Michael Brodkorb, a formerly high-ranking Minnesota Republican strategist, now says the reason for the one-man-one-woman marriage amendment is that Republican lawmakers believed that Democratic U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar would easily win re-election. She will. And Obama will almost certainly win MN.
Republican legislators worried the religious conservatives might look at the polls and stay home. So they needed a get-out-the-vote gimmick. What about homophobia? They could come up with a Minnesota constitutional amendment against marriage equality. The homophobes would get excited and vote for it (because marriage to ducks would be next). And while they were voting, they’d vote for the Republicans running for state offices.
More below the sharp-cheddar curlicue of truth.
Here’s the link to the WCCO television report: Vote ‘Yes’ Strategist Will Vote ‘No’. And if you don’t click on the link and watch the TV interview, here’s what it says:
Brodkorb was former Deputy Chairman of the State Republican Party and top Senate staffer, and says GOP Senators knew a driving force behind the gay marriage amendment wasn’t morality.
It was political reality.
Top GOP leaders thought they couldn’t beat incumbent Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, and Republicans would stay home.
“The belief was, the United States senate race was not going to be close, and that Republicans needed and social conservatives needed a reason to get to the polls in November,” he said.
OK. It was a cynical way to whip up the Republican base and get them to vote in an election. Wait, there’s more…
The Brodkorb/Koch Sex Scandal
Michael Brodkorb had an allegedly inappropriate relationship with Amy Koch. She was the Majority Leader of the MN Senate. He was fired and she resigned. And now he has filed a lawsuit for unlawful termination (because women who sleep with male legislators don’t get fired, or something like that).
Here’s an article about that from MPR (Minnesota Public Radio): Brodkorb-Koch scandal becomes campaign lit fodder.
Here’s the scandal – the Republicans (who are in charge of the legislature) decided that they’d fight the lawsuit using government funds (taxpayer dollars).
Oh, I forgot to mention,
The MN Republican Party is Flat Broke
Or at least it was back in April 2012, when the MN Republicans were threatened with eviction from their headquarters according to the Strib: (Debt-laden Minn. GOP notified of eviction) because they hadn’t paid rent and they were 2 milllion in debt. They still owed money from the Al Franken election recount. Then they hired a guy to run their office who was a successful businessman (a bunch of pizza places), who spent too much and didn’t raise money.
The Marriage Amendment
The Republicans are in disarray, but the voters in MN will still be voting on the one-man-one-woman marriage amendment. So far it’s very close, according to the Strib: MINNESOTA POLL RESULTS: Marriage amendment:
"YES" "NO" UNDECIDED
STATE 49% 47% 4%
Men 57% 39% 4%
Women 40% 56% 4%
18-34 37% 57% 6%
35-49 51% 47% 2%
50-64 47% 49% 4%
65+ 55% 41% 4%
If you live in MN, vote against the marriage amendment. And vote against the voter ID amendment, too.
