Those of us who came of age in the second half of the 20th century, when we hear the word Minnesota, still tend to think of a state that represented the best Scandinavian virtues of self-sufficiency and honesty or maybe the pioneer ruggedness of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s family. Boy, is that a dated idea. When the anti-Semitic Ilhan Omar was elected to the House of Representatives, we learned all sorts of interesting things about immigration and election fraud in Minnesota. However, with the election of John Thompson to the Minnesota House of Representatives, we’re getting a whole new level of political dirt in that Midwestern state.

Scott Johnson, who lives in Minnesota, has been tracking the sordid tale of Thompson’s mysterious dual residency in...Wisconsin! Although he was elected to represent St. Paul’s East Side, it seems Thompson doesn’t like them enough to live among them or even to live in the same state with them.

It all started when Thompson was pulled over last week because his car was missing its front license plate. At the time, he duly presented the police officer with his driver’s license. What was peculiar, to say the least, is that the license came from Wisconsin. But wait, as Ron Popiel used to say. There’s more!

He not only doesn’t have a Minnesota driver’s license, he has never had one, and his driving privileges in Minnesota had been revoked in April 2019 for a failed child support obligation. The good news is that on Wednesday Thompson made good on the child support.

Thompson told the Pioneer Press he never took out a Minnesota driver’s license, although he also had previously told the paper he’s lived in St. Paul for 18 years. And yet the same month Thompson appeared on the ballot for election to the legislature last year he renewed his Wisconsin driver’s license.

Indeed, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Thompson has held a valid Wisconsin license since July 2000. Thompson renewed the license in 2005, 2012 and November 2020.

The Pioneer Press’s Dave Orrick adds: “The address or addresses on Thompson’s renewed and expired licenses are not public, but Wisconsin driver’s licenses are only available to Wisconsin residents.” T

There’s more. Minnesota law requires new residents to obtain a Minnesota driver’s license within 60 days of residency. When did this guy become a Minnesota resident?

Residency raises yet another issue. Minnesota law also imposes a six-month residency requirement on candidates for the legislature. A candidate must have lived in his district at least six months before election day.

You can guess Thompson’s defense: Racism, of course. To his credit, St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell is fighting back against the charge that the sergeant who pulled Thompson over was motivated in the first instance by racism. As for Thompson, having played the race card, he’s now fallen silent – and is refusing to let the police release the body camera showing him getting his citation for driving without a front license plate.

By the way, Thompson is an unpleasant person in other respects, aside from probable fraud in running for office. John Thompson was the person who led a raucous group of BLM protesters in front of the home of Police Union leader Bob Kroll, terrorizing his wife and children. His political rhetoric consisted of saying things like “We coming for everything that you motherf–ers took from us,” and “This whole [vulgarity] state burned down for 20 [vulgarity] dollars. You think we give a f– about burning Hugo [Kroll’s town] down?” There was more and you should watch the video to get the full flavor of the man.

John Thompson, who recently won his Primary for 67A in St. Paul, goes off and screams at neighborhood children, residents, and neighbors of Police Union Leader Bob Kroll.

"F*CK, Hugo Minnesota!"

BLM protesters gathered today outside Kroll's home. pic.twitter.com/1vTaiTQsML

— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) August 15, 2020

Thompson also has had issues with reporters, threatening to “beat the brakes off your motherf-ing ass out here” when they turned on a camera light indicating that they were filming him at the scene of a triple homicide. This happened just a few days after he took his seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

This is not Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Minnesota anymore, that’s for sure.

IMAGE: John Thompson. Twitter screen grab.

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