Saturday, June 05, 2010

Mark Busgens, campaign manager

Rep. Buesgens has moved from figurehead to the helm of the HMS Emmer. Bursgens has been the campaign chair, but now he moves to replace David FitzSimmons as campaign manager.

Doug Grow calls calls Busgens “a non-traditional choice to run a statewide campaign.” Here’s the lede from Grow’s article at MinnPost:

The big question asked by political traditionalists is how Tom Emmer will move to the middle for the general election.

The answer has become increasingly clear: The Republican Party's endorsed gubernatorial candidate won't move. He'll stay right where he is, at the center of the conservative movement.

Emmer underscored his own passionate political beliefs by naming Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan, as his campaign manager.

Buesgens is not merely “non-traditional.” He’s Allen Quist with pep. He’s not at the “center of the conservative movement;” he’s got a seat in the balcony on the right-hand side of it.

On the core values of alienation, being wound way too tight, and failure of empathy, however, Buesgens is right there.

Rep. Buesgens has always been right there as a champion of the school vouchers crowd and sitting on early education and K-12 finance committees in the legislature. He’s also on the record in the interview at the link in favor of abolishing the Metropolitan Council. He’s Annette Meeks’ fellow traveler on that one.

Here’s are Buesgens’ legislative priorities from his page at the Minnesota House site:

Tax cuts
Education reform
Local control of government decision-making

When your only tool is a machete, every problems looks like a jungle!

Buesgens is not running to be governor, of course. But Emmer’s choice of Buesgens, like his choice of Annette Meeks, signals the kind of governor Emmer would be. Certainly not a consensus builder or someone who would welcome contrasting views of policy in his administration. And certainly not someone who would reach out to another political party.

As governor, the only thing that Tom Emmer would have to do is cultivate the mullet.

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