MNGOP Chairman Tony Sutton has called on Hibbing County Clerk Pat Garrity to recuse himself because of his open support for Carly Melin, the DFL-endorsed candidate for the seat formerly held by Tony Sertich:
St. Paul- Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Tony Sutton today called on Hibbing City Clerk Pat Garrity to recuse himself from his official duties in the February 15, 2011 House District 5B special election due to his political support for Democrat Carly Melin.
“Given Hibbing City Clerk Pat Garrity’s vocal political support for Democrat Carly Melin, I believe it is only appropriate that he recuse himself from administering the February 15th special election. To avoid any appearance of impropriety and to ensure election integrity, it is essential that this Melin supporter step aside as city clerk for Tuesday’s election in favor of a non-partisan city official. The voters of House District 5B deserve no less.”
Hibbing City Clerk Pat Garrity’s Conflict Of Interest
“The Clerk’s Office In City Hall Coordinates The Elections For All City, County, State And Federal Elections That Are Held In Hibbing.” (City of Hibbing Website, Accessed February 10, 2011)
Pat Garrity Is The Hibbing City Clerk And Is Openly Supporting Democrat Carly Melin In Tuesday’s Special Election In House District 5B. “It is important to have someone who understands how law affects our communities. …That is why I decided to join the Melin for Representative Campaign Committee. I have served Hibbing for 29 years as City Clerk and know she’d make a great contribution to our communities.” (Carly Melin for State Representative Website, Accessed February 10, 2011)
First things first. Carly voted in the August 10th DFL primary in St. Paul. How would Mr. Garrity know whether she’d “make a great contribution” to the district? Is that opinion solely based on the fact that she’s got a D behind her name?
Mr. Garrity’s enthusiastic endorsement of Melin calls into question whether he’d be an unbiased election official in this special election.
Still, that’s only part of the story. A faithful reader of this blog attended the debate last night. This faithful reader called me and said that Aaron Brown of Minnesota Brown introduced the moderator of the event. This reader said that there were supposed to be 8 questions for the event.
At the end of the event, Brown was able to get a ninth question to the moderator. My contact didn’t say that it was a softball but I suspect it was. Brown certainly wouldn’t rush a difficult question to the moderator to make his candidate look bad.
This special election has all the feel of a fair fight as defined by Richard Daley machine politics rules.
We aren’t sure that Melin is qualified as a resident. The city clerk, who supervises elections in Hibbing, has endorsed the DFL candidate even though she hasn’t lived in Hibbing in years. Now we find out that the agreed-to format was altered by the event moderator.
Thank goodness there’s no hint of corruption in this special election.
Technorati: Carly Melin, Tony Sertich, Aaron Brown, Debate, Pat Garrity, Endorsement, Conflict of Interest, Residency, Corruption, DFL, Special Election, Tony Sutton, MNGOP
Pat Garrity has run shady campaigns for years in Hibbing. Keep him away from this election!
Two issues here. 1) the party is trying to make anything stick here, but the accusations of corruption are ridiculous. Absolutely shameful. Pat Garrity is the most honest person in Iron Range politics. You’re entitled to disagree with his politics, but not to make baseless accusations (and I don’t just mean you Gary, but also Tony Sutton whose conduct here I call into serious question). Clerks have to oversee their own elections, never mind the partisan ones. If this standard were applied statewide there would be no way to conduct a partisan election. Pat Garrity is an honorable man.
2 – hey, a mention! Nice. We did add a question because candidates were running fast and we wanted it to go an hour. It was a real general question and there were no ulterior motives in asking it. Carly decided to go after Jacobson there and that was her business. I had no knowledge beforehand that she would do that. I was acting as student senate advisor there, not for my blog. The question was not designed to make ANY candidate “look bad” and I’d encourage you to check with Paul Jacobson to see if he feels we were unfair to him or anyone else. I spoke to him afterward and he was quite happy with the debate, and frankly he did just fine in my opinion. We can disagree and still be fair. The party’s tack and your post here are not fair to a good man, Pat Garrity, and I feel I treat the opposition with fairness at my blog. It is a free country, as you know, but this nonsense can’t go without a brushback.
Aaron, I’m basing my opinions on the word of a trustworthy person. This person doesn’t have the same high opinion of Mr. Garrity as you have. No disrespect to you but I’ll trust my contact’s opinion. Also, it isn’t like there isn’t a history of election corruption in St. Louis County. I start with a spirit of distrust. If that offends you, that’s your business. I can’t control that. I’m only in control of my reaction.
Gary – Over at my blog I talk about this some more. I don’t doubt that your source has a problem with Garrity. You don’t go as long in local politics as Garrity without making a few enemies. But there is a difference between disagreement/dislike and corruption. Your impression of “corruption” in St. Louis County is just that, an impression fed in many cases by fantasy and disappointment with the results from St. Louis County. I’m not saying that the county is perfect, that there haven’t been minor issues common to any large county. I’m saying that the accusation of corruption is serious and I have yet to see evidence of systemic corruption. I break with my party when I see corruption and would do so again if I saw corruption here. It’s just not there. If your source has more specific information I’d like to hear about it.
Aaron:
Since you were asking the questions apparently did you ask where did the candidates vote in the November election. It seems since you have to be a resident of the district for six months where the candidates voted in November would’ve determined that.
A good and smart moderator would’ve asked that question? So what was the answer to that question.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Like ballots suddenly reappearing weeks after the election should be accepted as normal??? Mr. Brown, you’ve got a relaxed definition of corruption.