Tag: elections

“Minnetristagate” Update

Coined “Minnetristagate” by the Center of the American Experiment writer, Tom Steward, the Minnetrista campaign finance violations matter, justice scalesinvolving the current Mayor, two current and one past council member and leaders of the Our Minnetrista organization, has been scheduled for an evidentiary hearing May 7. The Administrative Law Judge issued an order denying Respondents motion for a summary disposition on all but one minor allegation having to do with providing literature disclaimers.

The complaint, filed with the MN Office of Administrative Hearings, deals with allegations of campaign finance violations against the Respondents occurring during both the 2014 and 2018 Minnetrista city elections. An excerpt regarding the 2018 elections from the Judge’s order on page 8:

“Our Minnetrista engaged in all of these activities without ever being identified as a source of the funds on the candidates’ campaign reports.  Though Respondents maintain that Our Minnetrista acted as the campaign committee for the candidates, Mortenson and Tschumperlin’s financial reports were filed as candidate reports, rather than campaign committee reports, further obscuring Our Minnetrista’s role in the candidates’ campaigns.  Additionally, the funds expended by Our Minnetrista greatly exceeded the $600 contribution limit.” 

Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings Media contact: https://mn.gov/oah/media/media-contacts.jsp

 

 

Minnetrista campaign violations update

MINNETRISTA CAMPAIGN VIOLATIONS UPDATE: No judgement as of yet but Respondents in the case, which include Minnetrista Mayor Lisa Whalen, two present council members (Mortenson/Tschumperlin), one past council member (Thoele) and leaders of the “Our Minnetrista” organization, have admitted that contributions recorded as coming from individuals actually came from “Our Minnetrista” and were deposited into “Our Minnetrista” accounts, not accounts belonging to the candidates themselves as their disclosure reports showed. Subpoenaed bank records also showed many of the contributions to “Our Minnetrista” far exceeded the $600 statutory contribution limit. The scheme involved taking contributions that exceeded the limit and dividing them up among the candidates and recording them as multiple smaller contributions.

Bar Chart comparison 2014-2018 Contributions and ExpendituresThe scheme managed to go undetected for years until a banking regulation required that checking accounts opened under an assumed name had to be registered with the Secretary of State’s office. The discovery of the registration of “Our Minnetrista” as an assumed name led, among other findings, to the eventual filing of the complaint.

Both Complainant and Respondents have requested a summary disposition in the case. The Office of Administrative Hearings is reviewing the case but has not yet ruled.

Media contacts: https://mn.gov/oah/media/media-contacts.jsp (OAH case# 71-0325-35774)

Things in wonderland are getting “curiouser and curiouser”

aliceThings in wonderland are getting “curiouser and curiouser.”  Interesting find yesterday. The largest contributor to Lisa Whalen’s 2014 mayoral campaign didn’t have an employer listed on her campaign finance report, which seemed odd to me (just listed “education”). Upon a quick google search it was discovered he is currently in a top job with a government agency Mayor Whalen currently represents the city on. He apparently made a contribution for $1,800 to “Our Minnetrista” in September of 2014, which was split three ways between the “Our Minnetrista” candidates.

State law requires candidates to list the employer, or occupation if self-employed, on all donations over $100. The law is meant to prevent conflicts of interest and, hopefully, to deter unethical influence over decisions public officials make in office.

“Our Minnetrista” officials are claiming “good faith” that they didn’t intentionally violate Minnesota’s campaign finance laws and their candidates are claiming the same. I wonder what else we’ll discover as this case progresses.

Mayor and council members face campaign finance violations

“Campaign Complaint Rocks Minnetrista” is the title of the story published yesterday on the Center of the American Experiment site. A summary background, written by one of the Administrative Law judges, gives some analysis on the complaints that name current Minnetrista Mayor Lisa Whalen, Council Members Pam Mortenson and John Tschumperlin, past Council Member Patricia Thoele and “Our Minnetrista” leaders David Kolb and Karen Danielson as Respondents.

Full disclosure, I am the Complainant in this case and have received numerous requests for more information. For media inquiries, official status on these complaints may be obtained from the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings.