This just in:
The DFL Environmental Caucus today announced its endorsement of State Auditor Rebecca Otto for Governor.
“Rebecca Otto is a powerful voice for the environment and for a better Minnesota economy,” said caucus chair Veda Kanitz. “We wholeheartedly endorse her candidacy for Governor of Minnesota.”
Kanitz highlighted Otto’s position on climate change as one important factor in the caucus decision. “Otto’s visionary Minnesota Powered Plan provides a clear pathway to address climate change, create good-paying jobs in communities across the state, and make Minnesota a leader in clean energy technologies,” Kanitz said. “It is an agenda for a new kind of prosperity, one where the economy and the environment work together.” Kanitz also noted the candidate’s broad appeal among caucus members: “One candidate, Rebecca Otto, rose to the top in our assessment. Candidate Otto distinguished herself with an in-depth understanding of the complex environmental threats Minnesota faces and what we must do to address them. Her long-standing commitment to living her environmental values gave added substance to her words, as did the fact that she put forward a concrete agenda.”
Otto expressed her appreciation to the caucus for its endorsement: “The impact of climate change is hitting far sooner and much closer to home than many of us ever imagined and we have a moral obligation to act quickly and decisively to protect our children. I look forward to working with the DFL environmental caucus and all Minnesotans to take on these major challenges in a way that benefits everyone should I have the privilege of serving as our next Governor.”
The Environmental Caucus endorsement process involved several steps, including the evaluation of candidate positions on transportation, social justice, climate change, clean water, agriculture, mining, and citizen engagement; and a review of voting records and websites. Candidates Rebecca Otto, Tim Walz, Chris Coleman, Paul Thissen, Erin Murphy, and Tina Liebling were considered.
Rebecca Otto’s site is here. Go make a donation for this climate hawk!
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Knock me over with a feather with this endorsement. Even though he probably didn’t participate in the process, Shaun Otto is still a member of the executive committee.
Hugh, your comment is obnoxious and completely out of line and I’m considering deleting it, and banning you from this blog for it.
Shawn Otto had nothing whatsoever to do with this endorsement. The committee did exactly what it said it did in its announcement, and it was a clean process. Your suggestion otherwise requires an apology from you.
I’ll leave these comments up here for a day or so so that you can see them, and without an apology you are history here.
Greg, I am not accusing the caucus of anything wrong.
But from a person outside of the caucus, it doesn’t pass the smell test.
Shawn Otto should have resigned from the executive committee before the endorsement took place. I have friends in the leadership of the caucus, and they know my concerns of having family of the candidate in leadership pre-endorsement.
Hugh, thanks for the clarification. Your comment remains questionable, even in the second form, but I’ll let it pass.
I will assure you once again, as a member of the caucus, that there were no shenanigans.
And as long as we are on the topic, I’ll throw this in: I really have closely examined the environmental policies of each candidate. Most of the candidates are in a similar place in two areas: All wish to let us know that they believe in global warming and all wish to let us know that the legal process that may eventually lead to copper mining will procede as a legal process so just let it do so.
Rebecca’s positions are different and stand out as such. First, with respect to global warming and the energy transition, she has a fully formed and well articulated plan that no one else has, and that I expect to be borrowed widely. Her plan is also backed up by her own personal commitment, living in a house with solar and wind energy, heat pumps, and passive heating/cooling, and driving an electric car. That latter information is not necessarily he most important … not everyone has had the opportunity to do such things. But it does demonstrate an important commitment.
Rebecca Otto stands out on copper in an important way that I think most people don’t understand. The legal permitting process that all the other candidates say will make everything OK always, always, always leads to construction of large well funded projects like this. In theory, this process can determine if a project can be built or not, but in practice, that almost never happens. There are generally two paths a project can take under environmental protection law. 1) Don’t built it (there are almost no example of that) or 2) Built it but mitigate against the likely effects of the project.
Rebecca is the only candidate that recognized, years ago, that the usual path to mitigation is almost never sufficient with large mining projects, and she is demanding more. Some of the other candidates are edging toward this but to be frank, I’m pretty sure half of them don’t actually understand the process.
All the other DFL candidates are OK on environment because they give lip service. Otto is heads and shoulders above all the others because she much more fully understands the policy and is significantly more forceful, and has has her fantastic energy plan.
Looking at this endorsement it is absolutely and embarrassingly absurd to suggest that anyone in this race but Otto should get this endorsement. If anyone else had gotten it, I’d be looking for shenanigans.