When your state party is roughly $1.5 million in debt and you need some help raising funds, it would make sense to turn to someone whose campaign is also in debt, more than a year removed from the end of the campaign, and, as a (literal) bonus, made a killing on the backs of more than 7,000 workers who lost their jobs so his firm could make those lucrative fees. This is the situation that the Minnesota House GOP caucus finds themselves in tonight when they invite failed US Senate candidate and Chinese steel advocate Mike McFadden to host a fundraiser for them.
We suspect the entertainment at the fundraiser will not include the by-now infamous footage of McFadden getting punched in the groin/abdomen/wallet (referring of course to the “Coach” ad and not the election being called two minutes after the polls close). The evening’s refreshments will include some Guinness no doubt, with every pint poured reminding attendees that their host and his firm made more than $11 Million to help an American company flee its tax responsibilities.
The evening’s speech will open up with a hilarious joke about the St. John’s and St. Thomas football rivalry and then launch into a riff about McFadden’s “earn, earn, and earn” philosophy honed during years of investment banking. Presumably some wailing and gnashing of teeth about the direction of the state will ensue, while glossing over the recent CNBC rankings, the surplus, and the positive trajectory that Minnesota has been on since Governor Dayton took office.
If you’re wondering how such an accurate preview of tonight’s fundraiser is possible, it’s because as a candidate, McFadden offered no new ideas on leading this country forward, so perhaps it’s ideal that he will be hosting a fundraiser for a caucus that offers just as little for the state of Minnesota.
There might be some that would debate the characterizations of the McFadden campaign, and that is their prerogative, although I would suspect they would come up about ten points short, yet again.
