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When you take a single vote that a legislator cast, present it out-of-context, and pretend that it exemplifies that candidate, you're bound to paint a false portrait.
It puts me in mind of the "Wellstone voted AGAINST OUR TROOPS!" ads that we were subjected to in 2002.
I'm certain that your favored candidate has merits, and I would like to hear about them instead of hearing his rival treated so unfairly.
This is actually the first time that Otto has asked Stonewall DFL for their endorsement. Previously, they just gave it to her, unsolicited. They did that because they know what she's about. This year, Stonewall endorsed Reggie Edwards, but also declared Otto to be acceptable. Again, they did that because they know what she's about.
Out here in Bachmann-land, Republican rabble-rousers were preparing to spend the entire 2004 political season bashing gays so they wouldn't have to discuss their own misgovernance and malfeasance. Their anti-gay marriage bill was poised to pass the House with an overwhelming majority, and Otto could not stop it. By voting as she did, she yanked the Republicans' carefully-crafted hate campaign right out from underneath them, and forced them to spend the campaign season debating the real issues in our district instead.
Otto was never willing to present a false face on this topic, or to hide her true feelings from the voters. At a public debate between Otto and her Bachmann-protege opponent, the candidates were each asked to list some of their regrets. Otto's answer was short, plain, and blunt: "I regret my vote on the anti-gay marriage bill." Although she knew it had been a wise move, she regretted the fact that people felt hurt by that vote - people she knew and cared about.
Of course, the State Auditor's office is not the place where we are going to win or lose the battle for gay rights. The State Auditor's job is to oversee the spending of local government units: cities, counties, school districts, etc. Otto's experience qualifies her very well for this job. As a state legislator, she made the state budget her focus. She understands its intricacies better than any politician I know of. Her service on the House Local Government Committee gave her an in-depth understanding of local governments and their financial interrelationships with the state government. Her earlier service on her school board taught her the details of school financing.
No amount of experience, however, will do us any good unless our candidate wins the election. Otto has fought and won three tough elections out here in hostile territory. She's a savvy and experienced campaigner and is well-prepared to take on the Republican adversary in the main event.
You suggest that Otto is running for auditor because "she thinks it's safer there". Her real reason for running is that the State Auditor's office is the place from which she can take off the gloves and directly battle the so-called "Taxpayer's League" and the "no-new-taxes" idealogues.
Which brings us full circle. Those groups are the central pillar of support for Michele Bachmann. Expose and defeat those groups, and you bring down Bachmann and her ilk here in Minnesota.
Hmmm. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the battle for gay rights CAN be won from the State Auditor's office...
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