| | The Daily Digest for September 23, 2019 | | Posted at 6:30 a.m. by Bill Wareham |
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Good morning. It's Monday Digest time. 1. Klobuchar maintains moderate course in Iowa. As the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates examined new poll numbers and stated their case to Iowa voters over the weekend, Sen. Amy Klobuchar continued campaigning on a moderate path — even though she balks at that label. The Minnesota Democrat increasingly is selling herself as an alternative to extreme views on both sides of the aisle. "If you are tired of the noise and the nonsense ... if you are tired of the extremes in our politics, then you have a home with me," she told the crowd Saturday at the Polk County Democrats Steak Fry in Des Moines. The new Iowa Poll released over the weekend by the Des Moines Register, CNN and other partners showed Klobuchar's support was up slightly compared to June, from 2 to 3 percent support among likely Iowa caucus participants. But Klobuchar remained tied for sixth in the poll. (MPR News)
2. Craig not yet ready to join push for impeachment. Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig says she is waiting to see the results of House committee investigations before taking a position on whether the chamber should move to vote to impeach President Trump. Craig, serving her first term in Congress representing Minnesota's 2nd District, told constituents at a town hall meeting in Prior Lake on Saturday that she supports hearings in the House judiciary and intelligence committees that aim to determine whether to recommend the removal of the president. "This is one of the most important decisions that any member of Congress will ever make. I have decided that I would like to see the results of those investigations completed from a due process perspective before I make a final judgment,” she said. "But I am very supportive of the investigations underway in the U.S. House committees." (MPR News)
3. More talk of "dual loyalties," this time from GOP's Lewis. Jason Lewis, a Republican running for US Senate in Minnesota, once said Republicans had "dual loyalties" to Israel, adding that support for the country was the result of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and a "very strong American Jewish lobby." Lewis, who also argued that the Israel lobby controlled the Republican Party, said in a February 2013 radio show that many in the party viewed the country as the "51st state." He claimed policymakers in President George W. Bush's administration, including former UN Ambassador John Bolton, were dual citizens of Israel and the United States. (Bolton, who was fired last week by President Donald Trump, is neither Jewish, nor is he a citizen of Israel.) "You've got a number of dual citizens, by the way, citizens of Israel and citizens of the United States serving in government," Lewis said. "In any other country that might be seen as a problem, but it's not here because of that special relationship.""John Bolton's a dual citizen for instance of Israel and America," Lewis added later. "There's no question that there are a number in -- during the Bush years -- there were a number of dual citizens, citizens of Israel, citizens of America who were making policy." (CNN)
4. U of M president says hiring of legislator jeopardized "core value." Newly installed University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel pledged Friday to improve hiring processes at a campus environmental think tank, acknowledging that the center's job offer to a sitting DFL legislator "put at risk a core value" of the institution. Gabel's statement, in response to inquiries by GOP lawmakers, is the latest in a scramble by U officials and DFL leaders to address a decision to hire DFL Rep. Jamie Long in July as a temporary fellow at the Energy Transition Lab of the U's Institute on the Environment. Long, a freshman lawmaker, resigned from the post this month after internal documents sought by House Republicans raised questions about preferential treatment in the hiring process and potential conflicts with his work at the Capitol. Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman had previously said she would review the documents related to Long's hiring. But on Friday, the DFL leader disclosed that she, too, had been employed by the U previously and had taught two classes with Ellen Anderson, the former DFL legislator who hired Long at the institute. Given those circumstances, Hortman said Friday that she asked House Research to retain outside counsel to respond to GOP inquiries on the matter. (Star Tribune)
5. Young Minnesotans join push for climate action. Across Minnesota Friday, thousands of young protesters left school to join the global climate strike. Events were held in more than a dozen cities. A few hundred people gathered in Duluth, and Mayo Clinic in Rochester encouraged employees designated as "green advocates" to attend events there. A few thousand people — the Associated Press said police estimated the crowd at about 6,000 — also gathered at the State Capitol in St. Paul. Jen Foley of Dayton, Minn., took her 12-year-old twins Iris and Kieran out of school to join the demonstration. "I think it's really important that they are involved in this because it's their future,” she said. “Half of my life is over. Theirs is just beginning. It's been a beautiful world for me and I want it to be a beautiful world for them." The protesters are demanding immediate action on climate change and major reductions in emissions of the heat-trapping gases that are making natural disasters like heat waves and flooding worse. (MPR News)
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