The McNamara win is disappointing for those who have concerns about Denny McNamara's 14 years of broken promises of very moderate voting. Not to mention his reputation after being charged in 2015 for an ethics violation for yelling at the 80 year old former State Representative Phyllis Kahn. She said she "never felt so threatened and domineered by a fellow legislator" in her 43 years in the House. The case was later dismissed. See more:
South Washington County Republicans Will Decide if they want McNamara, his Baggage, and Terrible Legislative Record
Before the vote McNamara had a woman named Faye Hatch introduce him. Her speech was mostly dedicated to calling my article linked above false and inaccurate attempting to discredit it simply by the fact I don't live in their district. The truth is the article is essentially a summary of the objective data from the Tax Payers League who posts the voting record of all the legislators in MN for the last twenty years and rates them yearly. Hatch did not name an example of anything specific in the post that was false, instead just went on for 3 minutes on how it was disappointing to question McNamara's voting history and what a great person he supposedly is.
When McNamara spoke he commanded the stage. It was impressive how he spouted all the talking points so flawlessly like the seasoned career politician he has made himself. Things like lowering taxes and reining in government spending... Things he's never championed in his 14 years. He even went into talking in the third person a couple times. Stating in his own words that no one would fight harder than Denny McNamara. He talked about how he "crushed" the competition in his very first race first race nearly 16 years ago and "knocked on 12,000 doors." It was like watching an exciting speech from a pro-wrestler before a big match.
I would have been impressed myself had I not familiarized myself with his voting record. Also the fact he interrupted his speech to yell at me standing in the back the instant I took a picture. He said it was against the rules to take a picture and demanded I put the camera down (which I did). This happened after the BPOU chair had started out the meeting reading the rules that said pictures were allowed just no video recordings. Another embarrassing moment for the McNamara camp was when they asked the delegates to disregard the handout on McNamara's voting record because it did not have a campaign disclaimer on it. The fact is you don't need a disclaimer on material for an endorsing convention, especially if a private citizen is handing it out.
How anyone can any self respecting person go around a room and look people in the eye saying they will do the opposite of what they've done for the last 14 years?
Politicians rarely do 100% of what we'd like them to do, yet we support them with our votes and overlook the fact they don't do exactly what we like. But will voters draw the line with broken promises?
