Unload the Cartons of Tissue

We got a weeper!

Buffeted by questions about his honesty and investigations into his wife's multimillion-dollar stock options, DFL endorsee Matt Entenza dropped out of the race for state attorney general Tuesday.

"(W)ith so little time and so many attacks, from anonymous faxes to attacks on my family, it is impossible to fight these attacks and win this race without it taking a serious toll on the people and the party we care about the most," he said.

When you dig and dig and dig, don't be surprised to find yourself in a hole.

(Entenza's) troubles began with the revelation that he had hired a Chicago opposition-research firm that investigated fellow DFLer Mike Hatch, the current attorney general who is the party's endorsee for governor.

One DFL'er harpooning another DFL'er, and they aren't even competing for the same office. How diseased is that?

State Rep. Jeff Johnson, R-Plymouth, the Republican candidate for attorney general, bluntly accused Entenza not only of changing his story as details emerged, but of outright lying. "I think he lied probably several times this last week," Johnson said Monday.

Entenza spent the week pulling a Dean Johnson by using the words like 'embellish' instead of 'lie' and phrases like 'upon further review' instead of 'oops, you got me.'

(Jeff) Johnson said Entenza initially didn't tell the truth when he told reporters more than a year ago that there was no truth to rumors that he was doing opposition research on Hatch. Johnson also said Entenza has tried to deceive the public on the motive for his research, the extent of the digging and the cost. An anonymous attack against Entenza on Monday came in the form of a packet of documents, including photocopies of campaign records and cancelled checks from Quam and Entenza's joint account, that were faxed to several Capitol reporters. Entenza's name was blacked out on the checks. The person who faxed the documents claimed that they demonstrate that Entenza didn't tell the truth when he told reporters in December 2004 that he and his wife contributed about $600,000 to Democratic campaigns and liberal groups. The mystery attacker's documents indicate that Quam gave at least $55,000 more to Democratic committees in South Dakota, which then sent the money back to Minnesota and to the DFL House caucus, which was led at the time by Entenza.

That's the biggest bomb yet, that Entenza was running, in part, to get "big money" out of the political process. What irony.

Okay Matt, you're done, and we're done with you. Now get a job.