Mike Hatch has certainly been busy in the last week. Let�s start with his letter to the Pioneer Press (Jun 20) where he defends his deceitful (and borderline illegal) actions. Hatch brought two charity representatives into a meeting with American Bankers and suggested to Minnesota Commerce Commissioner Glenn Wilson that American Bankers donate $3.5 millions to their charities in order to settle a state fine. If he would have pursued this course of action, he would have been in violation of state law. Instead, he insists that he was merely being deceptive, and was getting the $3.5 million option on the table.
In a letter to the Pioneer Press from James Nobles, the Minnesota legislative auditor, asks himself if Hatch�s actions were �Confusing, deceptive, inappropriate, inconsiderate?� And answers, �Yes.� Nobles, however, does say that Hatch�s actions were not illegal, because he believes that Hatch did not intend to follow through with his obviously illegal proposal. �Inappropriate� and �inconsiderate� can also be used to describe the fact that Hatch surprised Wilson with all of this on Wilson�s second day on the job.
But, of course, it doesn�t end there. Hatch had negotiated with American Bankers in August 2002 and failed to reach an agreement for a true $3.5 million fine. He failed to get American Bankers to sign an agreement. Since that time, the case kept looking harder to win. To complicate things, American Bankers donated money to both the DFL and Republican parties. Wilson, with no knowledge of the campaign contribution, sees the uncertainty of the case and closed the deal for a legal $2 million. (As opposed to an illegal $3.5 million charity contribution.) In Hatch�s letter, he writes, �I knew that American Bankers was corrupt. I did not know, however, that the Commerce Department was as well.�
Let�s put this thing as plain as day. Hatch called the Commerce department corrupt because they didn�t close the same deal that he couldn�t close last August. This alone puts Hatch below a �C� for a grade.
But calling the Commerce Department corrupt wasn�t enough politicking for one week. Hatch is now implying that prisoners are going to be released from the Sexual Offenders program because of the Pawlenty �no new taxes� pledge. However, there have been absolutely no changes proposed to the program, and no one has been released since 1994. In order to increase the scare tactic, he appeared at a news conference alongside Pam Poirier, the mother of the convenience store clerk who was killed by Donald Blom in 1999, and said that Pawlenty was �putting kids in danger,� according to the Star Tribune. These actions are completely uncalled for. Wouldn�t it be nice if Hatch would actually act as the Attorney General, instead of blaming Pawlenty for something that hasn�t even been proposed.
These actions would have given Hatch an �F� for his report card. However, realizing the difficulty in being a DFLer in a Republican administration, he earns a pity point, which brings his grade up to a �D.�
David Rosenbaum earns a good grade for his refreshingly honest and simple report on Bush in the New York Times. It takes more than one good story to get in the A's, so let's keep an eye on him and see what comes next.
Read it here