True North

For those of you who are looking for a compelling story this morning, Sanu Patel-Zellinger's bio tells an interesting story. I'd recommend that everyone become familiar with it.

My name is Sanu Patel-Zellinger. I was born in India and grew up in Kathmandu (Nepal), before coming to the US in 1991. I paid my way through college and earned my degree in Business from Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota in 1997.

Shortly after, I received my US citizenship in 1998. I was as proud as could be. I married my husband Fred Zellinger at Grace Church (Eden Prairie) in 2000. Both of Fred's parents were teachers, and his father taught for over 35 years and currently live in Wisconsin.

That alone made the reading worthwhile. Here's more information that made it that much more compelling:

Yesterday, Jeremy Kalin announced that he was retiring from the Minnesota Legislature after getting the HD-17B endorsement. Could this post have played a role in that decision?

First the news about Kalin's announcement:

Rep. Jeremy Kalin (DFL-North Branch) announced March 2 that he will not seek re-election for a third term in District 17B this November. Kalin said in a press release that he wants to focus more on family, than state politics.

"My wife and I were married during my first year in office. For two and a half years, we've managed the very hectic life of a State Representative from Chisago County and an ob-gyn physician delivering babies 45 miles away in Minneapolis," he said. "We've decided to take a break from campaigns and elected office and enjoy our lives together while we can still call ourselves 'newlyweds.'"

It was a spirited morning and early afternoon at Christ the King Lutheran Church in New Brighton as the House 50B Republican BPOU met for its convention. A total of 106 delegates and alternates met and participated in the convention, an impressive turnout. The headline is that the BPOU has endorsed a candidate to run against Kate Knuth, the orange-clad Green incumbent who has represented (so to speak) our district for the past two terms.

My senate district (45) lies in a deep blue DFL stronghold. I expected a lower turnout for my GOP caucus in New Hope, about 75% less than showed in 2008: 256 vs. 1,100 in 2008.  Many in our local party were disappointed until we read this snip in our local Sun-Post paper:

Low turnout characterized the Senate District DFL caucuses meeting at Robbinsdale Middle School, according to Senate District 45 DFL Chair John LaPointe of Robbinsdale.

Nearly 300 people turned out, compared to 800 in 2006 and 3,600 in 2008, he said.

"It had been trending up every year since 2000," LaPointe said. "This year we anticipated we'd be back up to between 1,000 and 1,200. To have only 300 show up was quite surprising."