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Minneapolis, MN, August 31, 2008 -- On Tuesday, September 2nd, extended excerpts of a new political documentary will be premiered on a bus tour (a 56 passenger coach, with an on-board DVD system).  The tour will visit the downtown Minneapolis milling district, and will view southern parts of the Minneapolis Grand Rounds of parkways. 

Boarding times and locations in both downtown Saint Paul and downtown Minneapolis are now on-line, with printable maps and tour summary information, at www.republicancontract.com

The tour is primarily intended for: members of the media, Republican Convention delegates, and Minnesota legislators. Seats for Tuesday can be reserved on-line by e-mail, at www.republicancontract.com, up to midnight the night before.  However, you do not need to reserve a seat -- people can board on a first come first served basis.  Members of the media will receive a DVD of documentary excerpts (total length about 90 minutes -- the entire documentary is coming in at between 2.5 and 3 hours), while supplies last.  Some earlier news releases had said the complete documentary would be distributed -- due to additional time devoted to launching the bus tour, this has been delayed.  The anticipated release date is now September 15th, 2008.

Video excerpts from the documentary are on-line, with links at www.republicancontract.com.

The Tuesday tour is free (donations will be accepted from non-journalists).  Depending on the response to the tour runs on Tuesday, and the situation with Hurricane Gustav, additional tour runs may be added.  Members of the media should not consider a request to extend the tour as an endorsement of the project: if you want to cover this as a news event -- you can still request the tour be extended, and naturally you can write or say whatever you want -- however, beyond Tuesday, please be prepared to pay the reasonable cost of $20 for your seat.

The documentary is the first in a series, called Escape from History, which: views history as largely a disaster -- considers both U.S. history, and the history of the Republican party, as giant escape attempts -- and examines the pitfalls that await when we don't know what we're escaping from. 

Escape From History, Part I -- the Minnesota Legislature:

·         Presents video interview excerpts and speeches from Representatives Jim Abeler and Kathy Tinglestad, two of the six Minnesota House Republicans who voted to override Governor Pawlenty's veto of the 2008 Transportation bill.  Speaking of part of the retaliation against the six that resulted, Tinglestad said: ".knowing that, the day after we took the initial vote, that that would be the penalty for following through with the veto override, and the six of us all went in kind of with our eyes opened, and we needed to decide -- whether we thought our leadership position was more important than our roads, for me personally it was the 13 people that died in the I35W bridge collapse, and the transportation system for our state.  And I said, 'you know, I'm willing to give up my leadership role in the caucus, in order to do something that I believe is right for our state.'  And then, so, all six of us, voted to override the Governor, along with the 85 Democrats, that was enough to get that through then, despite the Governor's veto."

·         Introduces a call for a return to a non-partisan legislature, issued by Lyall Schwartzkopf, a long-time Minnesota Republican leader (and as we'll see, a "Lindsey Republican,") and former chief of staff for Republican Governor Arne Carlson. A non-partisan legislature was established in Minnesota in 1913.  Speaking of the move to a partisan legislature in 1974, something he supported at the time as a Minnesota House member, Schwartzkopf said: "That was a severe mistake -- very, very severe mistake, and what happened out of that is the enormous partisanship that we have today.  To break that partisanship that we have today, we need to go back to a non-partisan legislature. I was wrong.  I voted wrong to convince the people to change the [Minnesota] Constitution to a partisan legislature." 

·         Introduces "A Minnesota Republican State Legislator's Contract with Voters," ("the contract") with video interview comments on each point by Steve Sviggum, Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives until 2007.  Sviggum appears to agree with seven of the eight points.  Both the contract, and this entire project, are designed to return the Minnesota Republican party to what has been historically a more moderate approach to politics.  As a follow-up to one of these points, Sviggum is presented with, and decides he can support, an alternative approach to the so-called "marriage amendment."

·         Examines in video essay format, two examples of "post 9/11" architecture in Downtown Minneapolis: the new Guthrie Theater, and the new Minneapolis Central Library.

·         Begins a study of the history of the Minneapolis Park System, viewing it as infrastructure, and viewing its development as a model that can be applied in other U.S. cities, to develop a new kind of combined parks and transportation infrastructure that will be well suited for use by future generations

The bus tour route will be a loop, from:

• Downtown Saint Paul boarding locations, to
• Downtown Minneapolis boarding locations, to
• the historic downtown Minneapolis milling district (also a boarding location), and then

• around the southern part of the Minneapolis parkway Grand Rounds to Minnehaha Falls.  Note: people who boarded in downtown Minneapolis can be dropped off at the 46^th street transit station and can take the light rail train back to downtown Minneapolis. And then,

• back to the Saint Paul boarding locations. 

We'll stop for photo opportunities, as time permits.

Senator John McCain, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, and the entire Minnesota Legislature (all parties) have been invited to go on the bus tour.  The tour will run three times during the day, with Saint Paul departures starting at 10:00, 12:30, and 3:00 (Minneapolis departures are 25 minutes later.)  Each run will take about two and a half hours.

The bus tour includes all of the segment on the founding of the Minneapolis park system in 1883, and its first seven years of operation.  "The Minneapolis park system is world famous, but it didn't just happen," said Bob Carney Jr., writer, narrator, and producer.  "Almost no one realizes what a central impact the formation and building of this system has had on Minnesota," Carney noted.  "At its root was a gigantic real estate scheme.  But the people who planned and launched our park system also valued: being good stewards of the earth, thinking ahead 100 years, preserving the natural beauty of Minneapolis for future generations, and making parks available and accessible to everyone. The Minneapolis park system is a model for coordinating public and private interests in the political process.  This model has given shape to the entire political history of the state.  Our park system is a big reason for why the media are reporting that the Republican National Convention is in Minneapolis, not Saint Paul," Carney concluded.

DISCLOSURE: Carney is an inventor, and in connection with work for a client, is filing two patents for form work hardware for bridge decking.

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