MN background questioned
To the Editor,
I have to hand it to Faribault County Register ‘Opinion Columnist’ Dick Quaday for helping Al Franken possibly become the next U.S. Senator from Minnesota. I’m sure it’s Mr. Quaday’s endorsement, which caused many to change their votes from Coleman to Franken.
“I will vote for Al Franken because he is a ‘Native Minnesotan,’ he understands how the majority of Minnesotans think Minnesota should be run,” Quaday stated.
My curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to find out just how ‘Minnesotan’ Al Franken is.
A quick search found that Franken was born in New York in 1951, moved to Minnesota at a young age and graduated from Blake Academy. Upon graduation from high school in 1969 he left Minnesota for Harvard and moved back to Minnesota to run for U.S. Senate in 2005.
Norm Coleman was also born in New York, in 1947. He lived in New York until he left for law school at the University of Iowa. In 1976 he moved to Minnesota to work in the Attorney Generals office. He was mayor of Minneapolis from 1993-1998. In 1998 he was defeated by Jesse Ventura for Governor. From 2002-present he has been a U.S. Senator from Minnesota.
Neither Coleman nor Franken were born in Minnesota. Norm Coleman has lived and worked in Minnesota for the past 32 years. Al Franken has lived in Minnesota for somewhere between 19 to 23 years. Franken moved back to Minnesota in 2005 after a 36-year absence for the sole purpose of running for the U.S. Senate. Mr. Quaday based his endorsement of Franken because he was a ‘Native Minnesotan’. Think about it.
In the same column Mr. Quaday said “Sarah Palin is a woman and Governor of the great State of Alaska, which may or may not qualify her to run the U.S., if need be.” Which is it, because she is a woman, a governor or both, that she neither may nor may not be qualified? In the prior paragraph Mr. Quaday did not describe Joe Biden as a man and U.S. Senator. Subliminal gender bias?
Many reading this letter to the editor may think this is only sour grapes – maybe it is. However, words have meanings and if Mr. Quaday is going to write as an ‘opinion columnist’ he should understand that when he puts his opinion in print there should be some facts to support. So just what does it take to be considered a ‘Native Minnesotan?’ It sounds to me like the same convoluted and distorted logic that was used by our Faribault County Commissioners to justify building a jail we didn’t need. Uffda Megge,
Mike Enger