Get CLINTON-KAINE Lawn
Signs, Bumper Stickers and
Buttons at the DFL OFFICE
In-Person Absentee Voting
Begins in Rochester
September 23
We have lawn
You can start voting absentee in-person
signs, bumper
Monday–Friday from 8a.m.-5p.m. This is
stickers, and
done at 1421 3rd Ave SE, 2nd floor in
buttons for the
Rochester in a building on the east side
Clinton-Kaine
of the Olmsted County Fairgrounds off
campign at the DFL office at 1500 1st
3rd Avenue SE. You can apply for an
Ave, NE, Suite A. We have to pay for
absentee ballot online at
these, unlike the lawn signs local
https://mnvotes.sos.state.mn.us/ABRegi
candidates loan to voters, so there will
stration/ABRegistrationStep1.aspx if
be a $5 charge for lawn signs. The
you prefer to vote by mail. Remember
charge for bumper sticker and
than you no longer have to
buttons will be announced soon. You
give a reason to vote
can come to the office (or call 538-
absentee.
9785) Or order one on our web page:
https://www.dfl.org/sd26/
Garrison Keillor To Perform in Rochester September 24th
He’s done hosting A Prairie Home Companion. However, you can see Garrison Keillor
perform in Rochester Saturday, September 24, (note date change) in a fundraiser for
the House DFL Caucus. The DFL needs to gain seven seats in November to regain
control of the Minnesota House of Representatives and give the DFL unified control of
Minnesota government. The fundraiser will be from 5-7 PM at the ballroom of the
Rochester Marriott Hotel (101 First Avenue, SW in Rochester). The local group
Nodding Wild Onions will perform.
Sign up: https://act.myngp.com/Forms/4980754695220688128 ,
Email: [email protected] , or Call 507-382-6393
.
Sponsorships:
Friend: $100
Host: $250
Sponsor: $500
Founder: $1,000
Suggested donation: $50.
FDR Day Dinner Next Month
Tickets $40 and Sponsorship:
The second annual FDR Day Dinner will be Sunday,
October 16, at the Rochester Eagles Club (917 15th
Avenue, SE). The Vikings have a bye that week. The
Mexican buffet dinner and program will start at 6.
Representative Keith Ellison, now in his 5th term
representing much of Hennepin County in Congress will
be a principal guest speaker.
Representative Walz and local candidates will speak.
We hope to have other DFL speakers.
4pm: Registration
https://secure.actblue.co
m/contribute/page/fdrdin
ner2016?refcode=sd26s
ite.
5pm: Dinner & Silent
_
auction
6pm: Speakers
If you wish to contribute an item or items for the silent
auction, please send a note to: [email protected]
with the subject line Silent Auction
Meet the Candidate
Tina Liebling is running for re-election to the Minnesota House
of Representatives in District 26A. If re-elected, she will start
her 7th term next year. Tina was born in Minneapolis and lived
there until she was 16, then graduated from high school in
Amherst, MA because of a family move. She came back to
Minnesota and supported herself as a waitress, a nurse's aide,
and a clerical worker so she could earn her B.A. at the
University of Minnesota, then earned an M.S. in Public Health at
the University of Massachusetts, and a J.D. from Boston
University. She married her husband in 1985 and practiced law in Massachusetts and
Chicago through 1993 before returning to Minnesota in 1994 when her husband took a
job at Mayo Clinic. She had a solo law practice specializing in criminal law from 19942002.
She first ran for the House in 2002 but lost in a three-way race. She was elected
in 2004, the first Representative from Olmsted County elected as a DFLer, and has
been re-elected five times. She has focused on health and human services issues in the
House and was the chair of the House Health and Human Services Policy Committee
from 2013-2015. She is currently the minority lead for health on the House Health and
Human Services Finance Committee. She has been a consistent voice for progressive
issues over the last 14 years and has worked hard to support local DFL party units and
candidates.
She lives with her husband in Rochester. She is a member of many local civic
organizations, including the Olmsted County Bar Association, the NAACP, and the
Rochester League of Women Voters. She is on the Board of Directors of Zumbro Valley
Health Center. All three of Tina's children graduated from Rochester Public Schools and
from college. Tina has recently re-entered law practice with her older son.
Michelle Freeman is
our Communications Officer.
She grew up in the Twin
Cities, graduated from
Andover High School,
followed by Winona State
University with a degree in
cell biology. She postponed
her goal of becoming a
physician to explore
research which is why she is
here in Rochester, at Mayo Clinic. She tells
us she has always been passionate about
politics. While she was raised a Republican,
she no longer subscribes to that party’s
representation of the world. She says she is
“crazy passionate about helping others” and
really enjoys meeting new people. She
volunteered to help with the DFL because
she was curious to see how politics works
from the inside and wanted to help make
real change happen. She believes while
national politics are important, tangible
change is usually felt from local and state
politics, so it is important to be involved
locally. As Communications Officer, she has
improved this newsletter, upgraded our
social media presence, and brought the
party unit’s communications into the 2010s.
Outside politics, she does Crossfit at
Crossfit Progressions, and works part-time
on the weekends at Texas Road House to
pay for her student loans. She has a dog
and two cats.
Unfortunately, she’ll be leaving in December
to go to medical school, so if you’re
interested in leading Senate District 26
DFL’s communication efforts in 2017,
contact [email protected] and tell us
you’re interested.
Aleta Borrud is our Outreach and Inclusion
Officer. She tells us “I grew up on the open
prairie in western
North Dakota in an
area now
despoiled by
fracking, leaving
there in time for
high school in
Garrison Keillor’s
home town of
Anoka, MN. My
first political actions were as a college
student leader in the movement to divest
funds in South Africa in the 1970’s followed
by a decade of anti-white supremacist work
targeting the intense Ku Klux Klan
organizing in the northeast, particularly
Connecticut, in the 1980’s. Medical school,
residency, family and work at Mayo were a
diversion over the next 2 decades, but got
my feet wet in local politics working on Andy
Welti’s and Tina Liebling’s campaigns. I
became a director for Senate District 26
DFL in 2014 in 2014 and took on the (bigger
than anticipated!) task of organizing the
2016 precinct caucuses. When Mary Jones
indicated that she wanted to step down after
her long and exceptional leadership as our
Outreach and Inclusion Chair, it seemed
that this was a role I should step up to.
Olmsted County is changing and the local
DFL leadership must reflect this. It will take
all of us to get outside of our comfort zones,
to hear and give voice to the needs of our
entire community, for people to trust our
intentions to be inclusive. I look forward to
other people helping me to do this.”
Aleta lives in Rochester with her husband.
She is also co- managing Rich Wright’s
campaign for the Minnesota Senate this fall.
Senate District 26 Central Committee Meeting Will Be September 12
Our Central Committee meeting will be Monday, September 12, from 7-9 PM at the
Rochester DFL office. Our Secretary and two Directors have resigned. Their
replacements can be elected at this meeting. At least one Director must be a man and
one must live in District 26B. Due to Tawana Overton’s election to the State Executive
Committee, we also have an opening for a female alternate position to the 1 st
Congressional District and State DFL Central Committee, which can also be filled on
September 12. The Senate District 26 DFL Constitution, which has more information of
what the Secretary and Directors do and how vacancies are filled, is now on the Senate
District 26 website. In addition to the constitutional requirements, a secretary should
have a working knowledge of Gmail and Google Drive; maintain/update distribution lists;
respond to contacts at least daily; and send out meeting notices, one about 10 days
before the Central Committee meeting with proposed agenda and requesting written
reports be submitted and another 3-4 days before the meeting to the Central Committee
distribution list with the proposed agenda and reports. To get more information about
these positions or how the elections for them will be held, call Deb at 507-272-5335, or
or email [email protected].
Volunteers Needed-Now!
With only two months until Election Day, we need lots of volunteers
and we need them now if we want to elect Hillary Clinton
President, re-elect Tim Walz, and elect Rich Wright, John
Austinson, and Tina Liebling in Senate District 26. The Wright
and Austinson campaigns, which are trying to defeat incumbents,
especially need people to knock on voters' doors, call voters, and
arrange for/place lawn signs. They may also need volunteers who aren't talking to
voters. Contact those campaigns at http://www.richwright.org/volunteer/
or http://voteausty26b.com/volunteer-opportunities/
Now is the time to start helping!
Senate District 26 DFL needs help, too. We need volunteers to staff the office (If you
would like to volunteer, you can sign up at Volunteer to staff the DFL office, call Deb at
507-272-5335, or call the DFL office at 507-536-9785) or email [email protected]
with the subject line Volunteer), plan events, raise money to give to candidates, and
otherwise provide support to candidates. If you don't have time to volunteer, you can
help by bringing supplies or food for the office.
COMMUNICATIONS CORNER
[email protected] and Other Social Media
Senate District 26 DFL now has its own email address. Official
communications will come from SD DFL (though the full address is
above). Watch for them.
Website at http://www.dfl.org/sd26/
Updated Regularly
@sd26dfl
https://www.facebook.com/groups/144866495637545/
We share an open Facebook page with Olmsted-25 DFL and Senate District 25 at
https://www.facebook.com/sd26sd25olm25/?fref=ts
Election Night Party Being Planned
There will be a combined Election Night party for all DFLers
in Olmsted County on Tuesday, November 8, starting after the polls
close at 8 PM. A committee of people from the Senate District 26 and
Olmsted-25 DFLs has begun to plan the party. We need more
volunteers who like to plan parties. If that’s you, contact Deb Staley at
[email protected] to volunteer.