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Saturday, April 29, 2006
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Gazelka, Blaine stop short of full endorsement of Koering
Associate Editor Republican District 12 House members, Rep. Paul Gazelka and Rep. Greg Blaine, declined to give unqualified support Friday to Sen. Paul Koering, the winner of Tuesday's endorsing convention.
Gazelka stopped short of any personal endorsement of Koering. Blaine said he supports Koering now but left the door open to a change if a candidate surfaces before a possible primary in September.
Gazelka, R-Brainerd, publicly congratulated Koering, R-Fort Ripley, in a letter released Friday but stopped short of giving the Republican-endorsed Senate candidate his personal support.
Koering won the GOP endorsement Tuesday by garnering 60 percent of the vote after seven hard-fought ballots. During the endorsing convention Republicans discussed Koering's April 2005 announcement that he was gay and that announcement's relevance in the political race.
Gazelka supported Koering's challenger, Brainerd City Council member Kevin Goedker, at Tuesday's endorsing convention in Little Falls. Goedker has not yet decided whether he will challenge the first-term senator in a primary.
In his letter (published on Page 4A of Sunday's Dispatch), Gazelka congratulated Koering, emphasized the importance of retaining Republican legislative seats in central Minnesota and said he looked forward to serving and working with Koering.
Gazelka said Friday he supported all Republican candidates in the broad sense, but declined to directly answer whether he would personally support Koering.
I support the endorsement process, he said. I support the fact that you have endorsing conventions ... I support the fact that the state party should be funding the endorsed candidate. Beyond that, I want to focus on my own race.
Gazelka said that his earlier statement, that he would support the Republican-endorsed candidate for the District 12 Senate seat, was made before Goedker announced. At the time of his earlier statement, Gazelka said he had heard rumors that the council member might run.
Blaine said he wants to keep the District 12 Senate seat in Republican hands and right now he supports Koering.
At this point in time ... we have one candidate for the ballot in November and that's the standing senator, Blaine said.
If a primary opponent surfaces, however, Blaine said he would like to talk to that individual.
If there is an individual, whether it's Kevin Goedker or anyone else ... that decides to file, I would like to have conversations with that individual, Blaine said.
Koering responded to the House members' comments in two separate phone interviews Friday. He expressed his dissatisfaction with Gazelka's decision Friday morning.
I guess I still continue to be disappointed with him and the way he conducted himself, Koering said. I'm disappointed he can't support the endorsed Republican candidate.
On Friday afternoon Koering expressed surprise at Blaine's comments, noting that when the Little Falls farmer first ran for the Legislature five years ago he donated $500 to his campaign and helped Blaine secure the delegates he needed to win the Republican endorsement.
I guess I'm quite shocked by those comments that I don't have his unwavering support, Koering said.
Goedker said Friday he was still undecided about whether he would challenge Koering. He stated that while it would be difficult to continue his campaign without the endorsement he would consider that the individual ballot votes were close and the convention took seven ballots to reach a decision.
As citizens, we have a right, even a duty, to question our elected officials from time to time, he said. Whether or not I will go to a primary remains to be seen.
Noting that he announced his candidacy only four days before the endorsing convention, Goedker said he didn't think the delegates had a chance to know him. While he could wait as late as the July filing period, Goedker said that as a practical matter his decision would have to come sooner than that.
Absolutely, if I'm serious about it, he said about a decision before the filing deadline.
Blaine clarified three elements of a Brainerd Dispatch story on the endorsement convention.
He said his comments about accepting the decision of the delegates regarding the endorsement referred to his own endorsement in the event a candidate surfaced. The reason he sat near Goedker during the convention was because he was looking for a place where he could sit with his wife without inconveniencing others, he said. And he didn't stand with Koering supporters when the senator spoke because he didn't want to influence the delegates one way or another.
MIKE O'ROURKE can be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
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