Margaret Martin, research director for the Taxpayers League, is this week’s Alpha News media bias contest winner. Congratulations, Margaret! She submitted what can only be described as a master class in bias by Patrick Coolican and the other Democrats at the Star Tribune.
The story about Gov. Dayton’s tax proposal reads like a press release. The Governor is known to reward the most sycophantic local reporters with a “day” in Minnesota named in their honor so perhaps that’s what motivated Coolican to write this factually false front page story.
The problem with the story? Coolican laughably claimed that Dayton’s proposals would lower taxes when, in fact, it would raise them. Truth is no obstacle for local media when it comes to carrying water for their party.
To its eternal credit, the Minnesota Republican Senate Caucus, through its communications team of Bill Walsh, Jim Knutson, Katie Fulkerson, Nick Sherlock, Jacob Schneider, Joel Hanson, and Stephen Meyer, pushed back with a series of brilliant tweets.
I’ve waited for what seems like forever for Minnesota Republicans of all stripes and across all boards to do something like this.
Local media was aghast: what was this, rejecting the narrative the Democrats with a byline had generated? Republicans should do this routinely instead of embroidering around the edges.
Instead of full throated pushback, we too often get Republican types who want to make nice with local media, whose strongest desire is to see fewer of them elected to office in Minnesota. The worst offenders are the insipid “activists” on Twitter who make happy clappy with them on Twitter, thinking they’ve endeared themselves to the Fourth Estate. Save us from those types, in and out of office.
Thanks to all who made submissions this week. The tweets that mark something of a watershed in the establishment Republican relationship to Minnesota media are set out below.
Image credit courtesy of Jim Knutson
John Gilmore
John Gilmore is an author, freelance writer & former opinion columnist for Alpha News. He blogs at minnesotaconservatives.org & is @Shabbosgoy on Twitter