Good Tuesday morning Fellow Seekers,
Rachel Paulose is ensconced in a new Justice Department job in Washington, but the issues and allegations raised by her stormy tenure as U.S. Attorney for Minnesota linger on — in fact, they are flaring up anew.
The federal Office of Special Counsel, which is still investigating some of the allegations against […]

This post relies on reporting by my Minnesota Monitor teammate Joe Bodell as well as my own.
There’s a fresh wave of discussion in Washington and Minnesota of the possibility that U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad may change his announced retirement plans and seek another term instead.
A very good source of mine has stated that […]

The staff of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is in the midst of a significant shakeup, with major departures from both the Washington and Minnesota offices, and a controversial social conservative taking over Bachmann’s Minnesota operations.
Rich Dunn, the chief of staff from the Washington office, told the Minnesota staff Friday that former state Sen. Sean Nienow, […]

At 3:13 p.m., the attorneys in the Minnesota Office of the U.S. Attorney received the following email message:
Subject: A message to my colleagues
Dear Colleagues:
I have accepted a new position in Washington, D.C. I will be serving as Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy. I am excited […]

At least two more high-ranking officials of the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office resigned (or are on the verge of resigning) their supervisory positions today to protest the leadership of U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose.
Developing. Will report details as I confirm them.
Cross-posted at Minnesota Monitor.

This scoop is very modest since Edina Mayor James Hovland had already said he was strongly leaning toward getting in the race for the open seat for the Third Congressional District, and my esteemed colleague Joe Bodell all but put him in the race this morning, but Hovland just informed me that he’s definitely running.
He […]

Good Thursday Morning Fellow Seekers,
Guest Poster Karl Bremer of Stillwater, a marketer and free-lance journalist, considers himself U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s least favorite constituent. He has attempted to ask her questions by phone, email and letter and has never received an answer, including his queries relating to this piece.
Looking at Bachmann’s financial disclosure statement, he […]

Until recently, Rachel Paulose had told friends and colleagues that she hoped and planned to keep her job as U.S. attorney for Minnesota until the end of Pres. Bush’s term. She has stopped making that statement around the office.
Signs and portents augur that the end of her tenure may (or may not) draw nigh. To […]

Signs point to yes, U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad has left the door open to retracting his retirement announcement. If he does, it will be a blockbuster development in Minnesota politics with possible consequences in the national race for Congress. (And it would mess up several folks who were preparing to run for the open […]

Good Tuesday morning,
When a bill strengthening the independence of the inspectors general offices of the executive branch flew through the House last week by a vote of 404-11, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-MN, was one of the 11 “nay” votes.
She later inserted into the Congressional Record a brief statement indicating that she had meant to […]

James  B. Hovland, the Republican mayor of Edina, will be switching to the DFL and is seriously contemplating entering the race for the Dem nomination for the open Third District congressional seat.
Hovland will be meeting with representatives of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee shortly (possibly tomorrow) to get acquainted and talk about the race.
I haven’t spoken […]

Just spoke to Andy Luger, who confirms that he has decided not to get into the race.
“I decided very late last night, I’m not going to run for Congress,” he said. 
Lugar said he found he couldn’t disrupt his law practice on such short notice after having done the same thing two years ago to run for […]

Hubert H. (Buck) Humphrey IV, who has been widely identified as a likely frontrunner in the race for the DFL nomination for the open congressional seat in the Third District has decided not to run.
“I will verify that,” Humphrey just told me when I called him to check out the rumor.
Humphrey, grandson of a vice […]