TakeAction Minnesota

Blog Archives

St Cloud Community Doorknock for the Primaries

Join TakeAction to doorknock in the St Cloud area. We will be taking time to talk to community members about why care is important and why we are grounding our elections on the bases of caring for our communities rather than fearing our community. Our work is important, powerful and will help u show up joyfully through November! Come be apart of something bigger than just our organizations build individually!

Join us for a day of joy, conversations and celebrating the work we are doing to create a more empowered community.

Training will be provided starting at 5pm and food will be provided after the doorknock!

Register Here… Continue reading »

Texting to the Polls: St Cloud Text Bank!

Elections matter. They matter because we can show up with our values and elect those we beleive in. They matter because they infleunce the future and are influcned by the past. Primaries are no differnt. If we want to show up with our progressive values in November we need to show up with our values in August for the primaries. If we want to build power we need to vote and we need to bring others with us to the polls.

Join TakeAction in a text-bank to invite people to join in on the fun and vote in the primaries. We will be using a text bank program (like a phone bank but texting!) to reach out to members in the St Cloud area. Training and food will be provided.

Register Here… Continue reading »

Koch brothers’ influence in Minnesota reaches beyond just campaigns

A series of college appearances by a Minneapolis improv theater company. Opposition to a ban on flavored tobacco sales at Duluth convenience stores. Funding for St. Cloud State University’s Economics Reading Group. A reinterpretation of the federal law governing mining leases near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. State legislation making it easier to hold protest organizers liable for damage.

[…]

Koch groups are airing TV ads in Wisconsin against Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and have long supported Republican Gov. Scott Walker. “Walker, in some fundamental way, doesn’t run Wisconsin,” said Matt Rothschild of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonprofit that promotes openness in government. “Wisconsin is run by the Koch brothers.”

Americans for Prosperity, a tax-exempt nonprofit with chapters in 36 states, is the highest-profile Koch political entity in Minnesota. Since AFP began operations here in 2011, it has become “clearly a new force in Minnesota,” said Chris Conry of TakeAction Minnesota, a progressive group. “It’s a sophisticated effort.”… Continue reading »

Rally for #MNvalues

Join Our Minnesota Future partners for an end of session action to stand up for our values. No matter where we live, Minnesotans are united by common interests. Instead of listening to Minnesotans, legislators are passing bills from outside corporate interest groups–bills that didn’t come from Minnesota and violate our values. 

These include the criminalizing peaceful protest, kicking people off Medicaid, cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from the state’s budget for healthcare and education, and many other attacks. Tell our lawmakers to listen to the will of the people, not corporate interests from outside our state! Stand up for our values and democracy. 

Join us on May 17th at 1:30 p.m., outside the Governor’s Office at the Minnesota Capitol.… Continue reading »

It’s locals vs. the Legislature, round 2: The battle over pre-emption is back at the Minnesota Capitol

For his part, TakeAction Minnesota’s Conry is watching all of the pre-emption proposals at the Legislature this year, but he’s hopeful none will pass with Dayton in the governor’s office — and as more Minnesotans learned what those bills do. “It's deeply unpopular,” he said. “When people understand that their own legislator is trying to undermine local democracy to try and prevent people from raising the minimum wage or getting sick time, no one is really excited about it.”

The Brooklyns Listening Session

Come and join us at Salimatu and Aurelius Butler Sr.’s home for a conversation about how we want to build political awareness and participation in the upcoming elections. Topic areas will be: Identifying areas of opportunity to be active in the Brooklyns; what’s at stake in the local and state elections; and what YOU can do to change the narrative.

Please sign up here and you will be contacted by the organizer of the event with more details.… Continue reading »

Our MN Future: Convention Training Webinar 2

Minnesotans are getting together to support each other through the political convention process. We will boldly share our dreams and challenges, pushing each other and candidates to create a new kind of democracy in our state, one marked by compassion, everybody in, and deep relationships that make more possible in our communities.
Join the training via computer or phone… Continue reading »

Our MN Future: Convention Training Webinar 1

Minnesotans are getting together to support each other through the political convention process. We will boldly share our dreams and challenges, pushing each other and candidates to create a new kind of democracy in our state, one marked by compassion, everybody in, and deep relationships that make more possible in our communities.
Join the training via computer or phone… Continue reading »

Ideas Worth Fighting For: Climate Justice, Caring Economy, and Justice 4 All

This Ideas Worth Fighting For workshop is designed to introduce and relate our program areas in Climate Justice, Caring Economy, and Justice 4 All (i.e. ending Mass Incarceration). The format is interactive & relational. It’s designed to be exploratory, engaging, & creative, while still being knowledge-based, political, and pragmatic. Inspiring & grounded: that’s the goal. This workshop will feature orientations on the organization & how we campaign, policy basics on each issue area (and their intersections), our analysis on race, gender, & corporate power, and concrete next steps, if you want to go deeper on any of them. The agenda is designed to level-set between new & returning attendees. 6:00-6:30 will be an organizational orientation. 6:30-7:15 will be issue orientations. 7:15-8:30 will be workshopping time. 8:30-9:00 will be unstructured social time. Pre-readings will be emailed to registered attendees.

Click here to sign up.… Continue reading »

Finance report offers more details about funding behind pro-business group involved in 2017 Minneapolis election

“There was no money from the Koch brothers, no funding from Hubbard Broadcasting or Walmart. But a long-anticipated (yet still-late) report by the pro-business political committee Minnesota Jobs Coalition revealed that its role in the 2017 Minneapolis City Council election was substantial, and that it was financed by prominent business interests, including the Pohlad brothers, Ryan Companies, Sherman Associates, Swervo Management, the downtown building owners and managers and the Minnesota Multi-Housing Association.

[…]

While the two different sets of reporting rules allowed some donors to escape pre-election scrutiny, it also allows opponents to fill the information void with speculation. In the run-up to November, TakeAction Minnesota, a progressive activist group, alleged that national corporations and conservative interests were trying to “buy” the Minneapolis City Council.”… Continue reading »

Speak Your Mind: Make Some Friends and Practice your Convention Speech

TakeAction wants to add some fun to the convention process! We also want to build powerful relationships with our neighbors. Join us to share some food and drinks with fellow members, work on our convention speeches and build relationships based on what we want to see here in Central Minnesota. We will have convention speech training, getting to know each other activites and some walking caucus training. You don’t want to miss it!

Register here!… Continue reading »

Pro-business Minnesota Jobs Coalition dumped $140,000 into Minneapolis campaign before city election

The pro-business political committee Minnesota Jobs Coalition dumped $140,000 into a Minneapolis fund set up to elect a more business-friendly City Council, but it did so too late to be included in pre-election campaign finance reports.

The specter of the Minnesota Jobs Coalition — a statewide conservative pro-business PAC  — influencing city elections had been raised by activists in the months and weeks leading up to Election Day. But because the funding didn’t show up in pre-election campaign finance reports, the level of its involvement was left open to speculation.

Before the election, the founders of Minneapolis Works had invited donors to give either to the new committee or to Minnesota Jobs Coalition, yet no money from the Jobs Coalition showed up in campaign finance disclosures as of late October. It wasn’t until year-end reports were finally filed this week that the public was able to see that money from the Jobs Coalition did flow into Minneapolis Works, though only after the last reporting deadline of 2017 so as not to become a campaign issue.

[…]

Local progressive organizations, led by TakeAction Minnesota, tried to raise concerns about outside business money coming into the Minneapolis election. Because the Jobs Coalition has in the past received money from national conservative funders the Koch Brothers, TakeAction alleged that they were trying to buy the City Council.… Continue reading »

Online Caucus Training: A Future Worth Fighting For

Too many of us have experienced politics as hostile, inaccessible, dirty, or confusing. As we work together to dismantle corporate power, gender oppression, and structural racism, we will work close to home.

Caucuses are local meetings in every district in Minnesota that kicks off and holds up our party political system. Join with other TakeAction activists and leaders from across the state to fight for the state our families and communities need to live lives of joy. We’ll cover the details of what happens at a caucus and how to show up powerfully, as well as ways to create new opportunities to take power for our communities.

Register here, all are welcome!… Continue reading »

The GOP Tax Plan: Whose voice does it represent?

In late November, U.S. House republicans passed their tax reform bill, and yesterday, the Senate passed their version of the bill out of committee on a party line vote.  The president and congressional republicans have said they hope that they will have a bill signed by Christmas.

My guiding principal is: “We all do better when we all do better,” and I believe that a government by and for the people helps us get there. I know I believe that health care for all, affordable higher education and a level playing field so that we all have the best possible chance to succeed.  I also know that the money for programs that help advance those goals doesn’t come out of thin air.

So we ask ourselves: What are some of the things the GOP tax bill does, what does it tell us about their priorities, and what does this bill tell us about who congressional republicans feel they represent?

What are some of the things that the GOP tax bill does?

  • Permanently cuts the corporate tax rate by 15%.
  • Eliminates the estate tax by 2024 (costing $200 billion over 10 years), giving a massive tax-break to the wealthiest 0.2%.
  • Makes it harder for immigrants to file for certain tax credits, including the ones that benefit their American- born children.
… Continue reading »

Is ‘right-wing,’ ‘conservative,’ ‘Republican’ political committee Minneapolis Works! actually any of those things?

“No political candidate wants to learn that an apparently well-funded independent political committee has decided to help your opponent … and hurt you.

But the Minneapolis city council candidates who are in the crosshairs of a business-oriented committee called Minneapolis Works! are making the best of it, using the still-mysterious committee to motivate donors and volunteers against what they’re portraying as right-wing attack funded by big money, out-of-town interests.” Read more… Continue reading »

TakeAction Minnesota calls for the resignation of the St. Paul Police Federation’s Leadership after controversial mailer

Contact: Kenza Hadj-Moussa, 612-386-9556

October 27, 2017

NEWS STATEMENT

Pat Harris must return contributions from all groups associated with ‘Building a Better St. Paul’

(St. Paul)—Today, TakeAction Minnesota joins the call for the immediate resignation of Dave Titus, President of the St. Paul Police Federation, and its entire governing Board. Dan McGrath, Executive Director of TakeAction Minnesota stated:

“Their recent behavior disgraces the entire City of St. Paul which its members serve.  We call on Pat Harris, the St. Paul Police Federation’s endorsed mayoral candidate, to return all contributions from groups associated with ‘Building a Better St. Paul’ PAC including the St. Paul Police Federation and Chamber of Commerce.

‘Building a Better St. Paul’ is more than a hidden money PAC. It’s comprised of people, including Dave Titus and other leaders, who have shown us what they stand for—politicizing crime and violence and dog-whistle racism. They have no place in St. Paul’s politics.  Pat Harris must distance himself from all groups associated with ‘Building a Better St. Paul’ and return all campaign contributions these groups have given his campaign. This is the moment for the Harris campaign to return any and all contributions from these bad actors and make a clean and unequivocal break. 

… Continue reading »
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Leaders Like Londel

This is Co-Governing

When I’m on the doors, I hear a lot of people who don’t believe their voices have a place in our political process. This is wrong. Our government, and our economy, should be by us and for us. This election season, we have the opportunity to do politics differently. But we can’t do it without you. 

This is Amity Foster, the co-chair of our Political Committee, and Londel French, a candidate running for Minneapolis Park Board. This is co-governing: grassroots leaders from Justice 4 All running for office—and winning—to work with the community to carry out the vision and values we share.  

Co-governing happens when people from our base—leaders like Londel —play big, to represent our community, while building authentic relationships with people in the community. This is how we go beyond, and do politics differently.  

Leaders like Londel French remind me what progressive politics can be, and what we can do together. We can’t do it without you. Election Day is just around the corner. Take a few minutes to visit our website, and find out which progressive candidates TakeAction Minnesota endorsed in St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth. Make the decision now to vote early.… Continue reading »

TakeAction Minnesota calls out the Minnesota Jobs Coalition for lies, deceit, and corruption through ‘Minneapolis Works’

Hidden money from Koch Industries and right-wing groups made its way into Minneapolis races—by pretending to be attached to progressives

Minneapolis—Today, TakeAction Minnesota unmasked how hidden money from Koch Industries and other right-wing groups made its way into Minneapolis City Council races—by pretending to be progressive. Progressive leaders and small business owners called out the Minnesota Jobs Coalition at a news conference Wednesday morning.

The Minnesota Jobs Coalition, a conservative group tied to corporate heavy weights, is hiding their right-wing values under the guise of the ‘Minneapolis Works!’ campaign.

“It is two weeks from Election Day in Minneapolis and even the Koch brothers want to be progressive. Or that’s what they would like you believe,” said Dan McGrath, executive director of TakeAction Minnesota. “We’re calling attention to voters who are getting flat out lied to by ‘Minneapolis Works!’. They’ve taken hypocrisy to the next level. They’re not progressive. They’re corporate groups that push right-wing agendas.”

Several speakers pointed out that groups behind ‘Minneapolis Works!’ and the Minnesota Jobs Coalition are the same ones that pushed statewide preemption laws.

“These corporate players are the same ones who want to strip power from Minneapolis through preemption laws,” said Frank Brown, owner of Minuteman Press Uptown.… Continue reading »

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Minnesota GOP governor hopefuls all back voter ID

October 9, 2017

State Rep. Matt Dean counts himself among those who believe there is voter fraud in Minnesota. There is no evidence of any widespread problem, but Dean still favors tighter voting rules, including voter ID.

“They can say ‘well, there’s never been as case of voter fraud found in Minnesota.’ How would you ever know?” asked Dean, R-Dellwood, who’s competing for the 2018 Republican nomination for governor.

Similar claims were made in 2012 when Minnesotans rejected a constitutional amendment that would have required people who wanted to vote to show a photo ID. Only 46 percent backed the ballot question.  Read more.… Continue reading »

Minnesota secretary of state won’t supply voter information to Trump’s panel

Steve Simon questioned whether Minnesota law would allow him to do it and what end the information would be used. 

  itemprop

AARON LAVINSKY, DML – STAR TRIBUNE STAR TRIBUNE Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, shown in 2015, said Friday that he won’t fulfill a request from a presidential panel to ship voter registration information for some 4 million state voters to Washington.

 

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said Friday that he won’t fulfill a request from a presidential panel to ship voter registration information for some 4 million Minnesota voters to Washington.

Simon questioned both whether Minnesota law would allow him to provide the information to President Trump’s Election Integrity Commission and to what end it would be used.

“When Minnesotans registered to vote, they didn’t ever think their personal information would end up in some federal database in Washington, D.C.,” said Simon, a DFLer elected to his statewide post in 2014.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Vice President Mike Pence are overseeing the commission, which Trump established in May to explore his unfounded claim that millions of people voted illegally in the last election. In a letter Thursday, Kobach asked election chiefs in every state to provide, if public, the names of registered voters, party affiliation, last four digits of Social Security numbers, voting history back to 2006, felony convictions, military history and voter registration in another state.… Continue reading »

J4A Lobby Day

You can be a part of influencing the legislation that affects persons with criminal records by joining Justice 4 All to visit MN State Representatives and letting them know how you and these folks are affected by unfair laws. You will be able to share compelling stories of persons with criminal records doing what they need to do to live positive and productive lives.

On this day, we will continue to focus on our opposition to the reopening of the private prison in Appleton, MN.

Contact: Tommy Franklin, Justice 4 All Organizer

Sign up at this link: https://secure.everyaction.com/XYXmLy0ULUG3hcUjxebM0g2… Continue reading »

J4A Lobby Day

You can be a part of influencing the legislation that affects persons with criminal records by joining Justice 4 All to visit MN State Representatives and letting them know how you and these folks are affected by unfair laws. You will be able to share compelling stories of persons with criminal records doing what they need to do to live positive and productive lives.

On this day,

Contact: Tommy Franklin, Justice 4 All Organizer

Sign up at this link:… Continue reading »

J4A Lobby Day

You can be a part of influencing the legislation that affects persons with criminal records by joining Justice 4 All to visit MN State Representatives and letting them know how you and these folks are affected by unfair laws. You will be able to share compelling stories of persons with criminal records doing what they need to do to live positive and productive lives.

On this day, March 9th, 2017, we’ll voice our support for the bill, House File 0951, that would restore voting rights for 60,000 Minnesotans on probation or parole.

Contact: Tommy Franklin, Justice 4 All Organizer

Sign up at this link: https://secure.everyaction.com/jvVbd2jGMk2RDfXPi2V4kw2… Continue reading »

Tim Brady presents His Father’s Son: The Life of General Ted Roosevelt, Jr.

Tim Brady presents His Father’s Son: The Life of General Ted Roosevelt, Jr.

The story of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., a fortunate son who proved himself on the battlefields of two world wars.

His Father’s Son delves into the life of a man as courageous, colorful, and unwavering as any of the Roosevelt clan, and offers up a definitive portrait of one of America’s greatest military heroes.

Tim Brady is an award-winning writer whose works include Twelve Desperate Miles and A Death in San Pietro. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has written a number of PBS documentaries, and helped develop the series Liberty! The American Revolution, winner of the Peabody Award. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

 … Continue reading »

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