An interview by anchor Cyndy Brucato with Minnpost editor Joel Kramer will be broadcast on KSTP Channel 5 at 6:30 pm tonight.

An explanation for recent agonies in attorney general's office: Mike Hatch's traumatic reign

By Eric Black | Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The recent agonies of the Minnesota attorney general's office under Lori Swanson are the latest symptoms of trauma that goes back nine years and starts with two words: Mike Hatch. According to dozens of present and former officials of the office and others, Hatch traumatized the AG's office with his bare-knuckled style that tested the boundaries of acceptable conduct. Attorneys and others describe working for Hatch and Swanson as hellish, featuring verbal abuse and pressure to do things they believed were unethical, and to put Hatch's political needs foremost. First of two articles.

RELATED: Statement issued by Mike Hatch to MinnPost

RELATED: Report to Attorney General Lori Swanson (PDF) Regarding Allegations of Professional Misconduct raised by Assistant Attorney General Amy Lawler

'They will come after you'

By Eric Black | Thursday, May 29, 2008

The many lawyers who shared with MinnPost their experiences in former Attorney General Mike Hatch's office say they're very fearful that he and his successor, Lori Swanson, will find a way to retaliate and punish them — though the actual damage done to targets of Hatch's wrath seems smaller than the fear. Second of two articles. 

Part One: An explanation for recent agonies in attorney general's office: Mike Hatch's traumatic reign
Attorneys and others describe working for Hatch and Lori Swanson as hellish, featuring verbal abuse and pressure to do things they believed were unethical, and to put Hatch's political needs foremost.

Coleman and Franken on Iraq: Everything you need to know

By Eric Black | Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008

The war in Iraq. It's an important — but often confusing — issue in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. What were their views in the run-up to the war? What are their positions now?  Have they changed? Here's the definitive story.

150 Minnesota moments we'd just as soon forget

Compiled by MinnPost editors and writers | Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Bet you thought MinnPost forgot all about Minnesota's sesquicentennial. Not so. It just took us a while to dig up enough unpleasant events to fill a list of "150 Minnesota moments we'd just as soon forget."  Surely you've noticed all the recently published lists of the state's glorious and significant moments in 150 years of statehood. We salute those achievements even as we acknowledge our inclusion in the "lest we forget" crowd. Installments run today through July 4.

Staffers detail climate of stress, politicization in AG's office

By Eric Black | Friday, March 7, 2008

During Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson's first year in office, more than 50 of the roughly 135 assistant attorneys general have left the office — an unusually high turnover rate. Staffers say the office is riven by fear, politicization, low morale, intimidation tactics and constant turnover, all of which led to a recent unionization drive. And management's reaction appears to have only exacerbated the situation.

The internets were a-buzz recently with talk of Andrew Klavan's editorial in the Wall Street Journal on how President Bush and Batman are the exact same, because both are "vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand."

Fore! Could a Ventura Senate candidacy hang on a golf game?

By Doug Grow

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Dean Barkley, a Jesse Ventura confidant and a 60-day U.S. senator himself, says one or the other of them may well challenge GOP incumbent Norm Coleman and DFL-endorsed Al Franken this fall. A golf game may decide it, he teases.

Pat Reusse isn't going to like this: the Strib just lost its top Vikings reporter to the Internet.

By David Brauer 

Barb Davis White's underground campaign

By Doug Grow

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Pastor Barb Davis White is carrying around one of the biggest political secrets in the country: The Republican-endorsed candidate for Minnesota's 5th Congressional District says her "underground campaign" will help her beat incumbent Keith Ellison.

The Strib began overhauling its editorial board nine months ago, so it shouldn’t surprise that certain editorial positions have changed. In general, the page has shucked its rep as a lefty lightning rod; on some days, it’s hard to find a call to action at all.

The name of former St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly has been floating around the Capitol as a possible new state transportation commissioner. Read more...

By Joe Kimball 

Despite pledges to the contrary, the Star Tribune continues to hemorrhage print readers, according to an Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) report released today. During the same period, PiPress circulation was essentially flat. Read more...

By David Brauer 

Four-hour momentum swing boosts Franken to first-ballot DFL endorsement

By Doug Grow | Saturday, June 7, 2008

What a difference four hours can make at the DFL convention. At 9 a.m., many delegates had resigned themselves to a multiple-ballot free-for-all in the Senate endorsement race between embattled Al Franken and challenger Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. But by 1 p.m., the political winds had shifted, and Franken breezed to a first-ballot victory. 

For almost a half century, the 3rd Congressional District has meant victory for Republicans. In successive years, dating back to 1961, Clark MacGregor, Bill Frenzel and Jim Ramstad marched off to Washington, generally not having so much as broken a sweat in campaigns against an assortment of hopelessly over-matched DFLers. Read more...

By Doug Grow