Minnesota Lawyer
SD 26 Republican endorsee Mike Parry
Last month Mike Parry survived a six-candidate scrum to receive the Republican endorsement for a special state Senate election slated for January 26. Upon receiving the party’s nod, Parry promised delegates that he would be “a senator that is not worried about being politically correct.”
Apparently the businessman and former Waseca City Council member wasn’t kidding: Inflammatory remarks that Parry posted on his Twitter account are stirring up the special election in Senate District 26, prompted by the resignation of Republican Dick Day of Owatonna.
Most notoriously, Parry once referred to President Obama as a “Power Hungry Arrogant Black Man.” In another post, he sought to associate Democrats with pedophilia – an apparent reference to national legislation that would have strengthened hate-crime standards for victims singled out because of sexual orientation.
These controversial Twitter messages, along with 33 others, were scrubbed from Parry’s account once he secured the Republican endorsement. (Parry has claimed that he doesn’t know who scrubbed his Twitter account.)
But liberal blogs, most notably Bluestem Prairie, highlighted the more unseemly posts and the story eventually got picked up by daily newspapers in the district, which includes Faribault and Owatonna.
The state DFL party called a press conference at the Capitol to denounce the tweets. The controversy was highlighted by Washington Post political blogger Chris Cillizza as a textbook example of why politicians should just say no to Twitter. Even Fox News has featured the imbroglio.
Apparently this wasn’t the kind of political incorrectness Parry had in mind. He eventually issued an apology for the comments, declaring “I take full responsibility for all mistakes in my past tweets.”
The Republican is apparently trying to keep a low media profile in the wake of the fracas. His Twitter feed has largely gone dormant. Parry didn’t return a phone call seeking comment for this story. His campaign manager, Michelle Pederson, stated in an e-mail message that Parry was too busy campaigning and referred Capitol Report to his previously released statement.
Although he has apologized for the Obama tweet, Parry did appear to defend it to Waseca County News reporter Clare Kennedy in a January 5 story.
He told her: “My opinion is that our president is arrogant and angry. The fact is that he is a black man. Now if the Democratic Party and the liberals want to take my opinion and the fact and mix it together and use it to bring a bad light about me and keep them away from discussing the real issues, they can do that all they want. They’re grasping for straws.”
It’s impossible to discern what effect the controversy might ultimately have on the special election scheduled for January 26. (The winner will only serve until this fall’s general election.)
Turnout for the low-profile contest will likely be exceedingly light, with residents more worried about the weather report than electoral politics. Parry faces two other challengers: DFLer Jason Engbrecht and Independence Party candidate Roy Srp.
Historically the district has favored Republicans. Day won his last four elections with at least 55 percent of the vote, and John McCain carried the district by a 50-47 percent margin in the 2008 presidential contest.
But both state House seats in the district are now held by Democrats, and there’s some evidence that the IP could also find it fertile political territory. In the 2008 U.S. Senate contest, for instance, Dean Barkley took 20 percent of the vote – five points above his statewide numbers.
Parry’s opponents are seemingly reluctant to wade into the Twitter fray. Engbrecht, a physics professor at St. Olaf University, didn’t return calls seeking comment for this story. His campaign manager, John Coffey, says they intend to stay focused on the issues.
“His tweets are his tweets,” says Coffey. “That’s a whole different ball of wax. We’re talking about jobs and what we can do for people.”
IP candidate Srp, who is currently the mayor of Waseca, dismisses the controversy as the type of partisan sniping that residents are sick of hearing. He believes it will simply make voters more willing to consider a third-party candidate.
“Too much time is being spent talking about this, and not enough time is being spent talking about the issues,” says Srp. “That’s what always happens.”
Day is stepping down after 19 years in the Senate to head up a new lobbying shop that will push for allowing full-fledged casinos at the state’s two horseracing tracks. He’s supporting Parry and believes the GOP candidate’s fiscal conservatism is a good match for the district.
Ultimately Day figures the outcome of the contest will come down to who does the best job of getting their supporters to the polls.
But Day also professes to be perplexed by the Twitter controversy. “I don’t Twitter and I don’t have a Facebook account,” he notes, “and I definitely think if you’re going to run for office, the last thing you need to do is be on one of those things.”
