handed them (as reported by Eric Pusey on MPP, and also here). My understanding is that Reed is still going for the DFL endorsement, but even if she decided to take it to a primary race I would support her there too. The more people who participate in a decision the better and more democratic the result is, and this district deserves the best candidate possible to get rid of Michele Bachmann.

Posted by Gail | October 11, 2009 7:14 PM

Allison, by "special interests," do you mean the people who show up at precinct caucuses? Because that's who endorses candidates.

Gail, if you want to participate, why not show up at a precinct caucus and participate in the most grassroots process there is?

Remember the old saying "The world is run by those who show up?"

Posted by Karl Bremer | October 12, 2009 9:34 AM

Gail, your numbers are wrong. Tarryl Clark won SD15 by 12.7% in 2006, the most recent State Senate election. Barack Obama won the same district in 2008 by about 5.5% .

When Maureen Reed blames endorsing organizations for her failure to obtain endorsements, she emphasizes her poor understanding of the process. Endorsements are earned by hard work. A candidate who waits for endorsers to run to her is unlikely to see many endorsements. Despite the fact that she has run before, Reed has not done her homework on this matter. Her flip-flop on the DFL endorsement only serves to confirm that she's out of her depth at this level.

I suspect you are also poorly informed about the process. You may think it helps Maureen Reed to spread misinformation that can be refuted by a simple fact-check, but that is unlikely. Election results are easily obtained on the Secretary of State's website - http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=137

Posted by peter hill | October 12, 2009 10:54 AM

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