Surprise! Republicans Choose Lobbyist Money Over Safety in MN-01

Tim Walz is one of the most inspiring candidates we have. He's a Netroots candidate running in MN-01 against Congressman Gil Gutknecht, a '94 Revolution Republican, who, despite the rather flamboyant name, is just another pliable and bland rubber stamp.

Gutknecht's campaign has been plagued by missteps: the rather unscrupulous Wikipedia editing, the confused and switching Iraq position, and, most recently, Gutknecht's part in the very fishy and monumentally stupid plan to "upgrade tracks and send more trains through Rochester, carrying coal and tankers of toxic cargo by Mayo Clinic [one of the top hospitals in the country]." (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Here's what happened. John Thune, Senator from South Dakota, was a lobbyist for DM&E Railroads, and has been bought and paid for by his former employers.  Once Thune got into office, he pushed for a monstrous loan to go to--you guessed it--DM&E Railroads. DM&E plans to use this money to increase the traffic going through Rochester, the biggest city in MN-01. Virtually no one who lives in Rochester wants this to happen. DM&E has a terrible safety record, and will be running dangerously close to the Mayo Clinic, an amazing hospital.

The loan Thune secured for DM&E to is worth an astonishing $2.3 billion and it required that he change the rules:

Until last summer the FRA [Federal Railroad Administration] had a total lending fund of $3.5 billion to help smallish railroads do useful upgrades they couldn't afford up front. Then, after years of effort by South Dakota's Republican Sen. John Thune, the fund was expanded tenfold, and applicants no longer had to prove they had tried to raise private funds but failed.

The FRA changes are opposed by the White House, and they were made in circumstances that raised many eyebrows: inserted quietly into a massive transportation bill at the behest of a legislator (Thune) who made $200,000 as a DM&E lobbyist during a gap in congressional service.

Smell funny yet?

Here's where our pal Gil gets involved:

The sweetheart deal engineered by John Thune for Kevin Schieffer and DM&E Railroad to run coal trains through downtown Rochester stinks to high heaven, yet Gutknect [sic] claims to not have known that Thune sought changes to railroad appropriations in conference committee to drastically increase the overall federal contribution, the lion's share going to... DM&E. A loan worth 25 times more than DM&E's net worth. Either Gil Gutknecht has been oblivious to these important developments on this issue of utmost importance to the people of Rochester, or he's not being completely honest about his involvement.

There's a new ad up on YouTube called "Railroaded". It nails Gutknecht for the DM&E bullshit. KKJohnson has it here.

So, once again, the Republican Party gleefully trashes safety and common sense in favor of cronyism, corruption, and lobbyist cash.

I wish I could say I was surprised. But, sadly, there's very little the GOP could do to surprise me anymore.

Major thanks go to A Bluestem Prairie, MN Publius, and the Midwest Netroots, who've worked tirelessly bring this issue to light.