Interesting State House in Minnesota (write-in campaign)

[they don't love you like i love you]

7B. Don't know if any of you have heard about this case but I know many will want to watch it. In a nutshell this is what happened:

-Kerry Gauthier who is openly gay gets elected in 2010.
-In August he is caught with a 17-year old boy at a rest stop presumably to engage in oral sex. It's later found he solicited this from Craigslist and presumably had with many other young men in the past. This happened the day after the primary when he was renominated unopposed.
-Since the age of consent in Minnesota is 16 no criminal charges were filed, but predictably all DFL and House leaders call on him to resign.
-Gauthier refuses to at first, then later agrees to stand down and blames the whole incident on him taking muscle relaxant drugs or something.
-Court rules it's too late to replace him on the ballot and the DFL can only run a write-in candidate.

The DFL is trying to appeal to the State Supreme Court, but absentee ballots have already been mailed out with his name on them. To further complicate things, the DFL has endorsed Duluth fire chief Erik Simonson for the write-in campaign, but Duluth City Councillor Jay Fosle has decided to move forward with his campaign anyway, effectively as an independent. There is no Independence candidate on the ballot, just Gauthier, the Republican and the write-in option.

But before Republicans get too excited, this is the most DFL district in the state outside the Twin Cities. It was over 72% Obama in 2008, and in 2010 Gauthier won with over 66% with the same Republican candidate taking 22% (an IP candidate took about 10%.) Dayton also got over 67%. So basically even if the votes split roughly 50/50 amongst Democrats unaware of the situation and still voted Gautier and the write-in, the Republican still couldn't win. But now this additional write-in adds a whole new angle...

I'm still calling it at worst a Lean D seat though, it's Duluth after all so the party machine will make it clear who they need to vote for but will be interesting to watch. Are there any current state legislators elected via write-in?

[tmthforu94]

That sounds...exciting!

Imagine how crazy it'd be if Gauthier still managed to win this race!

[Niemeyerite]

That sounds...exciting!

Imagine how crazy it'd be if Gauthier still managed to win this race!

The sad thing is that he may win...

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I've seen a majority black inner city Boston State Representative district elect a transvestite Republican because she (he?) was the only person left to vote for on the ballot. I've heard from an expert explain that write-in campaigns tend to be higher in more urban districts, because the rate of rejected ballots winds up being much higher (typically from putting the write-in in the wrong spot).

Good luck trying to get people to write-in for a down ballot race in a Presidential year. It'll be hard.

[they don't love you like i love you]

That sounds...exciting!

Imagine how crazy it'd be if Gauthier still managed to win this race!

There would just be a special election held later that the Democrat would obviously win. Hence if I was a local Democratic leader I'd be campaigning to vote for Gauthier to force a special election.

[minionofmidas]

If Gauthier is reelected without campaigning, I don't see why he should resign. After all he has done nothing wrong (unless he sometimes payed his young but legal partners. That would obviously change matters, a lot.)

Also, "Kerry Gauthier" sounds a lot like Mary Gauthier.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Well he hasn't been proven to have done anything illegal, but I think most would disagree that he hasn't done anything wrong. And the House could just expel or refuse to seat him if he attempted to take his seat again, though this would raise the question of potential hypocrisy due to members who have been convicted of things that are illegal and weren't expelled (The relatively recent case of Mark Olson being a notable example).

I should note the district is quite different from the type Mr. Moderate is talking about, it's the poorer part of Duluth, but that's basically the university + people who want to live in a city that's reasonably urban and cultured but can't afford to live in the actual Twin Cities or have connections preventing them from moving. It's actually not too dissimilar from my neighborhood, just a lot whiter.

[minionofmidas]

Well he hasn't been proven to have done anything illegal, but I think most would disagree that he hasn't done anything wrong.

I'd be interested in hearing their rationale (provided, again, that he didn't pay anybody and, also, that he wasn't cheating on a partner.)

[they don't love you like i love you]

Well the whole thing is moot anyway now: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/09/25/politics/gauthier-removed-from-ballot

[BigSkyBob]

If Gauthier is reelected without campaigning, I don't see why he should resign. After all he has done nothing wrong (unless he sometimes payed his young but legal partners. That would obviously change matters, a lot.)

Also, "Kerry Gauthier" sounds a lot like Mary Gauthier.

Whether, or not, Gauthiers has done something illegal is one question. Whether, or not, he has done something wrong is another question. The entire DFL machinery has pretty much signed onto the premise that a man in his fifties soliciting sex from a seventeen year-old is in fact "wrong."

I'm sure this an issue in which people can hold differing positions. If the DFL wants to endorse his reelection as the elected nominee whom has done nothing wrong, that would be their choice.