The 2008 Politics in Minnesota Politician of the Year

[This story first appeared in the 9 January 2009 issue of the Weekly Report.]

Thanks to the dozens of our subscribers who made thoughtful
nominations. The person who received the most nominations is also the
person we’ve had in our minds for weeks.

First, the nominations. Several were for GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty. He may not have been chosen to be John McCain’s
running mate, however, Pawlenty made the short list and traveled
further in national politics than any Minnesota Republican before him.
A second nominee was U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN 3), who, much to our surprise, overrode the DFL wave and beat DFL endorsee Ashwin Madia by a stunning 7.6 percent of the vote to replace former GOP U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad. Another nomination was for DFL Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.
Wrote the nominator, "He’s [Rybak] finally settled into the mayor’s
job, rebuilt the bridge, kind of hosted the RNC without getting people
pi$$ed at him and the candidate he backed from more than the start
became President of the U.S." A final worthy contender was U.S. Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN
1), who has now twice won his seat in a conservative part of the state.
Wrote one reader about Walz, "school teacher, veteran, common
person…what more can I say?"

On to our winner. The 2008 Politics in Minnesota Politician of the Year is DFL Sec. of State Mark Ritchie.

Your GOP publisher trusts some of her GOP friends
will be apoplectic about this choice. Isn’t Ritchie a highly partisan
Democrat? You bet. His resume includes a rich, long history of leftie
causes, including founding and running ag trade groups and most
partisanly, founding and running National Voice, which ran a national
media campaign, "November 2," designed to turn out more voters –
voters who would likely vote Democrat. Ritchie also got into a bit of
hot water when his office channeled a few email lists obtained on state
time into lists to be used for campaign purposes (although no laws were
found to be broken). But many times in politics, as in life, it’s the
mistakes you make that make the person.

Ritchie has done an extraordinary job running the U.S. Senate recount. Sure, there are bones to be picked
about what the State Canvassing Board did. Bones that will be now be
picked, in a court of law. But the administrative process Ritchie ran
was the process we have on the books, the process that had to be
followed. Those were long, long canvassing board meetings that Ritchie
ran and as chair, he made the motion on each ballot. Lost on many was
how meticulously and consistently Ritchie made the motions. He offered
the same motion on each ballot, but then, if that motion was rejected,
offered the follow-up motion that made sense given the discussion that
had just occurred on that particular ballot. A methodical, consistent
process. For most Minnesotans who tuned in for part or all of the
recount, Ritchie was the face of it.

Ritchie also became a terrific spokesperson for our process. If he said
it once, he said it a million times, Minnesota’s election system has
been "under the microscope." At every juncture in the process since the
election, Ritchie has held "press availabilities" almost ad nauseum. At
every one of those press conferences and in every media appearance we
saw or heard, Ritchie spoke to the process, not to the party. He made
Minnesota proud in national media.

Finally, Ritchie actually took a much-deserved shot at his own party. Last week U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said the Minnesota contest was over and that the Senate should seat Franken. When asked about that by MPR Midday’s host Gary Eichten, Ritchie wonderfully and rightly said what Reid was calling for was "horse puckey." That was Ritchie speaking to the process.

We dare anyone to find one public statement made by Ritchie during the
recount that was partisan in favor of Franken. It cannot be done,
because Ritchie didn’t do it, and we — and many others — were
carefully looking for one. Our historically partisan Democrat Secretary
of State proved to be a nonpartisan statesman.

[The Norm Coleman campaign has alleged that certain members of Ritchie's staff gave directives and made decisions that favored Al Franken.
But even the Coleman team has acknowledged that those bad staff
decisions were not authorized by Ritchie. All the details will see the
light of day in the litigation.]

2008 was the year of the recount, and "Recount Ritchie" is our Pol of the Year.

[Here's a list of previous winners.]

Photo by Peter Bartz-Gallagher.

3 Responses to “The 2008 Politics in Minnesota Politician of the Year”

1. Willin1946 Says:
   January 12th, 2009 at 8:46 am

   Sarah Janecek in her explanation does show her partisanship. If she is a reporter why can’t she get the name of the opposition party correct, It is the “DEMOCRATIC PARTY” and “DEMOCRATIC TICKET”. Not the Democrat Party. Reporters should report factually and use made up terms. Should reports start calling the Republican Party the Repub Party? Is that it’s real name? Reporters love to drink the cool aid.

2. colinlee Says:
   January 12th, 2009 at 10:23 am

   I’ve heard plenty of Republicans gripe about Ritchie because of Coleman camp talking points, but I think a lot has been obscured by partisan blinders. I ran for office as a third party candidate this year as Green Party in Lakeville, district 36A. For the first time in recent memory, Green Party candidates and third party candidates have been treated with the utmost respect and due process by a secretary of state. Unlike former Secretary of State Kiffmeyer, Ritchie gave us clear instructions to gather signature petitions for ballot access and even offered to make a ruling about whether our signature gathering attempts were successful or not prior to the end of the very short petitioning period, so we knew if we had enough valid signatures. Ritchie’s party would’ve greatly preferred if he had made life difficult for third parties that compete for their base. Instead, Ritchie took the honorable and nonpartisan position that the integrity of Minnesota elections trumps partisan interests. For that, I choose to respect him.

   We’ll find out whether the Franken or Coleman talking points are true in a court of law, but at least he followed the process to the letter and did not stack the State Canvassing Board with his own party, like Florida’s Katherine Harris would have.

3. Anonymous Says:
   March 16th, 2009 at 11:19 am

   Maybe Janecek is to stupid to be literate, or maybe she is intentional and evil.