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(Saint Paul, MN) January 30, 2006 – The general membership of Stonewall DFL formally made recommendations for candidate endorsements and acceptable ratings at its 2006 Candidate Screening and Endorsement Convention this weekend at the Hennepin County Government Center. The recommendations made by the assembly of 57 active members and 4 absentee ballots for the Stonewall DFL caucus will be forwarded to its Board of Directors on February 12, 2006 for official ratification as follows:

• United States Senate: Acceptable rating and endorsed - Amy Klobuchar; Acceptable rating – Ford Bell.
• Minnesota Governor: Acceptable rating and endorsed – Steve Kelley; Acceptable rating – Becky Lourey.
• Minnesota Auditor: Acceptable rating and endorsed – Reggie Edwards; Acceptable rating – Rebecca Otto.
• Minnesota Secretary of State: Acceptable rating and endorsed – Christian Sande; Acceptable rating – Mark Ritchie.
• Hennepin County Attorney: Acceptable rating and endorsed – Andy Luger; Acceptable rating – Mike Freeman.
• Ramsey County Attorney: Acceptable rating and endorsed – Susan Gaertner; Acceptable rating – Cory Tennison.
• City of Minneapolis, Board of Education: Acceptable rating – Pam Costain, Tom Madden, Jill Davis, Polly Harrison-Townsend, John Quincy and Joe Erickson. Endorsement vote will be conducted by the Stonewall DFL Board of Directors at the March 5, 2006 meeting.
• Hennepin County Commission, District 3: Acceptable rating and endorsed – Gail Dorfman.
• Hennepin County Commission, District 2: Acceptable rating and endorsed – Greg Gray.
• Minnesota House 64A: Acceptable rating and endorsed – Erin Murphy, Acceptable rating – Don Arnosti, Sara Dady, Ian Keith and Donna Swanson.

“This was one of our most successful endorsement processes in our organization’s history” said Stonewall DFL Chair, Paul Skrbec. “This year’s participation, objective review and fact-finding nature of our screening and endorsement process have set a new standard for our organization.”

During the course of the day, active members of the organization had the opportunity to participate in individual candidate screening panels and cast their votes in accordance with Stonewall DFL rules for the candidates of their choice. “Members of our political support committee and our board of directors volunteered and extraordinary amount of time to ensure that the process of selecting candidates was fair and transparent” said Nancy Bernard, Stonewall’s Associate Chair. “It was wonderful to see the efforts of so many volunteers and community activists come together for such an important event for Stonewall.”

At its January 15th meeting, the Stonewall DFL Board of Directors also re-endorsed the following candidates whom have been endorsed in previous years by Stonewall DFL via a new, expedited endorsement process developed in response to conversations with candidates from previous years:

Rep. Matt Entenza (Attorney General); Sen. Linda Higgins (58); Rep. Keith Ellison (58B); Rep. Diane Loeffler (59A); Sen. Scott Dibble (60); Rep. Frank Hornstein (60B); Rep. Karen Clark (61A); Sen. Wes Skoglund (62); Rep. James Davnie (62A); Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin (District 4).

As an officially chartered caucus of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota, Stonewall DFL is Minnesota’s first political organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Visit stonewalldfl.org to make online contributions, find up-to-date event information, candidate and constituency resources and volunteer opportunities. The public may also call the 24-hour information line at 651-251-6328.