At the last debate, Madia was less polished on policy than his two rivals and repeated an error made in his endorsement interview — that the Employee Free Choice Act would not allow a unionization drive to bypass a secret ballot.

His blatant sell out to his big union donors, and his absolute refusal to justify his position on EFCA in any debate should make it clear to every suburban dweller  in the 3rd that Madia is not ready for any political office much less a U.S. congressional seat.  Recent revelations about his campaign’s sleazy campaign tactics only emphasize my opinion.

I hate to say this, but I wish now that Terri Bonoff would have won the DFL endorsement.  I doubt that her position on EFCA would be any different, but I doubt that she would have allowed the blatant exploitation of female staffers just to woo Veterans.

But, the more interesting pictures come later in her Flickr slide show

Apparently, Madia staffers are paid to dress in short dresses, and hang out in local American Legions and VFW halls to “micro-campaign” with veterans. I’ve captured a few screen shots in case these images get deleted.

First, here’s our young street walker campaign worker hustling up a likely veteran outside the Hopkins VFW.  Read the caption below the image for a summary of her job description.

Next, a shot from inside her new work assignment,  in her stunning campaign apparel. Classy isn’t the first word that comes to mind

But, despite the excitement of working at the grass roots level on a congressional campaign, the Ashwin Madia staffer doesn’t seemed to be to fond of the local veterans, or of Hopkins.

Yes, Welcome to Hopkins

Here are just a few pictures.

Norm addressing the Troops

Mrs. Coleman mingling

Erik Paulsen gets the nod, for his consistent service to the community, his 14 years of experience and his record. Paulsen has spearheaded initiatives supporting doing business with India and encouraging the study of Mandarin Chinese in Minnesota school districts, showing a global focus. He has pledged to work in a bipartisan way.

Jennifer Loon gets the papers nod to replace Erik in the 42B house seat.

Jenifer Loon gets the nod in this race, based on her concrete ideas supporting small businesses, including support of tax cuts for start-up businesses. She is articulate and has experience in the halls of government, as well as a history of service to the community in her work with the Eden Prairie School District. She has discussed the need for funding special education mandates.

A polar bear photographed trying to get onto the Barrow Whalers football field. This is the farthest north high school football team in the world.

From the Cryosphere Today

This got me wondering.

What mass transit currently exists within the Third CD,  and did Ashwin Madia make use of any existing mass transit systems in making his trip from his transient home in Plymouth, to the Humphrey Institute on the University of Minnesota campus?

First, what’s available?

The city of Plymouth (my home town) provides a service called Plymouth Metrolink. This service “offers express bus service between Plymouth and downtown Minneapolis. It also provides reverse commute service from Minneapolis to Plymouth. Plymouth Metrolink riders are able to connect to Metro Transit bus routes.”  A quick check of the posted schedules shows that a combination of Plymouth Metrolink and available Metro Transit bus routes could easily get someone from Plymouth to the U of M campus.  Further more, Plymouth,  has an additional service called Plymouth Dial-a-Ride.  “Dial-A-Ride is a curb-to-curb transit service for Plymouth residents and their guests. A deluxe mini-bus will take you anywhere in Plymouth”.  

Second, did Ashwin Madia make use of existing Mass Transit systems before calling for the building of more?

I called Dan Pollack, communications director for the Madia for Congress campaign to ask him about Ashwin Madia’s transportation habits.  I was informed that Ashwin Madia makes use of all available forms of transportation? (all forms?).   I asked Dan specifically,  “How did Ashwin Madia get to the Humphrey Institute on Monday Oct 13?”.     Dan Pollack said “I’ll have to get back to you on that”, and promptly hung up the phone.

Well Dan, I’m waiting for you to clear things up.

While we are at it, I’ve got a few more transportation questions for you.

1.  Does Ashwin Madia own a car?

2.  How many campaign fundraisers did Ashwin Madia attend that required air travel?  (The 3rd CD is big, but not that big)

3.  Does Ashwin Madia use public transportation or is that just for the little guy?

In this MinnPost article, Doug grow makes this outrageous statement.

“The look [of Denver police on patrol] conjures memories of the Taliban riding around in the backs of Toyota pickup trucks in Afghanistan. “