Your tax dollars at work

“The first thing I’m going to do is to make sure I put together a survey or questionnaire for input from people about the issues they want to see as priority number one,” Kath said.

After door knocking the district for 2 months before the election, talking to voters at the candidate forum, the Steele County Fair, half a dozen house parties, and every social event in either town, Kory Kath needs to send out a survey to see what they want him to do.

If that were the extent of it, you could just call Kath the political version of a willow tree, blowing in the wind and worried about taking a stand on anything without taking a poll.  But here's where annoying cowardice turns into misuse of taxpayer dollars-the poll will be printed, mailed, return mailed, and processed at taxpayer expense.

With 13,815 households in district 26A, the cost to print surveys will be about $2275 for a basic survey.  The cost to mail them will be $3,868.  Given a 20% response rate, that is another $375 for return postage.  Excluding the cost for a staffer at the House to process, collate, and interpret the data, that means $6,518 for the survey.

Our representative Kory Kath is so clueless about why his constituents returned him to office, that he will spend over $6,500 in tax money to ask you.  No wonder we have a billion dollar budget deficit, and no wonder the Republicans kicked out so many Democrats from the legislature this year.

What veterans say about Kory's bill

Despite trying to claim that he authored a bill to ensure the Support our Troops plates money goes to the troops, the fact remains that Kory's bill, HF 3703, was so unpopular that a coalition of veterans groups rose up in opposition to it.

March 16, 2010
Dear Legislators,
We write to you in regards to recent media stories about how “Support Our Troops” license plate funds were used to partially fund the work of a former Governor’s Office employee that worked on faith and community based outreach efforts. As leaders of nine of Minnesota’s congressionally-chartered veteran service organizations, we are keenly interested in how the state, through the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, helps serve the veterans that live in our state.
We are deeply troubled by the potential for long-term damage that will occur if the mission of the “Support Our Troops” plate is tarnished. If people believe that the funds are not being spent correctly, they will no longer purchase the plate, which will result in decreased revenues to the account. Decreased revenues means less money for Veteran Service Organizations, outreach to underserved veterans, and to transfers for the Gold Star license plates.
We firmly believe that the Department of Veterans Affairs did not misuse these funds. Hiring the part-time services of a person that is already connected to the groups the Department was trying to reach seems to be a much more efficient use of money than hiring a permanent, full-time employee. Further, it is our personal experience that this employee did indeed do the work requested, under the parameters for which the fund was created.
We value the hard work done by ALL legislators to support our veterans. Minnesota is one of the most veteran-friendly states in the nation and it is because of the work that has been done at the Capitol over the last several years. That being said, we urge everyone involved in this issue to take a step back, and consider what damage is being done to a vital program – and more importantly to the veterans and their family members who are served by it. 

Sincerely, Maynard Kaderlik, Commander
Vietnam Veterans of America
Al Holtan, DAV, Chair Irving Rosenblum, Commander
Commanders Task Force Jewish War Veterans
Al Davis, Commander Bernie Thompson, Commander
American Legion Marine Corps League
David Claypool, Commander Gary W. Kinser, Commander
American Ex-POWs Military Order of the Purple Heart
Michael J. Cook, Commander Don Nix, Commander
AMVETS Veterans of Foreign Wars

The Minnesota Commanders Task Force is a joint group that includes the VFW, the Legion. Jewish Veterans, Vietnam Veterans, Disabled Veterans, AM Vets, the Marine Corps League, the American POW's, and the Order of the Purple Heart.  When you have all of these groups together calling the bill you wrote troubling, damaging and harmful, you know you have screwed up bad.

Nor is this the first time Kory has pandered to veterans.  For Memorial Day, 2009, he wrote a nice letter to the editor asking everyone to remember our veterans and their sacrifice.

"Dear Editor,
This Memorial Day, we remember the members of the military who gave their lives in service to our country. It’s a time to especially remember the sacrifices of American soldiers fighting the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their families.
We took a number of steps this legislative session to make sure veterans and members of the National Guard receive the recognition and support they deserve. As a member of the Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee, I’m pleased that despite a historic budget deficit, we increased funding for the Minnesota National Guard and Veterans Services. The Legislature also established June 13, 2009 as Honor Vietnam Era Veterans Day. The Department of Veterans Affairs will host a day-long gathering on State Capitol grounds for Vietnam Veterans and their families to reconnect with other service members and learn about the latest in Veterans benefits.
So whether you visit the gravesite of a loved one or enjoy a parade, Memorial Day is a time to pause and reflect on how our veterans and service members keep all of us safe and preserve the freedom we enjoy in this country.

Sincerely,
State Representative Kory Kath, Owatonna "

But this year, just days after Kory found out he would be running against a military veteran, he changed his tune completely.

As we celebrate the Memorial Day weekend, we are once again reminded of the sacrifices the men and women in the Armed Forces have made for all of us. Those who are presently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families are especially in our thoughts and prayers.

As a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, I hold funding for veterans in the highest regard. Despite facing another challenging budget year, I worked hard to prevent cuts and actually helped secure a small but important funding increase. We helped families of veterans by expanding education benefits, gave schools permission to waive activity fees for children of deployed service members, and put provisions in place that will improve several veterans homes and strengthen business opportunities for veterans. I will continue to be a strong advocate for the men and women who serve our country.

I have also been actively involved in a community effort to make Owatonna a Yellow Ribbon City. This campaign is a reminder that supporting service members cannot end when they return home and the yellow ribbons are untied.

However you honor veterans this weekend, whether by laying flowers on the gravesites of loved ones or attending a Memorial Day parade or program, please take time to reflect on the important role our veterans have played in protecting our way of life. This weekend, especially, it’s important to remember how fortunate we are.

State Representative Kory Kath

Kory knew he was running against a veteran, so this year's letter is filled with I, as in I did this or I did that.  last year's letter was WE, as in we did this or we did that.

I admit it, Kory Kath had me fooled.  He talked about a new kind of politics, about the hope and change of Obama, and about putting politics aside.  He was, and is, full of BS.  Kory will say whatever people want to hear, and he needs to understand that people know what he is.

Updated reality

Alex DeMarco, the best choice to replace Sen Mike 'Tweetgate' Parry, was kind enough to throw Kory Kath under the bus today.  How did he do this?

By pointing out a secret that Kory would rather you didn't know-Kath is not pro-life!

DeMarco points out in the Faribault Daily News that MCCL, the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life,

 has an “automatic incumbent endorsement policy.” If the incumbent has a pro-life record, it doesn’t matter that his opponent is 100 percent pro-life.

Demarco is talking about the fact that Parry was endorsed over him, despite the fact that both are considered 100% pro life by MCCL.  Whenever MCCL has an incumbent and a challenger who are equally pro-life, they give the endorsement to the incumbent by default.

So if Kory Kath were actually 100% pro-life as he claims, then he should have been automatically endorsed by MCCL!  But Kory lies about being pro-life because he feels he has to lie to get re-elected.

More Kath myth meets reality

Myth-Kory Kath is a popular local legislator, who has grass roots support and is an independent voice for Owatonna and Waseca.

Reality-not even close!

Fact 1: Nearly 1/3 of Kory's donations this year have come from Unions and special interests PACs.  From the Campaign Finance Board-

AFSCME PAC-$500
Amalgamated Transit Union-$500
Boilermaker' Union PAC-$500
Education Minnesota PAC-$450
Inter Faculty Organization PAC-$200
Local 59 Union PAC-$500
Minn Farmer's Union PAC-$500
Minn Soybean PAC-$300
Minn State Council of Unions-$500
Minn Truck PAC-$200
MN for Racino PAC-$200
MN Transit Association PAC-$500
Rural Electric PAC-$250
Working Families PAC-$500

Five and a half thousand dollars in PAC and Union money.  That's not grassroots, that is bought and paid for by the big unions, including his own union that he is a representative for, Education Minnesota.

Fact 2: Kory had received more donations from outside the district than from inside.
Individual Itemized Donations-
Inside district $850
Outside district $1305

So more people have shelled out big bucks for Kath from outside the district he claims to represent!

All of this information is available online here.

Kory Kath has no grass roots support this year because people (like me) have seen him for who he is-a slick talking politician who will say whatever he has to to get elected.  Two years ago we put out a request for 30 volunteers to lit drop and we ended up with 45 volunteers.  This year he has asked for 60 volunteers to lit drop and has gotten 8.

Kory Kath and hometown roots

Myth-Kory Kath has lived his whole life in Owatonna, and knows everybody in town.

Reality-actually, this one is true.  Kory really has lived here his whole life, and knows a lot of people. But is that a good thing?

Kath has never held a private sector job. He went from high school to college and a political science degree.  He went on to work with in Sen Wellstone's office, and then became a teacher.  Later he went back to school for his graduate degree in teaching.  Now he is a union rep and state representative.  Nowhere in that history has there been a private sector job, or a job where he could be fired for doing a bad job.  Nowhere in that history has he had any experience with running a business.

In truth, Kory Kath is very similar to Barrack Obama, who had no experience before being elected president.  Kath was a community organizer as a union rep and as a teacher, and he had a lot of his students working on his election for him (I know, I was one of them).  But after seeing who he really is the last two years, the student army he had has evaporated.  Last election, he had the best website and facebook, now his website has still not been finished a week before the election, and the party co-chair has been running the facebook page.

If you think people are disappointed with Obama, you can understand how people feel about Kath.  Both are slick talking politicians who promise whatever people want to hear, and then blame someone else when they fail to deliver.  I voted for both of them once, but I wont be fooled again.

The biggest myth of all

Update-the Kath campaign is actively distributing false information.

As evidenced by today's letter to the editor in the Waseca paper from a military vet-

Representative Kath also authored legislation that ensured all money from the “Support our Troops” license plates actually helps veterans and not go to government bureaucracy.

Nothing could be further from the truth, read below and judge for yourself!


Myth-Kory Kath is honest and transparent guy, who is just fighting for his community!

Reality-Kath will do and say whatever he can to score cheap political points, and will not hesitate to pander to any group that he is speaking with.  Best example-Plategate.

Not very well reported by the media, and completely ignored by local press, Plategate was an embarrassing gaffe for Kath and other DFL legislators, with military veterans caught in the middle.  Here is what happened-

May 11th-Sen Betzold, Democrat from Fridley, publicly accuses Governor Pawlenty of stealing money from the Support our Troops license plate fund to pay for his staff.

May 15th-liberal bloggers jump on board, accusing Pawlenty of stealing money from our troops to pay a staff member to do partisan political work on the taxpayer dime.

May 15th-without even having called the governor's office to ask about the accusation, Sen Murphy, DFL from Winona, authors a bill, SF-3260 that will require the money be repaid, and any further transfers be subject to legislative approval.

May 16th-Kory Kath authors the House version, HF-3703 with the same language.  The story and the legislation is reported in the Star Tribune.

May 17th-the bills are entered into the official record of the legislature, and conference hearings are scheduled.

May 18th-the Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Veterans Affairs testifies before Senate committee members that the money transferred was used to pay a staffer to work on the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Program, a perfectly legitimate use of the funds.

May 18th-The Senate committee meeting is dominated by veterans groups who strongly criticize the DFL legislators for not understanding the situation.  The Commander of the MN Disabled Veterans Association calls the legislation 'shameful', and dozens of others testify that the staffer performed wonderfully in veteran outreach efforts.

May 19th-Sen Murphy is forced to apologize publicly, and admits that he did not have all the facts before writing the bill.  Video of the hearing is available here and here.

Both Murphy's bill and Kath's bill are tabled, never to be addressed again.

That might have been the end of it, if Kory Kath were a normal person rather than an opportunistic politician.  But Kath didn't learn from his mistake of accusing the governor of theft without knowing the facts, and he clearly thinks that veterans are too stupid to know the full story.  Click to enlarge-

Just a few months after authoring a bill that veterans called 'shameful' and was never heard in house committee or voted on, Kory Kath touted the bill as a 'legislative achievement'.  Why in the hell would he do that?  Because just a few weeks earlier, the GOP choose a military veteran to run against Kath.  So Kath panders to veterans and their supporters by claiming to have authored a bill that helps vets, when in fact the opposite is true.

Kory Kath is nothing more than a slick, partisan politician.  His degree in political science has enabled him to say nothing of substance while talking, and taught him to spin an embarrassing mistake into a positive.  He should be embarrassed for the insult this is to our veterans, and should be forced to apologize.

Myth meets reality

Myth-Kory's experience as a teacher gives him a unique insight into what our schools and kids really need, and he uses that knowledge at the legislature without any conflict of interest.

Reality-Kath isn't just a teacher, and he isn't just a member of the union, he is a local rep for Education Minnesota.  That's right, Kath is a representative of the largest lobbying group in Minnesota, one that regularly spends hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying at the capital.

And the other myth is that Education Minnesota is one of the leading advocates for schoolkids in Minnesota.  You have seen the commercials, where president Tom Dooher brags about how his fellow teachers are pulling together despite budget cuts, and putting the education of our youth ahead of their own personal needs.  But Education Minnesota is a union, and unions exist for one reason only-to negotiate higher pay and benefits for its members.

So how far in the pocket of the education union is Kory Kath?  How much influence does the president of the union have over one of his members?  Apparently enough to get a seat at the table, literally-

This is a meeting of the education committee at the state capital in April, and the topic of discussion was the federal Race to the Top program.  The man circled in red is Tom Dooher, who is actually sitting at the committee table, in clear violation of house protocol regarding lobbyists.  No one but a legislator is allowed to sit at the conference table.  There are seperate areas for guests, and other areas for people to testify about a bill.  But neither guests nor witnesses are ever allowed to sit at the committee table with legislators.

So in answer to the question of how deep in the union's pocket Kath is, just look across the table from Dooher.  That is Kath on the right, sitting next to his real boss, Education Minnesota.

Kory Kath, as a member and local representative of Education Minnesota, has a huge and undeniable conflict of interest in taking votes on education issues.  He has never once recused himself from a vote, or even explained to his constituents that he is a union rep.

For the record, Education Minnesota has given so far this year (through Sep 14th)-
$105,900 to the DFL house caucus
$110,000 to the DFL senate caucus
$60,000 to the DFL state party
$500,000 to the 2010 fund (currently running attack ads against conservative candidates)