Ken Martin, new Chair of the Democratic National Committee
Ken Martin June 23, 2011
Ken Martin is a Minnesotan and I have been familiar with his career since he became chair of the Minnesota DFL in 2011. At the time, I was an active and founding member of the DFL Senior Caucus, on whose Board I served from 2006-2016. I didn’t know Ken personally, but I certainly knew him professionally. He will serve very well. The Wiki entry about him gives a reasonable description of who he is. The photographs are mine, from his first year as DFL chair.
Democrats are a diverse lot, which is a strength, in my opinion. We don’t always agree, which can be very frustrating, but Ken Martin seems to have handled the political issues very well over the years.
Jim commented last evening: God bless Ken Martin, and godspeed to him. I feel badly for him. He has been planning for this for YEARS (it was kinda obvious even when I was a State House candidate’s point-of-contact with him in (I think) ’12. (I remember fondly a long conversation I had with him about then Texas Governor Rick Perry. I was worried Perry would be a Presidential election juggernaut. Ken told me almost EXACTLY how Perry would implode… Ken has really good instincts.) But he could not be getting the DNC job at a more challenging time.
What the party REALLY NEEDS is leadership that is willing to say “NO!” over and over again, and very publicly, to the ultra-left progressive activists who destroy our chances to win, and be effective at thoroughly marginalizing them in the public’s mind’s-eye. And I know him to be so predisposed. The media touts his early ties to Wellstone, but his REAL affinity was to Dayton – A more cautious and careful “pragmatist” than even you… than even ME!
BUT… He has been totally ineffective in MN with the DFL, over the last ten years, in rallying the rest of the party to defeat that fringe and marginalize them. In fact, they functionally dominate the DFL. It’s the only part of the MN job he has NOT done well… so, of course… it’s the only part of the job that absolutely needs to be done effectively at the National level as he steps into that job. That’s life!
I hope the “change of scenery” improves his luck. The realist in me, though, acknowledges that there is no reason whatsoever to EXPECT that he can get this done… since he has utterly failed to get it done in MN, even though he has tried.
Do you have thoughts on this? [Dick: my feeling basically are in intro and photos…. I think Ken is a great choice. More comments from Jim and others at the end.]
Gramee commented earlier today: “Eventually, the destruction wrought by this new regime will be undeniable, even to some of its supporters. But breaking a country, unfortunately, is a lot easier than putting it back together.” [quote from Michelle Goldberg column in NYT 2/3/25 “The Familiar Arrogance….”.
Humpty Dumpty Syndrome. The only good news of the week is, in my opinion, the choice of Ken Martin as DNC Chair. The time for wishy-washy expired four years ago, but no one seemed to be paying attention. As I probably told you, I know Ken. If there’s even such a thing as the right person in what will be the job from hell, it will be Ken. For whatever that’s worth…
At State Capitol, July, 2011, at news conference for persons with disabilities.
John Garney and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
I would urge you to pay close attention to developments with the threatened destruction of USAID, a long standing U.S. agency.
It is easier to attack a thing, than a real person, which is what all organizations ultimately are – groups of human beings.
For me, AID’s face is John Garney, who I first met in the 1980s, when we were both doing family research and found that we shared great-great grandparents who came to Minnesota in the early 1850s.
John was a career AID staff person with postings in many countries. His obituary at his death (2017) is worthy your time, and will help put a face on this agency.
I had a side personal experience with American foreign aid, which presumably involved AID as a recipient. The experience came in the wake of a 2003 visit to Haiti, and a news release in early 2004 from the George Bush Department of State about a $50 million grant to Haiti. You can read my ‘adventure here. (The link is mine, and the reference to the State Department communique is in the section which begins SECRECY.) Long story short, I was not able to get an answer to my simple question: where did this money go? I wrote and actually talked with some staffer in the State Department, but it soon became obvious that people upline from him did not want to reveal anything about the specific destination of the publicized funds. I was stonewalled. I assume the $50 million did go somewhere, perhaps under the name of AID, but where, and why? I’ll never know. My life experience teaches that most mischief and malfeasance happens somewhere in the chain of command, not at the ‘boots on the ground’ level.
So, to me AID is more than just some words. The John Garney’s of the world do an immense amount of good. The politics at the front end, including the official communications about it, is what is suspect, in my opinion.
The above two ‘frames’ are what I’ll be using as I watch the attempted destruction of USAID.
COMMENTS RELATING TO USAID:
from Suzanne (her Dad is John Garney):
Oh, Dick, thank you so much! You don’t know how much this has lifted my spirits, as I have been so distraught these past few days. To hear one’s father being called a “criminal” and a “lunatic” by Trump and Musk is just too much to bear.
I can’t believe what is happening to our country. I tried so hard to warn people that this was coming, but my progressive friends thought Harris and Trump were the same, so they wrote in names, and there was no hope of convincing my conservative friends (most of them didn’t vote for Trump, but they didn’t vote for Harris either).
Hamse Warfa in Minnesota Star Tribune Feb 4: USAID Hamse Warfa Strib Feb 4 2025
Abdulrahman Bindamnan another point of view Feb. 5: USAID Minnesota Star Tribune 2 6 25
from Suzanne, responding to the articles above:
Thank you for both articles; they are both very illuminating. At one point in my life (1985), I started pursuing a master’s degree in International Development at American University, and my first professor, who I believe was from Ethiopia, had the same viewpoint as the author of the editorial. However, it wasn’t just USAID that he had a problem with; it was also the Peace Corps, the World Bank, and the IMF.
I did end up believing that foreign aid, no matter how and by whom it is disbursed, has its flaws. However, for the author of the article to talk about USAID and “American leftist values” doesn’t make sense to me. Each administration, whether a Democrat or Republican, put forth its policies, and USAID employees followed through. I’m sure when USAID was in Vietnam, no leftist values were being promoted!
I am going to be a little snarky here, but what does the author mean by “American leftist values?” He was able to come to America and study here because of those values, all of which are no longer possible under Trump and Musk. What are the “things we need to get in order here,” and how do they relate to foreign aid?
Yes, USAID was/isn’t perfect, and time will tell if gutting it is the right option, but calling the employees corrupt leftist lunatics putting a notch on their “development resumes” is callous.
Suzanne
PS: sgarney@gmail is the best email for me.
Facts About USAID and the Aid Provided to Yeman
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided billions of dollars in aid to Yemen. The amount of aid provided has varied over time, but the US is one of the largest donors of humanitarian assistance to Yemen.
- February 2023: USAID provided $440 million in humanitarian aid to Yemen
- March 2022: USAID announced nearly $585 million in humanitarian assistance to Yemen
- Fiscal Year 2019: USAID provided $594.5 million in food assistance to Yemen
- Fiscal Year 2018: USAID provided $361 million in food assistance to Yemen
- Fiscal Year 2017: USAID provided $349.1 million in food assistance to Yemen
- Food: USAID provides food assistance to Yemen, including specialized nutrition for pregnant and lactating women
- Medical care: USAID provides medical care to Yemen
- Safe drinking water: USAID provides safe drinking water to Yemen
- Shelter: USAID provides shelter to Yemen
- Education: USAID provides education assistance to Yemen, including support for schools
- Economic growth: USAID provides economic growth assistance to Yemen, including support for the Central Bank of Yemen
- Gender equality: USAID provides gender equality assistance to Yemen
- Water, sanitation, and hygiene: USAID provides water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance to Yemen
*
COMMENTS RELATING TO KEN MARTIN:
by John Rash Minnesota Star Tribune Feb 5, 2025: john raah Feb 5 25 Minnesota STrib
from Jim (expanding on his above comments about Ken Martin):
Sure. Feel free to share that – and this – if you want to. I “get” the “overwhelmed” thing… it’s real for a lot of people. But, personally, I’m energized. I have my first meeting tonight for my first campaign since ’17 where I am to be on the “core team”. Back in the saddle again!
I think the overwhelmed/energized thing has a LOT to do with where one’s politics are.
The MAGA folks, of course, are energized because their guy is IN, and this time, he obviously arrived with planners on board who had actual plans, AND are people of action. If one can set aside the things one feels about WHAT they are working ON, and focus on HOW they are doing things, they are doing a great job. They are doing things IN WAYS that I have long wondered – since teen-age, really – “Why doesn’t someone do THIS? Why doesn’t someone try it THAT way?” As I’ve said to you before, I really wish I could go back in time to about, oh, 2005, when Trump was still a Democrat in NY, and DO something that would change just enough of history that he, today, was OUR guy and not theirs. Because, really, he HAS no left-right “ideology”. He’s a strange phenomenon, politically. And (like Eisenhower!) “Which party?” coulda gone either way.
The Country Club Bush-Romney Republicans, are overwhelmed. They have no idea what hit them, but they do know that when they go home to their districts, their own voters HATE them unless they are willing to talk as though they love Trump and MAGA. So, not knowing what else to do, they talk the talk. It must be really difficult. Even though these folks remain the ones I most deplore in politics and most fear in government (we forget how scary Paul Ryan was at our peril!), I have a certain sympathy for them on this. They are just holding onto their political jobs and hoping the fever breaks sometime soon. And, in fairness to them, that is really ALL they CAN do. The alternative for each of them is to become the next Liz Cheney. (…may her political relevance Rest In Peace…)
On our side, both the Far Left Progressive Activist wing, and the Center-Left wing are in even stranger places.
It either IS, or SHOULD BE, evident to the Far-Left-Progressive wing, that they will not win again on the national level in a generation, at the least. No political movement has so repulsed the REST of the electorate in our lifetimes, Dick. Not even the combination of Civil Rights and Anti-War riots, with cities burning, in the late 60’s, turned the electorate so thoroughly away from The Left, although that comes in a close second. And that brought the end of the long grand 36-year Rooseveltian era of US politics, and ushered in the 24 year Nixon-Reagan era. Carter almost doesn’t count… whatever one thinks of his one term IN office, he was elected during a thoroughly Republican/conservative era by presenting himself as unlike any Dem the voters had ever known. And then they knew him. And out he went.
The problem for the Far Left Progressives is that (as House-Speaker-for-Life Tip O’Neill used to say) “all politics is local”. Right now, though the Far Left Progressives are hated in most of the country, they are only in “controlled retreat” from their dominance in places like San Francisco and Portland, and they still haven’t even peaked in some places, with Minneapolis being perhaps the prime example of that. So they are dead, but do not know it yet. It’s a Zombie Politics, today. So this wing is both overwhelmed AND energized. In parts. From person to person, from place to place, how one in that wing feels, differs.
Same for the Center-Left Dems. Only in reverse. Many of us – MOST of us – tucked our tails between our legs and all but disappeared for the last ten years as the Far Left Progressives took over everything – the culture, the academy, “The Groups” (who ever DREAMED that the ACLU would be “selective” regarding Freedom of Speech, as it now is? Certainly not me…). And, of course, they thoroughly took over the Democratic Party, both nationally and locally. It’s been breathtaking. NOW, due to the nascent reversals of fortune in places like SF and Portland, and the drubbing we took nationally last November (which started, let’s not forget, all the way back in 2016), Center-Left Dems are feeling it might be safe to come out of our bunkers and give politics another try… but we’re all kinda like The Groundhog… whether we stay out of our holes or go right back in is going to depend on what we see when we stick our heads out. We are CAUTIOUSLY energized by the PARTIAL defeat of Far Left Progressivism. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that I know folks who think it’s “too soon” and that letting the Far Left Progressives FINISH self-destructing is the way to go if one takes “the long view”. I figure they may be right, but I, personally, am too old already to play it that way.
And about the 2024 “drubbing” I referred to above: One of the things I keep reading is apologists for the Far Left Progressive wing trying to paint the 2024 election as “close”. This is SO wrong! Like with economics, one can look at politics ON AVERAGE, or AT THE MARGIN. And, like in economics, looking at phenomena marginally is almost always more important, and carries more information – and carries MORE VALUABLE information.
We live in an era where cultural warfare has rendered the electorate very polarized. It is almost impossible for a Democrat, of either flavor, nationwide, to do worse than 47-48%, and the “floor” is about 43-45% for the GOP, whether MAGA or Country Club wing. What just happened is that Trump won a vast, VAST majority of the voters who were actually persuadable in the first place. Analyzed AT THE MARGIN, the 2024 election was a LANDSLIDE of historic proportions. The fact that the Electoral College, or the raw vote, was not as lopsided as Johnson-Goldwater, or Nixon-McGovern, or Reagan-Mondale, is totally irrelevant. In those elections, the winner got almost all segments of the electorate that were even remotely “gettable”. And Trump did that too. He did that in ’16, and then, because that election, and the next 8 years, actually broadened his base, when he did it again in ’24 he had even bigger numbers.
We Dems view this as a “close election” or a “temporary setback” at our peril. It was a change-for-a-generation type landslide, viewed at the margin, and if we don’t face that reality, J.D. Vance (another guy I have “wished was ours” ever since I read his book when it first came out), or someone who figures out how to outmaneuver HIM, will lock this in, in 2028, for at least 20 years. We Dems can probably still DO something about that, or we can keep internally arguing over alternative realities – which is never a good strategy…
from Norm, to Ken Martin:
As you noted in your acceptance speech following your first ballot win, we Democrats got our hinders kicked in November by the insecure, ignorant, arrogant, narcissistic and five-time draft dodger man-child who would be king.
The voters made it very clear when giving the man-child the landslide win in the Electoral College (it wasn’t even close!) that they wanted an authoritarian form of government rather than a democracy that would be led by the man-child who promised to be a dictator for a day, a role that he seems to covet and enjoy and a role that he will continue to play as long as President Musk allows him to do that.
Now that people are beginning to see what the man-child who would be king and President Musk have in mind to remake America with an authoritarian oligarchy led government, perhaps some voters are having second thoughts about the choice that they made last November.
So, the challenge for we Democrats as well as we DFLers back here in Minnesota is to credibly and sincerely convince the voters that we are more than just the party of LBGTQ and transgender rights as we have so easily been characterized by the MAGA folks.
I can still remember how easily Fishbach beat long-time incumbent, Petersen, the chair of the powerful House Agriculture Committee that could benefit the 7CD with its heavy agricultural base in that usually contested district. All that she had to do was to simply run daily TV ads showing Omar ranting and raving in front of burning buildings suggesting that is what happens when you elect Democrats.
We are much more than that, of course, and the challenge will be to prove that to the voters perhaps as early as the 2026 mid-term elections.
We have to remind them as well as to convince them at we are the party of labor, farming, small business, educators, people respecting law and order and those respecting the Constitution. Further, that we know where and how they live and to not let our great party continue to be characterized as the party primarily interested and supportive of issues and concerns that have little or no interest or value to most Americans.
While those issues and concerns are certainly important to most Democrats, we must recognize and accept they sure as hell are of little or no interest or concern to most people!
We should make it very, very clear to the voters that we understand that reality!
We are a coalition party of many diverse interests, concerns and backgrounds that as Paul Wellstone frequently reminded us, we all do better when we all do better. We get our hinders kicked and flattened in the polls when we forget that and let our opponents so easily characterize us as a party being only concerned about issues of little or no concern to most voters by seeming to put some small group within our large and welcoming tent on high pedestals above all of the other residents under that large covering.
So, congratulations again, Ken, for your impressive first ballot win and the tremendous credentials that you earned for your work as our state DFL Party Chair that made that possible!
As an aside, Ken, should you ever need a break from the demands of being the DNC Chair, you are always welcome to make a return visit to spend some quiet time with your friends here at the North Metro Chapter of the DFL Senior Caucus! 😀😁😂😄
