Doug Fulton has announced his candidacy to run for the open Minnesota Senate seat in Senate District 50.

A life-long Minnesotan, Fulton grew up in Grand Rapids, MN.  He has lived in Edina with his family for 26 years. He and his wife Cindy have four children.

Fulton is a commercial real estate consultant, providing strategy and advise to Minnesota businesses.  He is considered an expert negotiator and problem solver, working with businesses to reduce occupancy costs and maximize value in real estate decisions.   

In his election campaign, Fulton intends to focus on three main issues: the economy, public safety and education.  

He has seen first-hand the tremendous economic value that communities like Edina and Bloomington offer to business owners as well as families. However, he is concerned about the impediments the current administration has imposed on Minnesota businesses and families through misguided economic policies.  He has witnessed how rising crime has impacted both urban, and suburban communities.  He is committed to ensuring that his clients, friends and Community see the value in living, working, schooling and raising a family in MN. 

“I am excited to engage with the community about these important issues that so deeply impact our quality of life and our families,” Fulton said.  “It will be an honor and privilege to represent this great District and to work on solving the many issues we face today.”  

Doug Fulton will be seeking the Republican endorsement at a special convention to be held later in May. 

Parents, community members and high school students who live or are enrolled in the district can apply to be part of Edina Public Schools’ 2022-23 Legislative Action Committee.

The committee works to advocate on behalf of Edina and Minnesota students generally on efforts with state and federal legislators.

To see how to apply and for more information go to the Edina Schools website's Edina News section  CLICK HERE  to read the brief article posted May 12. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, May 18.

Per a May 13 article in the Edina Sun Current, the School Board will appoint an interim board member in June to fill the seat being vacated by Vice Chair Leny Wallen-Friedman, who is moving from the area.

A November 8, 2022 special-election will be an opportunity for the community to decide who will serve on the School Board for the remainder of the term, through December 2023.

Senate District 50 and all of the readers of our Facebook page lost a dedicated volunteer and a real friend on April 23 when Phyllis Fleischauer passed away.

Phyllis would post on our behalf each weekday, so each of our newsletter articles appeared on our Facebook page at some point during the two-week period between emailed editions. She knew how to convert them from long text versions to attractive social media posts. Through her skill, we gained a lot of new Facebook friends.

Pints & Politics will not be the same without her. Phyllis faithfully attended the networking events until her health started to interfere. She never spoke of her illness, just quietly stayed away. We will miss her.

Fittingly, her close friends posted a notice of her passing on Facebook.

Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District Republicans held our Convention on Saturday, April 23rd 2022. The delegates voted to endorse Tom Weiler for US Congress, and elected a new CD3 Chair, Randy Sutter, as well as other CD3 officers.

Then-CD3 Chairwoman Patti Meier recruited and managed a volunteer staff who met on Friday before the convention to set up. Due to her planned autumn move to Oklahoma, Patti had decided not to run again after 5 years as CD3’s valued chair.

Among her other recruits were state Sen. Mark Koran, who agreed to chair the convention, and Darren Rosha, who agreed to act as parliamentarian. Rosha is the 3rd Congressional District member on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents.

After the Convention elected permanent officers and approved the heads of various committees, including the all important Credentials committee, headed by a volunteer from SD50, Julia Tate, the body took up the election of a new CD3 GOP Chair

took up the election of a new CD3 GOP Chair and the new Executive Committee.

Randy Sutter, a retired Air Force officer and longtime activist in what is now Senate District 50, and Dennis Walsh, Mayor of Orono, were the candidates. Canvassing of delegates on the floor by the candidates was active but subdued. The final tally was very close – Dennis Walsh receiving 120 votes and Randy Sutter 127. After Convention Chair Koran announced the winner, Randy Sutter (pictured at right, from a 2020 event) gave a brief acceptance speech.

The members of the new Executive Committee were elected by acclamation.  They are:

Deputy Chair – Jeff Vold (SD42)
Secretary – Nancy Vold (SD42)
Treasurer – Timothy Zak (SD50)
Vice Chair – Kristy Barnett (SD37)
Vice Chair – Debjyoti Dwivedy (SD49)
Vice Chair – Jake Moroshek (SD42)
Vice Chair – Connie Putnam (SD42)
Vice Chair – Victor Rivas (SD51)
Vice Chair – Dan Stocker (SD46)
Vice Chair – Vacant

Candidates seeking GOP endorsement for US Congress to take on incumbent DFL Representative Dean Phillips were LCDR Tom Weiler, U.S. Navy (Retired) and prominent businessman Mark Blaxill. Both candidates publicly declared they would not run in the primary if they failed to win endorsement. Blaxill and Weiler disagreed on few policy issues, and there were no issues of personality or incivility in the contest. The election appeared to your reporter to turn purely on who the delegates ultimately believed was best able to defeat Rep. Phillips.

This week the House has been engaged in marathon floor sessions to pass the enormous omnibus bills that have been offered:

• Transportation, State Government, Pensions, and Veterans & Military Affairs omnibus bill (275 pages);
• Early Education and E-12 Education omnibus bill (250 pages);
• Judiciary and Public Safety omnibus bill (246 pages)
• Environment and Natural Resources omnibus bill (125 pages);
• Agriculture, Broadband, and Housing omnibus bill (96 pages);
• Legacy omnibus bill (55 pages);
• Higher Education omnibus bill (41 pages);

House Democrats have brought forth over 1,000 pages in seven large omnibus bills that propose increased spending of $7.36 billion. These huge spending bills, if adopted into law, would grow government by 25% this biennium and eliminate any possibility of tax reductions.  House Republicans offered several amendments, all of which the Democrats rejected.

How is it possible to raise the state budget by 25%?  Take HF 4840.  Under this  proposed bill, authored by Rep. Jamie Long (DFL-Minneapolis), and Sen. Lindsey Port (DFL-Burnsville), Minnesotans would vote in the 2022 general election on whether the state’s constitution should be amended to remove restrictions on when the legislature can meet for regular session.  Currently, legislators meet in regular session for no more than 120 legislative days. 

According to AlphaNews, Speaker of the House Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said the current legislative session makes it challenging for legislators to give sufficient attention to state issues. ” Making the legislature work year-round would give Minnesotans more voice in government.”

Majority Leader Sen. Jeremy Miller (R-Winona) responded that, “[It] would move us more toward Washington, D.C.-style politics.  It’s important to maintain the current citizen-legislature to ensure we don’t have a legislature full of career politicians.”

Minnesota legislators currently make $48,520 annually. Per diem, representatives make $66 and senators make $86.  AlphaNews pointed out that just 10 other states have full-time legislatures, such as California (114/877/year), New York ($110,000/year), and Pennsylvania ($90.335/year}.  Each of these states also pays per diem.

Two different meetings of Minnesota Republicans will be held in Rochester next week.

The State Central Committee will convene at 1 pm on May 12 in the Mayo Civic Center (registration opens at 11 am).  The State Central Committee is the body that meets at least twice annually to elect state party officers, to review party finances, to hear officer reports, and to consider changes to the party constitution and bylaws.   

No party officers are up for election at this meeting.  The highlight of this session will likely be the report given by Chairman David Hann on his first seven months in office.

The MN GOP State Convention will kick off Friday morning, May 13, at 10 am (registration opens at 8 am).  Also set for the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, the State Convention involves a larger body of delegates and alternates and will run for two days, through May 14.  Occurring every even-numbered year, it is held to endorse candidates that are running for national and state Constitutional offices.  The State Convention is a great opportunity to hear from a number of Republican incumbents and candidates already endorsed at Minnesota’s eight Congressional District conventions.

No Presidential or US Senator candidates are up for endorsement in Minnesota this year.  The State Convention will be considering candidates for MN Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and Auditor.

The official Convention Call for the State Central Committee meeting was sent by email May 2, and  the State Convention call is expected to be sent out by email very soon. Times and potential lodging options are listed on the MN GOP website.  Registration links and costs are provided in the Calls.

By Barb Sutter, RNC Committeewoman, Minnesota

On behalf of the MN GOP, it’s my great pleasure to share with you that the Republican Party of Minnesota is partnering with the Republican National Committee to develop an Election Integrity program in Minnesota.

At last October’s State Central Convention, I told you in my update that this would happen, and it was important to me, personally, that we be able to follow through on that promise.  At our recent RNC Training in Memphis, I had the opportunity to talk with RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, as well as meet with our national Political Director, Elliott Echols.  Our regional Political Director, Andrew Iverson, also joined us.  I was very pleased to present to them the advances that our state has made.  As a result, our state will soon be acquiring an in-state Election Integrity Director.

We’re extremely encouraged here in Minnesota with our chances in the upcoming elections. That, coupled with our Party’s election integrity work, could prove to be a formula for success.  All of you remember that we were represented by 3,000 election judges in 2020, compared to 20,000+ on the DFL side.  We’re happy to share, that we’ve signed up 10,000 volunteers, and we are still recruiting! 

Republican delegates and alternates in the 3rd Congressional District will meet THIS Saturday, April 23.  They'll be asked to adopt new CD3 Bylaws, elect officers, and consider endorsing a Congressional candidate to oppose DFL incumbent Rep. Dean Phillips.

Our list of elected SD50 delegates/alternates to the CD3 Convention is posted on our website. CLICK HERE.

Pre-registration is open through 5 PM Thursday, April 21.  CLICK HERE to read the official Call and registration link.

Long-time CD3 Chair, Patti Meier, has announced that she will be moving from the area and so is not seeking re-election to that role.   Randy Sutter (our SD50 current Communication Chair, and past Senate District "old SD49" co-chair) has announced that he's running. Denny Walsh, mayor of Orono is also running.

Alpha News reporter Pafoua Yang conducted separate interviews with the Republican candidates seeking endorsement for Congressional District 3.

CLICK HERE to view (on YouTube) the 22-minute interview with Tom Weiler.

CLICK HERE to view (on YouTube) the 18-minute interview with Mark Blaxill.

Delegates and alternates are especially urged to watch, to hear these candidates express where they stand and how they will defeat incumbent DFL Rep. Dean Phillips.