In money race, Pinto leads with Freeman close behind

Dave Pinto leads the money race

Legislative candidates for 2013 had to file their paperwork, and it was made public by the state's Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

The reporting period only covers 2013, so it isn't the whole picture. But it tells a lot. Dave Pinto lead the pack with nearly $20k, and a ton of cash on hand. Matt Freeman was just a handful of big contributors behind him, and Beth Fraser in third. 

The numbers dropped off pretty substantially after that. Melanie McMahon, in fourth, had less than half of Pinto's war chest. Gloria Zaiger's fortunes were boosted in no small part by a $500 personal loan.

Here's the chart:

Not much too surprising here, although Greta Bergstrom ran when this seat was open last, and has the longest standing ties to the district. As communications director for TakeAction Minnesota, she's also got a ready network of contacts in hand. It's a little surprising to see her in 5th place in the money race.

Fraser

Also, despite a comparatively short stint in the district, and without the kind of family and local political ties that Pinto and Freeman have, Fraser was pretty clearly punching above her weight in fundraising last year. And remember, she didn't officially get into the race until more than three weeks after incumbent Michael Paymar announced he wasn't running again, and his would-be successors first took the field. (UPDATE: Her third place, it should be noted, does include a $5,000 self-financed contribution, which isn't listed as a loan in her finance report.)

But again, this is 2013 money, and a lot can change in a race this short. The precinct caucuses are Tuesday.

Here's the details of their finances. Click on the link to see their CFPDB report:

Dave Pinto
Matt Freeman
Beth Fraser
Melanie McMahon
Greta Bergstrom
Gloria Zaiger
Matthew Bergeron

(Note also that Matthew Bergeron has dropped out, but still had to disclose his fundraising.)

And then there were six: Matthew Bergeron suspends campaign

DFL contender Matthew Bergeron says he's dropping out of the race to replace Michael Paymar. He says he's stopping his campaign to focus on the job he already has at the Capitol. Here's the release he put out this morning:

Bergeron Withdrawal Press Release

Video: Meet the candidates!

There's a big field running for the 64B House seat right now, and it's hard to get a look at all the candidates. But The Race for 64B is doing the legwork for you.

All seven of the announced contenders graciously agreed to offer their introductions for posterity in The Race for 64B's palatial and high-tech video facility.

None of them are perfect, but if you've seen these folks in person, particularly at the Senate District 64 gathering last month, they seem to ring pretty true to the candidates.

Have a look for yourself.

Beth Fraser

Dave Pinto

Melanie McMahon

Matthew Bergeron

Gloria Zaiger

Matt Freeman

Greta Bergstrom

Look for more from the field in the weeks to come. The Race for 64B has more plans for candidate interaction that you'll find very interesting.

We'll also have complete coverage of the DFL candidate forum scheduled for January 29th.

(A brief note on production: The candidates are listed in this posting in the order that they agreed to come in and be videotaped. The red highlights in some candidates' video come from the studio lights. All candidates were limited to an approximately 2 minute time limit. The videos were trimmed to length but are otherwise unedited.)

Seven Up: DFLers make their debut at Mac meeting

64B candidates (l to r.) Matthew Bergeron, Matt Freeman, Greta Bergstrom, Melanie McMahon, Gloria Zaiger, Beth Fraser and Dave Pinto) Photo: Tim Nelson

Seven of the candidates vying to replace outgoing state representative Michael Paymar made their party debut at a Senate District 64 DFL meeting at Macalester College last night. All offered a quick 2-minute introduction to party officers and DFLers.

Much of the detail was biographical, and you can read some of the information in the previous candidate postings here at The Race for 64B: (In the order above: Matthew Bergeron, Matt Freeman, Greta Bergstrom, Melanie McMahon, Gloria Zaiger, Beth Fraser, and Dave Pinto.)

Three of the candidates, Dave Pinto, Gloria Zaiger and Matt Freeman kicked off their speeches by emphasizing their party ties: "I know many of you," said Dave Pinto. "I've phone banked with you, I've been to caucuses with you." Gloria Zaiger ran quickly down her DFL resume as a party activist and Freeman laid out his campaign bone fides, including work on the Barack Obama and Amy Klobuchar campaigns and running Chris Coleman's re-election campaign. "We need somebody that's going to go out and organize," he said, as he wrapped up his pitch.

Both Melanie McMahon and Greta Bergstrom talked up their ties to the district. "My grandma moved to Randolph Avenue nearly 70 years ago, as single mom," McMahon told the crowd. She said she and her husband even bought a house near her grandmother's. Greta Bergstrom, who ran once before for the seat, started her pitch with her background: "I have been a resident of this district most of my life."

Matthew Bergeron, a House committee administrator, and deputy Secretary of State Beth Fraser, emphasized their state government experience. Bergeron talked about his service for the Health and Human Services Policy Committee and said it's a key aspect of state government and his experience would serve the district well. Fraser talked about her work on elections and the Voter ID amendment last year and with the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action. "My track record has 17 years of experience working at the Capitol," Fraser told the crowd.

The question and answer afterward had a couple interesting points. All were asked about the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine proposed for northern Minnesota. None expressed any real support.

•  "I want to make sure we don't do any environmental damage we can't undo," said McMahon.
• Bergstrom questioned whether 300 jobs was worth potentially centuries of cleanup: "I don't see a reason to vote for that," she said.
• Freeman said he was open to it, "but for me, the threshold would be very high to move forward."
• Bergeron called the employment "tempting," but added that "there are a lot of things that would have to be worked out before I'd be comfortable supporting it."
• Pinto said he was concerned about the potential lengthy environmental cleanup, noting that 500 years of potential water treatment was daunting: "Think about what happened 500 years ago," he said, by comparison.
• Fraser said she thinks the state needs to find something else to revitalize the Iron Range. "I want to find other economic options," she said. "How can we find alternatives."
• Zaiger was outright against it. "I sympathize with the need for jobs, but there hasn't been enough research, and I am right now opposed," she said.

And finally, the last question of the night: Would the candidates abide by the DFL endorsement? Six offered an emphatic "Yes!" and McMahon said "Absolutely!" So there you go.

Other news from the meeting:

• Beth Fraser said she will officially be getting in the race and plans to put out a release today. Look for that later here at The Race for 64B.
• Greta Bergstrom is planning a campaign event for the Chatterbox Pub in Highland Village on Sunday, from 4 to 6 p.m. She says there will be a formal invite and announcement as soon as today.
• The Feb. 4 precinct caucuses for 64B are scheduled for now for Highland Junior High. The Senate District 64 Convention is looking like it'll be March 23, a Sunday, at noon, at Central High.
• Party officials said last night they hare planning to have a pre-caucus candidate forum, likely some time in the last two weeks of January, so that would-be delegates to the convention can get a better look at who they'd like to support before Feb. 4.

A look at the voting records of 64B candidates

Flickr photo: Bill Roehl

The great thing about Minnesota is that you can get some idea of the voting records of candidates before they even get to the Legislature.

And they may be telling, depending on how you feel about a candidate and her or his habits.

In the interest of fuller disclosure, The Race for 64B is doing the legwork for you. Here are the voter registration records for the candidates who have declared or say they're thinking about a run for the office next year.

The registrations histories don't tell you WHO they voted for or even what races were on their ballots. But the voter files have some important data -- like how often they exercise their franchise. It also tells you where they did it.

Take a look for yourself. 

It's all public information, taken right from the state's voter database, at the request of The Race for 64B. The database only covers Minnesota, and only goes back as far as the state's electronic records started in 1993, according to Ramsey County elections manager Joe Mansky. So these records may not reflect the full history of each voter.

Several candidates also say there are errors in their records (see the explanations below), but Mansky said in an interview today there is no independent way to check those claims outside of the state database.

Feel free to add comments to this post if the data gives you any insight. Click on each name to see the documents.

• Matthew Bergeron
• Brian Bergson
• Greta Bergstrom
• Beth Fraser
• Matt Freeman *
• Martin Ludden
• Melanie McMahon **
• Dave Pinto
• Gloria Zaiger

* Matt Freeman says his voter registration record does not reflect a ballot he cast in 2008. Freeman says he was working for Barack Obama's presidential campaign in Minnesota that fall and voted in-person absentee at the Isanti County courthouse in Cambridge.

** Melanie McMahon says her voter registration record does not reflect ballots she cast in 2000, and 2007. She said she voted by absentee ballot in 2000, when she was traveling in Europe. She says she's sure she voted at the polls in the 2007 election, but doesn't know why her record doesn't reflect that vote.

Bergeron makes it official: he's in

Legislative staffer and one-time lobbyist Matthew Bergeron says he's made up his mind and he's going for it: he has officially announced he's running for the 64B House seat being vacated by Michael Paymar next year.

You can read Bergeron's official release on the subject below. It's chock-a-block with legislative references and includes laudatory comments -- though not quite endorsements -- from Rochester Rep. Tina Liebling as well as Golden Valley DFLer Ryan Winkler. (And a campaign contact phone number with a 763 area code to match.)

Bergeron is the 5th candidate to officially announce for the race. Two more may join them yet this week.

Bergeron Announcement Press Release by Tim Nelson

Matthew Bergeron is also thinking about 64B race

Next up: Matthew Bergeron, a veteran of Paul Thissen's 2010 gubernatorial campaign, Lockridge alum and committee administrator for the Health and Human Service Policy Committee in the House.

Bergeron confirmed tonight that he's thinking about a bid for the DFL endorsement for the 64B seat being vacated by Michael Paymar next year. Bergeron is an attorney who also staffs Rep. Ryan Winkler's Select Committee on Living Wage Jobs.

"I've gotten a lot of encouragement and support," he says of the race, although he's not ready to commit yet. "I think I've got a background and skill set that will allow me to be really effective at the Capitol."

Bergeron also says he's got family ties to the district. His dad was a United Food and Commercial Workers member and steward at the Highland Park Lunds. His dad's a Tommie. Mom was a Katie.

Bergeron is actually a Mounds View native, and graduated from Irondale. But he went to Macalester, and like so many other alums, didn't make it far off campus after graduation. He also went to William Mitchell, where he got his law degree in 2011.

Along the way, he took some time off from law school to work on Thissen's 2010 campaign as a field organizer for the 4th, 6th and 8th Congressional Districts. He went to work for Lockridge Grindal Nauen as a legislative assistant for the 2011 session.

After Lockridge, he started his own lobbying firm, the Bergeron Strategies Group after that. Bergeron says he repped the Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators, an affiliate of the Association of Minnesota Counties.

You can see his LinkedIn profile here.

And when Thissen and the DFL hit the jackpot in 2012 and took the House back, Bergeron signed on as caucus staff, where he works today for committee chair Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester. (Bergeron is also a college friend of Crosby 10B DFLer Rep. Joe Radinovich.) He hopes his background as a lobbyist, legislative staffer and long time campaigner will give him a leg up in an endorsement bid.