GOP HOUSE CAUCUS CALLS ON ENTENZA TO DISCLOSE CAMPAIGN FINANCES
Citing $300,000 Contribution, Representative Johnson Calls on Representative Entenza to Disclose House DFL Campaign Finances
In response to unanswered questions regarding DFL House Leader Matt Entenza's $300,000 contribution to the 21st Century Democrats 527, State Representative Jeff Johnson called on the House DFL Caucus to release a report detailing the transactions of the DFL House Caucus campaign committee during the last two weeks of the election. Johnson called on Entenza to release the information before the seating of DFL legislators at the beginning of the legislative session, pledging that the Republican House Caucus will do the same.
"Disclosure and transparency are cornerstones of Minnesota's tradition of fair and clean elections," said Johnson. "Unfortunately, the House DFL Caucus has for many years made a habit of multiple money transfers -- some might call it money laundering -- in order to make it nearly impossible for the public to trace where their money is coming from and where it's being spent."
Citing recent DFL House Caucus campaign finance report and the revelations of Matt Entenza's $300,000 contribution to the 21st Century Democrats, money which appears to have come straight back to Minnesota to fund field staff for several DFL House races, Johnson pointed out that it appears that Entenza went to some pretty extraordinary lengths to hide the campaign operation of the DFL House Caucus and his contribution to the 21st Century Democrats from the voters of Minnesota until after the election.
"The DFL House Caucus has a deliberately confusing political operation that prevents Minnesotans from tracking their activities by simply visiting the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board and reviewing their committee's filings," said Johnson. "Minnesotans would have to review six sets of reports by three organizations filed with three reporting entities to track the campaign activities of the DFL House Caucus."
Another example of the efforts the DFL Caucus has used to hide its campaign operations is that just 20.7% of total campaign expenditures of the DFL House Caucus are itemized or traceable. It's impossible to trace approximately $1.4 million of their expenditures as they transferred this money to the DFL Party, exploiting a loophole in Minnesota's campaign finance laws, which allows unlimited transfers between party units. (By way of comparison 98.7% of total campaign expenditures of the House Republican Campaign Committee are itemized or traceable.)
Aside from releasing a complete report detailing the transactions of the DFL House Caucus campaign committee during the last two weeks of the election, Representative Entenza needs to answer the following questions:
Why are only 20 percent of expenditures listed on the DFL House Caucus state reports?
Why didn't the DFL House Caucus hire field staff this year, as they have in election years in the past?
What role did the 21st Century Democrats' field staff play in the House DFL election efforts? Including which DFL state house races did they work on?
"Matt Entenza needs to release this information before he and the new members of his caucus are seated at the start of the legislative session," said Johnson. "Refusal to agree to this mutual release of important information and answer these questions will certainly serve to further erode the public's confidence in our elections and will push this very partisan and distracting issue into January, when we should be concerning ourselves with policy, not politics." Source: Republican Party of Minnesota, December 3, 2004
In response to unanswered questions regarding DFL House Leader Matt Entenza's $300,000 contribution to the 21st Century Democrats 527, State Representative Jeff Johnson called on the House DFL Caucus to release a report detailing the transactions of the DFL House Caucus campaign committee during the last two weeks of the election. Johnson called on Entenza to release the information before the seating of DFL legislators at the beginning of the legislative session, pledging that the Republican House Caucus will do the same.
"Disclosure and transparency are cornerstones of Minnesota's tradition of fair and clean elections," said Johnson. "Unfortunately, the House DFL Caucus has for many years made a habit of multiple money transfers -- some might call it money laundering -- in order to make it nearly impossible for the public to trace where their money is coming from and where it's being spent."
Citing recent DFL House Caucus campaign finance report and the revelations of Matt Entenza's $300,000 contribution to the 21st Century Democrats, money which appears to have come straight back to Minnesota to fund field staff for several DFL House races, Johnson pointed out that it appears that Entenza went to some pretty extraordinary lengths to hide the campaign operation of the DFL House Caucus and his contribution to the 21st Century Democrats from the voters of Minnesota until after the election.
"The DFL House Caucus has a deliberately confusing political operation that prevents Minnesotans from tracking their activities by simply visiting the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board and reviewing their committee's filings," said Johnson. "Minnesotans would have to review six sets of reports by three organizations filed with three reporting entities to track the campaign activities of the DFL House Caucus."
Another example of the efforts the DFL Caucus has used to hide its campaign operations is that just 20.7% of total campaign expenditures of the DFL House Caucus are itemized or traceable. It's impossible to trace approximately $1.4 million of their expenditures as they transferred this money to the DFL Party, exploiting a loophole in Minnesota's campaign finance laws, which allows unlimited transfers between party units. (By way of comparison 98.7% of total campaign expenditures of the House Republican Campaign Committee are itemized or traceable.)
Aside from releasing a complete report detailing the transactions of the DFL House Caucus campaign committee during the last two weeks of the election, Representative Entenza needs to answer the following questions:
Why are only 20 percent of expenditures listed on the DFL House Caucus state reports?
Why didn't the DFL House Caucus hire field staff this year, as they have in election years in the past?
What role did the 21st Century Democrats' field staff play in the House DFL election efforts? Including which DFL state house races did they work on?
"Matt Entenza needs to release this information before he and the new members of his caucus are seated at the start of the legislative session," said Johnson. "Refusal to agree to this mutual release of important information and answer these questions will certainly serve to further erode the public's confidence in our elections and will push this very partisan and distracting issue into January, when we should be concerning ourselves with policy, not politics." Source: Republican Party of Minnesota, December 3, 2004
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