Leidiger invites Bradlee Dean to give explosive invocation on floor of MN House [UPDATED]

On the floor of the Minnesota House this morning, anti-gay pastor Bradlee Dean gave a controversial invocation, where he made comments excluding non-Christians and implying that President Obama is not a Christian.

For background (and video) of the invocation, see this account on Minnesota Progressive Project.  Here’s a transcript of the end of the prayer:

I know this is a non-denominational prayer in this Chamber and it’s not about the Baptists and it’s not about the Catholics alone or the Lutherans or the Wesleyans. Or the Presbyterians the evangelicals or any other denomination but rather the head of the denomination and his name is Jesus. As every President up until 2008 has acknowledged. And we pray it. In Jesus’ name.

Who would invite someone like Dean to give such an invocation — on the day that the House is expected to take up the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage?

Mayer’s own Ernie Leidiger – according to Minnesota Public Radio’s Tom Scheck.

http://twitter.com/#!/tomscheck/status/71609675073851393

Leidiger should be embarrassed to bring such hatred onto the floor of the Minnesota House.  He owes all of us an apology, fast and heartfelt.  That’s the very least he can do to make up for this shameful situation.

UPDATE:  For those of you just becoming familiar with Rep. Leidiger, check out what us locals have been saying about our first-term Representative by reviewing our archive of Leidiger coverage.

UPDATE 2:  According to the Chanhassen Villager, Leidiger is pleading ignorance of Dean’s views.  Given Dean’s prominence in conservative and Tea Party circles, as well as his connections to Michele Bachmann and Tom Emmer (Leidiger is proud of his early support of Emmer), and Dean’s presence at the 2010 state GOP convention, that claim is not very credible.

UPDATE 3 (5/21):  With the heat of the moment passed, I’ll take Leidiger at his word that he didn’t know about Dean’s history.  But it shows that he didn’t even bother to do a simple Google search on Rev. Dean before promoting him to speak before the entire House.  That would be consistent with Leidiger’s history supporting short-sighted legislation, making dubious claims about transportation funding,  protecting his patrons at expense of the people, backing unprecedented theft of dedicated local sales tax revenues to balance the budget, and putting party loyalty ahead of local concerns.

UPDATE 4 (5/23):  On his radio show Saturday, Dean asserted that Leidiger did in fact know of Dean’s views.  Dean says that Leidiger was at a screening of Dean’s “My War” documentary last fall.   (Audio at 31:00 of the link.)