Sunday, August 10, 2008

John Kline's Opponent - Bummin' a Free Ride? 

John Kline, US Congressman from Minnesota's Second Congressional District is being challenged by Democrat Steve Sarvi. The Kline campaign has registered and paid the entry fee to walk in almost 40 parades in communities throughout the district.

John Kline and his supporters have turned out in force, in numbers ranging the low 30's to over 70 per parade, and expect to continue such turnouts through the fall. Sarvi has missed a number of parades, and the number of his supporters has been much smaller when he has shown up. (See this report noting attendance in the parade in Steve's home town, Watertown.)

But there is another problem with the Sarvi campaign. At yesterday's parade in Lonsdale, we checked the parade registrant list. Sarvi was not listed as a participant, yet he "doubled up" to walk with a local MN House representative. Is this the first time that Sarvi has ducked the parade registration fees while showing up to walk the parade route with several of his supporters, all wearing campaign T-shirts with his name on it? Probably not.

Stiffing local parade organizers over registration fees indicates irresponsibility on the part of a candidate. It raises the question: How many times this season has Mr. Sarvi just bummed a ride from some other candidate? Do we want to even consider someone who mooches like this to represent us in Congress?

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