Roland Burris, Jan. 5, 2009: “The Lord put his hands on the governor and said, ‘This is the person that has to go to Washington.’”

Michele Bachmann, Oct. 14, 2006: “He called me to run for United States Congress”

With those fixes made and one no-longer-timely sentence dispatched, the Pioneer Press set about breathing clean Minnesota air into a wheezy editorial from Wall Street for the (dubious) benefit of local readers, many of whom will see the column for what it is — tainted and undeserving.

Cleary, assistant chief judge at Ramsey County District Court, identifies himself as a WSJ subscriber of three decades’ standing who doesn’t always agree with the newspaper’s editorials but was particularly disappointed by this one, which he finds “long on partisan tone and short on accurate reporting.”

Read Cleary’s complete letter after the jump.

Dear Sirs:

As a subscriber of your newspaper for almost three decades, I don’t expect to always agree with your editorial viewpoint. Yet I am nevertheless very disappointed when I read an editorial long on partisan tone and short on accurate reporting.

As a member of the Minnesota State Canvassing Board, appointed pursuant to statute, I have attended all nine Board open meetings held the past seven weeks. I am knowledgeable about the proceedings as well as Minnesota’s election laws. Our members (two Supreme Court Justices, two District Court Judges, and Secretary of State Ritchie) came from all political backgrounds, openly expressed our opinions at the meetings, and can hardly be accurately described as “meek,” unless you mean “meek” by New York in-your-face standards. Your groundless attack on Secretary Ritchie reflects poorly on the author; Ritchie worked assiduously at avoiding partisanship in these proceedings.

As to the Board as a whole, all of our major votes were unanimous. We consistently followed the law in limiting our involvement to a non-adjudicative role, declining both candidate’s attempts to expand our mandate. Further, we painstakingly reviewed each challenged ballot, some more than once, to confirm that we were ruling in a consistent manner. One can only assume, based on the tone of the editorial, the numerous inaccuracies, and the over-the-top slam at Al Franken (”tainted and undeserving”?) that had Norm Coleman come out on top in this recount, the members of the Board would have been praised as “strong-willed, intelligent, and perceptive.” We won’t hold our breath waiting for that editorial to appear.

Edward J. Cleary

Assistant Chief Judge

Second Judicial District

Minnesota State Canvassing Board

In response he got hate mail and death threats from across the globe, or what Myers termed “the most impressive demonstration of mass lunacy I have ever seen.” He finally followed through on the threat, piercing a communion wafer with a rusty nail and tossing it in the trash. The Minnesota Independent published an interview with the unrepentant cracker abuser in July.

But today’s double-dipping at the wire-service trough is also an ominous and ironic way to begin January — a month in which editors will try merging sections of the newspaper to cut costs and when Strib death-watchers say the paper’s owners could finally file for bankruptcy. The headline over the AP story on page A11 reads like a Strib warning to itself: “New year is shaping up as ‘very, very ugly’ for some well-known brands.”

After state GOP chair Ron Carey aped party blogger Michael Brodkorb’s terminology for The UpTake as a “partisan, liberal” blog, the citizen journalism outfit issued a press release correcting an error Carey made — and thanked him for tuning into the same video feeds of Minnesota recount proceedings that media outlets like Fox News and the Pioneer Press have used. A release issued by The UpTake late last night notes that it has been providing an “unedited switched video feed” of the State Canvassing Board’s meetings, but that Carey was incorrect in stating that the organization is the “Official Communicator” for the Minnesota Secretary of State.

“The UpTake is providing this service because the Capitol staff who normally provide both the video feed and webcast were not available,” the release states. “The UpTake volunteered to contribute equipment and technical personnel to continue to provide both. The office of the Secretary of State accepted the offer.  This conversation was transparent and also streamed live online.”

It includes a note of gratitude to Carey for tuning in: “We are extremely pleased that the Chair of the Minnesota GOP watches The UpTake and was able to enjoy today’s State Canvassing Board hearing through our live coverage,” Jason Barnett, Executive Director of The UpTake, said.

Earlier: GOP attacks on The UpTake: Another attempt to smear the process that may deal Coleman defeat?

Five Franken cards-a-greeting (Flickr)

Al Franken’s campaign dismissed as mere theory U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s contention that duplicate ballots resulted in more than 100 votes being counted twice in Minnesota’s Senate recount. The Minnesota Supreme Court took a pass on the charges, despite the Coleman camp’s claim that including the contested ballots in a statewide tally would dilute the value of the other 2.9 million votes that were only counted once.

So what are we to think when a Minnesota voter comes forward to report that her household received five duplicate holiday cards from Franken? Does that dilute the cheer-value of greetings that others on Franken’s mailing lists received? The way the recount’s been going, you can expect mail fraud charges in the offing.

“I won’t take responsibility … Somebody told me about Wikipedia, where people can put in whatever they want into, in my name. I tried to correct some of it … somebody decided I had a pet rooster, somebody else said I was an international opera talent, but I decided not to go into it, and you know what … this is bull.”

Mondale’s Wikipedia entry has apparently since been scrubbed of any poultry or operatic claims.

The interview — which focuses on Mondale’s views as an elder statesman and his new role as honorary Norwegian consul-general in Minneapolis — appears in the latest issue of Nordic Reach but took place on  June 4, the day after Barack Obama announced he’d clinched the Democratic nomination for president at the Xcel Center in St. Paul. That was the same day on which Mondale switched his own endorsement from Sen. Hillary Clinton to Obama — although on MySpace, the interviewer informs Mondale, Obama was already one of his top friends.

10. Friends of Todd

When Sen. Norm Coleman and Todd (but not Sarah) Palin rallied in Duluth in October, an ardent supporter carried this curious sign, captured on film by Paul Demko.

9. Meter remade

A hacked parking meter, spotted by Steve Perry during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

8. Spraygun

RNC police breaking out high-powered pepper spray aerosol cans, photographed by Jeff Severns Guntzel.

7. Anti-RNC Everyman

Vermin Supreme, the most ubiquitous RNC protester, photographed by Molly Priesmeyer.

6. Why we vote?

A discarded newspaper, photographed by Paul Schmelzer outside a north Minneapolis polling place on Election Day, may offer a glimpse at voter motivations in 2008.

5. With Rage on-stage

An eerily lit shot of crowds at the September Rage Against the Machine concert, by Tony Nelson.

4. RNC onlookers

A pair of protesters watch an RNC demonstration go by, by Mike Dvorak.

3. Ready

A phalanx of riot police at the Republican National Convention, by Tim Roman.

2. Franken foregrounded

Senatorial candidate Al Franken speaks at an Oct. 21 rally at the University of Minnesota as a well-known supporter looks on. Photo by Andy Birkey.

1. Keith Smith (before photo)

Our top photo of the year, shot by Paul Demko, shows 17-year-old protester Keith Smith just hours before he was reportedly beaten by police at the Republican National Convention.

To see more Minnesota Independent photos, visit our Flickr site.

More of MnIndy’s Best:

Ten most popular stories of 2008

Top videos of 2008

Top RNC tweets

A phalanx of riot police ready themselves at the RNC. Photo: Tim Roman

Newswise, it was an eventful 2008, thanks to the Republican National Convention, the historic election of Barack Obama, Sarah “In what respect, Charlie?” Palin, John McCain, Michele “anti-American” Bachmann, P.Z. Myers (and the communion “cracker” incident) and, now, the ongoing recount of ballots in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. MnIndy had a record year: We more than doubled 2007’s readership, welcoming nearly two million unique visitors, and saw nearly 6,000 comments. Here are two gauges of the stories you liked best — top 10s of the most-read and most-discussed stories.

The year’s most-read stories:

10. “Boot print on his back: Photographs, video of 17-year-old RNC protester after run-in with police,” Paul Schmelzer, September 2

12,433 views

9. “Crackdown begins: Food Not Bombs house among Saturday raids,” Jeff Severns Guntzel and Paul Schmelzer, August 30

12,483 views

8. “Youth in iconic RNC protest photo was later beaten by police, according to his mother,” Paul Schmelzer, September 2

14,670 views

7. “Bachmann controversy upends views of her re-election prospects,” Paul Demko, October 21

14,649 views

6. “Police seize ‘propaganda literature,’ staples, curtain rods, and caltrops from raided home on 17th Avenue,” Molly Priesmeyer, August 30

15,571 views

5. “Alcohol, Tobacco and Firecracker?: ‘Explosion’ in St. Paul leads to rounding up anyone with a backpack,” Molly Priesmeyer, September 3

15,739 views

4. “Franken campaign decries frivolous challenges,” Paul Demko, November 21

16,080 views

3. “RNC DIY: Plant this in your yard,” Paul Schmelzer, June 30

16,093 views

2. “Crowd control at the RNC: Fifty million unanswered questions,” Jeff Severns Guntzel, September 7

17,712 views

1. “Norm Coleman: ‘I’m a winner’ and ‘most challenges will be dismissed’,” Chris Steller, November 21

52,110 views

Most-commented stories:

10. “Letter from Alaska: Palin a maverick? Please,” David Noon, September 16: 60 comments

9. “October Surprise: Bachmann raises more than $120,000 for Tinklenberg,” Paul Schmelzer, October 18: 61 comments

8. “DCCC Poll: Bachmann’s lead in the Sixth is down to four points over Tinklenberg,” Andy Birkey: 63 comments

7. “Bachmann controversy upends views of her re-election prospects,” Paul Demko, October 21: 81 comments

6. “Bachmann calls critics of her ‘anti-America’ statements ‘liars,’” Andy Birkey: 81 comments

5. “Boot print on his back: Photographs, video of 17-year-old RNC protester after run-in with police,” Paul Schmelzer, September 2: 88 comments

4. “New McCarthyism: Bachmann calls for investigation of ‘anti-American’ Congress members,” Andy Birkey, October 17: 94 comments

3. “MnIndy interview: Unrepentant science-heathen PZ Myers still intends to prove ‘this cracker is nothing,’” Paul Schmelzer, July 14: 100 comments

2. “Crackdown begins: Food Not Bombs house among Saturday raids,” Jeff Severns Guntzel and Paul Schmelzer, August 30: 100 comments

1. “Youth in iconic RNC protest photo was later beaten by police, according to his mother,” Paul Schmelzer, September 2: 151 comments

Special thanks to our many current and past staffers and freelancers who made 2008 such a success, including: Abdi Aynte, Ken Avidor, Andy Birkey, Joe Bodell, Karl Bremer, Paul Demko, Mike Dvorak, Jeff Fecke, Tom Elko, Dan Haugen, Robin Marty, Jefferson Morley, Tony Nelson, David Noon, Nancy Olsen, Steve Perry, Anna Pratt, Molly Priesmeyer, Britt Robson, Tim Roman, James Sanna, Jeff Severns Guntzel, Peter S. Scholtes and Chris Steller.

More of MnIndy’s Best:

Top 10 photos of 2008
Top videos of 2008

Best RNC tweets