by Steve Timmer

Mar 25, 2014, 8:30 PM

Keith Downey takes a trip to a place long, long ago, and far, far away

The Republican Party of Minnesota just produced a press release, sent by the Mail Chimp himself, Chairman Keith Downey, that the business climate in Minnesota is terrible. The release featured an interview with the Faribault pork scion, Tom Rosen. Here’s a bit from one of the lede paragraphs:

For the most part, Rosen seems to crave anonymity and Midwest simplicity. For example, far more southern Minnesotans know his wife, State Sen. Julie Rosen (R-Fairmont), than him. And his Fairmont headquarters hasn’t changed much the last ten years—it still has more a simple doctor’s office feel [the author of the article apparently doesn’t get much health care] than that of a corporate command center mobilizing 4,500 U.S. troops.

Gee, that’s funny; I though that Tom and Julie were no longer an item. Of course, they aren’t. The Rosens parted company in 2010.

The interview reported breathlessly by Downey & Co. in the press release took place in 2009. When Tim Pawlenty was governor and Keith Downey was just another blow-hard freshman Republican House member.

Keith likes to remember the glory years.

In the interview, Tom Rosen grumbles that Minnesota is 48th in business climate, and that all of his friends were leaving.

We will gloss over the fact that Tom is just another silver-spoon inheritor jerk with an entitlement attitude who was a negative two years old when his father and an uncle started the business that grew and prospered in — and yes, was nurtured by — the business climate and public infrastructure in Minnesota.

Well, no, we won’t gloss over it.

In the quoted interview, that scrub Rosen, who never had to do any heavy lifting on his own, says:

He said, “Our company has been in business in Minnesota since 1946…However, I’m very concerned about the future of doing business in Minnesota and where the state is heading, especially Greater Minnesota. We don’t have a good business climate, and the climate became worse last legislative session. We are 48th now in overall business climate.”

He added, “I never thought I would see it. A lot of my friends have left the state. I worry about what this state will look like in ten years. It’s hard to get businesses here and harder to keep businesses here.

Rosen said, “(Wisconsin has) become pro-business and is willing to work with you. These states around Minnesota are becoming more aggressive. They realize companies can move.”

Rosen still lives, sans Julie, in Minnesota. Julie is also here, of course, living, moving, and having her being in the Minnesota Senate. But they’re both leaving any day now! Tom for sure. Julie, too, although she’ll come back for Vikings games. Just watch.

Don’t let the door hit you on the butt, Tom.

Which state has done better since Tom threatened to move to Wisconsin in 2009, Minnesota or Wisconsin? Minnesota.

But you probably knew that.

Update: And just to show you what a brilliant seerer Tom Rosen is, feast your eyes on this.

You know what is really amazing though? That Captain Oblivious, Keith Downey, would feature Rosen’s five year old interview, when it is so breathtakingly bone headed and wrong.