Under-fire DFL politico bragged about electing Ilhan Omar to Congress

Last week, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on the ongoing business disputes between a prominent DFL politico and a group of South Dakota cannabis entrepreneurs.

It turns out that the politico, Will Hailer, is the business partner of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s current and third husband, Tim Mynett. We wrote about the dispute in this piece.

Mynett is famous because his firm, eStreet Group, received millions of dollars from his wife’s congressional campaign for consulting work during Omar’s 2018 and 2020 runs for Congress.

After the arrangement became public, there was much criticism around the husband/wife, Mynett-Omar nepotism angle. The connection between Hailer and Omar was less reported on.

Back in April 2020, WCCO-TV did report on the connections, linking to a post where Will Hailer wrote about the eStreet firm’s efforts to elect Omar to Congress. Hailer defended the firm’s work for Omar, writing that she was one of the firm’s original clients when it was formed in 2018 by Hailer and Mynett.

In fact, the company eStreet Group LLC was not incorporated until July 2018, according to reports, after Omar had declared her candidacy for Congress.

[Hailer claimed in a legal filing (p. 32) in October 2019 that eStreet executed contracts with Omar beginning in June 2018.]

Hailer brags about how, with eStreet’s guidance, Omar led the nation in 2018 in voter turnout, among all non-incumbents running for Congress. (We’ve previously written about her uncanny ability to generate votes).

Omar herself endorsed their work, writing on Twitter in 2020,

Here is a happy Omar celebrating her win in 2018,

Nonetheless, for the 2022 election cycle, Omar’s campaign moved on from eStreet, with the exception of a few small payments. Having lost their No. 1 client, eStreet was forced to diversify, apparently first focusing on wine and beverages, then later cannabis.

In February 2021, the Washington Free Beacon reported that Mynett and Hailer were promoting an eStreet spinoff:

According to the website, eStreet will work to “elevate the voices of underrepresented entrepreneurs in the winemaking and beverage industries.” 

An early eStreet effort based in Santa Rosa, CA, has already won awards for their winemaking.

Cheers!