MDE Revealed Courtesy of Lawsuit

MDE has revealed that he is Michael Brodkorb because of a lawsuit. Back in October some evidence was revealed that exposed MDE for who he was, but now this confirms it. I have had some history and email exchanges with Michael and it is sad how he is being forced out of anonymity, but I look forward to seeing him at Keegan's for Thursday Trivia. UPDATE: Towles from C&B has an update (registration req'd so I will include all of it below) on the MDE situation posted.

On August 24, 2005 we published the name of Jerome Plagge as a person behind the oft despised, at least by Democrats, weblog Minnesota Democrats Exposed (MDE). http://checksandbalances.com/Default.aspx?tabid=123&mid=725&ctl=Details&ItemID=1172 We were contacted by Plagge who denied his involvement and in turn published his reply to our first story. http://checksandbalances.com/Default.aspx?tabid=123&mid=725&ctl=Details&ItemID=1181 Today, former Minnesota Republican Party Communications and Research Director Michael Brodkorb is coming forward to identify himself as a person behind MDE. The reason for his public pronouncement is a pending lawsuit by Blois Olson of New School Communications. We understand an agent for Olson served a summons citing defamation to Brodkorb at his home last evening to the tune of $50,000 and in response Brodkorb has decided to go public with his involvement in MDE. There has been wide speculation about the people behind MDE for some time and frequently Brodkorb’s name is the first thought of. From our experience with MDE we believe it is not a single person and is likely a committee of people who produce material for the blog. [It includes this post: MDE EXCLUSIVE: COLEEN ROWLEY AND BLOIS OLSON] Expectedly, this story has caused Olson a great deal of frustration, enough to result in legal action. We have heard about the bevy of phone calls Olson has made in Republican circles trying to find out who is behind MDE and trying to get someone to “call the dogs off.” We understand Olson elicited the assistance of former Rep. Mike Osskopp, (R) current spokesman for Congressman John Kline (R-MN2), coincidentally Rowley’s opponent this fall; to help Olson is his quest to stop the stories. Olson and Osskopp have worked together in the past when Olson filled in for Osskopp on his radio show Mike and Maggie. When the story broke we were not all that surprised since we had heard Hubert H. “Buck” Humphrey IV had approached the Rowley Campaign last year to provide fundraising support concurrently with his employment at New School Communications. Checks & Balances has confirmed with our sources within the Rowley Campaign that Humphrey did make the approach, but this is a small portion of the story. It did not strike us as all that strange when we heard of Humphrey’s inquiry because he has past fundraising experience for the Democratic National Committee and the Kerry/Edwards Campaign. The question really is not about Humphrey’s efforts it is more about the negative spin Olson communicated regarding the Rowley campaign and if the bias emanated from the lack of a financial reward. For the record Checks & Balances, especially Publisher Shawn Towle, has never had any respect for Blois Olson politically or personally. It should not come as a shock to anyone that there is a lack of love between Towle and Olson. We expect there will be more forthcoming so stay tuned.