Minneapolis Breakfast Club

Getting to know Congressman Dean Phillips!

Early Birds: A special joint meeting with the Ham and Eggs group today. A great crowd of 87 folks showed up with the early birds getting the front and center table.

The Presidents of the respective clubs kicked off the meeting by introducing the history of the clubs. The younger club by a few years is the Ham and Eggs group which is a social club focused on having great speakers.

Guests: Many members brought friends, neighbors, wives, and even grandchildren.

Honorary Members: We had quite a crowd of Honorary members visit today, Russ Bremner, Dick Nelson, Tom Donnelly, Dick Lindskoog, Martin Peyer, Ron Britz, and Mark Simon.

Announcements:

  1. There will be a board meeting next week.
  2. Jerry Olson gave a brief overview of the Peoples Champ award to the large group, hoping to inspire each of us to recognize people who make a difference on a daily basis.

Business Networking: None today

Business Exchange: None today

Business Updates: None today

Table Introductions:  None today

Pot of Gold: None today, we are holding the Pot of Gold for next week

Craft Talk:

Jim Erickson introduced his granddaughter, his special guest, Former US Representative Dick Nolan, and Tom Horner.

Tom Horner introduced U. S. Representative of the 3rd Congressional district, Dean Phillips.

Dean is a Gold Star son and his widowed mother married Eddie Phillips who adopted him. He attended Brown University and he also obtained an MBA from the U of Minnesota. He is a business owner and does provide health insurance to his employees.

Dean talked about his experience as a freshman legislator and the efforts to keep the parties separated in Washington. In spite of that there is a lot of bi-partisan discussion that takes place.

Dean is part of the Problem Solvers, a group of 48 representatives (half Democrats and half Republicans) that meet weekly to discuss issues and try to find solutions.

He has made two trips to the Texas border, both before the recent funding bill passed and after the bill passed, conditions have/are being improved for the detainees.

Dean talked about how his day is scheduled in 10 minute increments and that there is a huge demand on a legislators time for fundraising activities. Since he does not accept PAC contributions, he does not spend as much time fundraising as others.

Dean asked the audience for topics (from right to left) and he talked on the following,

  1. Campaign spending/fundraising/Public Financing
  2. Israel
  3. Budget deficit/debt
  4. Immigration
  5. How do we get Washington to come together just as we do at the Minnesota State Fair.

An exciting day for the two clubs. Thanks to Jim Erickson for arranging for the Congressman’s visit.

If you haven’t already done so, register for the Pot of Gold to Jerry Olson at jerry@theResultants.com or 651-301-1251

Looking ahead

August 28 is Les Jones Roofing at ECC

September 4 is HouseLift at ECC

September 11 is Lupient at ECC