Pass the Word - Gina Bauman is the only Conservative in the SD50 Contest

Full disclosure - I am a supporter of Gina Bauman for District 50 Senate and Chair of her campaign committee.

That being said...

There’s less than 100 days until the election and I know that many people don’t really start to pay attention until it gets down to the last week or so. But judging from some questions and comments I’ve heard while door-knocking there seems to be some misconceptions about the District 50 Senate contest that need to be cleared up post-haste.

1. Gina Bauman is the GOP endorsed candidate and is the only true conservative in the race. Gina earned the endorsement at the SD50 GOP Endorsement Convention with about 90% of the vote. She has solid conservative credentials as a twice-elected member of the New Brighton City Council where she has diligently advanced fiscally responsible, limited government policies. While she is best known for her demonstrated knowledge of fiscal matters, she also impressed convention delegates with her strong stands on the need for government accountability, personal responsibility, and pro-family values that resulted in the impressive show of support for endorsement.


2. Rae Hart Anderson no longer has any affiliation with the GOP and is not a candidate in the upcoming primary election. She was the endorsed candidate in the last election four years ago where she had to struggle to barely get the required percentage of votes for endorsement after multiple ballots. Back then many of the delegates did not feel that any of the candidates were worthy of endorsement and were leaning toward not making an endorsement at all. Anderson sought the SD50 GOP endorsement again this year and, as noted above, was soundly rejected in favor of Gina Bauman. 

It should be noted that the SD50 GOP endorsement committee required all candidates seeking the endorsement to sign a pledge before the endorsement vote to abide by the endorsement process and not run against the endorsed candidate in a GOP primary election. Rae Anderson, along with Gina Bauman and one other candidate, signed the pledge as a condition for consideration of the GOP endorsement. All three candidates had equal time and opportunity to make their case for the endorsement and the convention delegates overwhelming chose Gina as their endorsed candidate. 

Anderson apparently intends to run as an independent (i.e. no endorsement by any party - not to be confused with the Independence Party) in the general election this fall. While the pledge she signed is admittedly not legally binding (and, technically, she is not competing in a primary) her continued campaign shows a lack of respect for the endorsement process that she had actively pursued and lost in a fair contest, as well as a lack of appreciation for those of us who work hard at the grass-roots level to support candidates.

Personally, as someone who worked very hard in support of Rae Anderson as the endorsed GOP candidate four years ago, I’m disappointed both in her decision to continue her campaign as well as in the way in which she has been running it. But I feel obligated to call attention to the tactics she is employing as there is simply too much at stake in this election to just sit back and let things ride.

It appears that Rae is exploiting the fact that the majority of the mainstream media coverage of this race has been on Senator Chaudhary’s ethical and internal DFL political problems, with little substantive coverage of the actual campaigns. From what I’ve heard and observed, Rae is aggressively door-knocking, putting up the same yard signs she used four years ago, and apparently is not going out of her way to dispel the mistaken perception of some people that she is once again the endorsed GOP candidate in a "Chaudhary vs. Anderson II" rematch in the general election. Anderson is also “recycling” some endorsements from four years ago on her web site from people who now actively support Gina Bauman as the legitimately endorsed GOP candidate without noting when the “endorsements” were made.  

While Rae Anderson’s 2006 campaign for the most part advocated conservative principles, the 2010 edition appears to have no focus, substance, or coherent direction. She now advocates a lot of feel-good populist nonsense about health care being a "right" and asserts that she can be a champion for her constituents to get their "fair share" from government, topped off with a disjointed hodge-podge of out of context quotes culled from the Internet and some fire and brimstone evangelizing.  

I am not claiming that Rae Anderson does not have the right to run as an unendorsed candidate - she clearly does. I do, however, question her judgment and motivation to exercise that right in light of how she would expect the support of those of us on the political right had she won the GOP endorsement, especially when what is at stake is considered.

Rae has the faith, drive, energy, and just plain "good heart" to be a very effective social worker, "social justice" advocate, or community activist. But after two disastrous elections that have put liberals and socialists in control of the state legislature we desperately need to elect an effective senator who truly believes in limited government and can and will effectively advance conservative ideals. We do not need yet another activist or social worker. 

Gina Bauman is clearly the only true conservative in this race and has the track record that shows she can defeat Chaudhary in the general election. Vote totals are a zero-sum game, and well-intentioned but uninformed votes for a candidate that does not have the real support to win the general election plays to the advantage of the incumbent.

It is important that conservative voters do not merely cast a vote against Chaudhary in favor of a familiar sounding name in the mistaken belief that they are supporting a true conservative. Gina Bauman is the only conservative in the race, and the only candidate who stands a real chance of providing Senator Chaudhary the opportunity to spend more time hunting and fishing rather than spending our money and advancing his liberal agenda.

Go Gina!

Update - since this post was originally written Barb Goodwin has decisively defeated Senator Chaudhary in the DFL primary with about 70% of the vote. The margin of Goodwin's victory suggests it is now even more important that conservatives get out to the polls in November and make an informed vote for Gina Bauman, the only true conservative in this race.