MORE MONEY FROM ENTENZA RAISES MORE QUESTIONS
Entenza reveals $260,000 donation
GOP criticizes DFL Party contributions
In the final weeks of the just-completed election campaign, House Minority Leader Matt Entenza and his wife, Lois Quam, donated more than $260,000 to the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and to the House campaign that Entenza led.
The donations, which Entenza disclosed Friday, are in addition to nearly $340,000 in previously reported donations — placing the couple among the top individual donors to state campaigns. Quam is an executive at UnitedHealth Group, a Minnetonka-based company that is the largest health insurer in the country.
While there is nothing illegal about the contributions as Entenza described them Friday, they were strongly criticized by Republicans, who are considering filing state and federal complaints against Entenza regarding his donations to a national Democratic group that was active in Minnesota this year.
"There was a need," the St. Paul lawmaker said of the DFL Party's and the House DFL campaign committee's spending in the final days of the campaign. "I was proud to be able to help."
State Republican Party Chairman Ron Eibensteiner questioned the propriety of the latest donations, and he said the party is planning to file state and federal complaints accusing Entenza of violating campaign finance laws through his $300,000 in donations this year to the national campaign committee called the 21st Century Democrats.
"We will be filing a complaint — we still are working on it — probably in a week or so," Eibensteiner said. He has been threatening to file state and federal complaints since Entenza's $300,000 contribution to the 21st Century Democrats was revealed in early November.
Eibensteiner, who himself contributed $125,000 to the state Republican Party in 2000, said he thought there was something vaguely improper about Entenza contributing money to help elect DFL lawmakers whom he will lead in the upcoming legislative session.
"It's very disconcerting to have someone who is the leader of a caucus contribute this money out of his own pocket, because now these legislators are beholden to him and not to their constituents," Eibensteiner said.
David Schultz, a Hamline University professor who teaches election law, said Entenza's and Quam's contributions to the DFL Party and to the House DFL campaign committee appeared to be "perfectly legal" if Entenza did not influence how the money was spent. Entenza said Friday he did not.
But if Entenza, as the DFL caucus' leader, directed how his money was to be spent, he perhaps could be in violation of a law that bars donors to party campaign committees from "earmarking" their gifts to benefit specific candidates, Schultz said.
Beyond that, Schultz agreed with Eibensteiner that Entenza's large donations to the House campaign committee perhaps could buy the loyalty of the DFL candidates who won close races with the help of his money.
"He's spending an incredible amount of money in ways that I almost think are making it possible for him to buy the speakership of the House," Schultz said. If DFL candidates had won a majority with two more House seats in the November election, Entenza would have been in line to be elected speaker.
Entenza said Friday that he and Quam each gave $75,000 to the DFL Party and $75,000 to the DFL House campaign committee this year. Those donations put both of them in the top 10 individual donors to state campaign committees since 2000.
During that period, only eight other people — Eibensteiner, U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, Edward Hamm, Vance Opperman and Dayton's ex-wife, Alida Messinger among them — have contributed $75,000 or more to a state party or legislative campaign committee, according to records maintained by the campaign finance board. Most of those very big donors gave to Democratic campaigns.
Entenza told reporters Friday about his and Quam's latest donations, which have not yet been reported to the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. He was responding to a Republican legislator's call for him to release campaign contribution and spending records for the last weeks of the campaign.
Entenza said he was happy to provide the disclosure that Rep. Jeff Johnson of Plymouth sought. He said he had nothing to hide about the campaign contributions, which he and Quam would have been required by law to reveal in February.
The 21st Century Democrats, the national group that this year received three $100,000 contributions from Entenza, funded two major election efforts in Minnesota. One was a young-voter registration drive; the other trained and paid more than $250,000 in salaries and expenses for about 20 campaign field workers who assisted DFL House candidates.
Eibensteiner said Friday, as he has in the past, that he suspected Entenza's $300,000 contribution to 21st Century Democrats paid for those field workers. And Entenza insisted, as he has in the past, that his money went only to the voter registration part of the group's work.
Entenza also gave reporters a copy of a canceled $100,000 check to 21st Century Democrats to support his assertion that his donations to that group went to the young-voter registration drive. The check showed a "young voter" notation on the line provided on the check for listing its purpose.
In addition to the money they gave to the two Minnesota campaign committees and to 21st Century Democrats, Entenza and Quam also gave about $40,000 to candidates for Congress and national political action committees over the past two years.
Quam told Pioneer Press business columnist Dave Beal this week that she has realized net proceeds of $4.2 million through the sale of UnitedHealth stock since the beginning of 2002.
Entenza said the political contributions he made came from "our" money. Quam said she and Entenza have joint accounts.
House DFLers this year picked up 13 seats, moving into a near-tie with Republicans for control of the House.
COMING SUNDAY
Read more about Lois Quam, dubbed by Fortune magazine one of the 50 most powerful women in U.S. business, in the Sunday Business section. Source: Pioneer Press, December 4, 2004
GOP criticizes DFL Party contributions
In the final weeks of the just-completed election campaign, House Minority Leader Matt Entenza and his wife, Lois Quam, donated more than $260,000 to the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and to the House campaign that Entenza led.
The donations, which Entenza disclosed Friday, are in addition to nearly $340,000 in previously reported donations — placing the couple among the top individual donors to state campaigns. Quam is an executive at UnitedHealth Group, a Minnetonka-based company that is the largest health insurer in the country.
While there is nothing illegal about the contributions as Entenza described them Friday, they were strongly criticized by Republicans, who are considering filing state and federal complaints against Entenza regarding his donations to a national Democratic group that was active in Minnesota this year.
"There was a need," the St. Paul lawmaker said of the DFL Party's and the House DFL campaign committee's spending in the final days of the campaign. "I was proud to be able to help."
State Republican Party Chairman Ron Eibensteiner questioned the propriety of the latest donations, and he said the party is planning to file state and federal complaints accusing Entenza of violating campaign finance laws through his $300,000 in donations this year to the national campaign committee called the 21st Century Democrats.
"We will be filing a complaint — we still are working on it — probably in a week or so," Eibensteiner said. He has been threatening to file state and federal complaints since Entenza's $300,000 contribution to the 21st Century Democrats was revealed in early November.
Eibensteiner, who himself contributed $125,000 to the state Republican Party in 2000, said he thought there was something vaguely improper about Entenza contributing money to help elect DFL lawmakers whom he will lead in the upcoming legislative session.
"It's very disconcerting to have someone who is the leader of a caucus contribute this money out of his own pocket, because now these legislators are beholden to him and not to their constituents," Eibensteiner said.
David Schultz, a Hamline University professor who teaches election law, said Entenza's and Quam's contributions to the DFL Party and to the House DFL campaign committee appeared to be "perfectly legal" if Entenza did not influence how the money was spent. Entenza said Friday he did not.
But if Entenza, as the DFL caucus' leader, directed how his money was to be spent, he perhaps could be in violation of a law that bars donors to party campaign committees from "earmarking" their gifts to benefit specific candidates, Schultz said.
Beyond that, Schultz agreed with Eibensteiner that Entenza's large donations to the House campaign committee perhaps could buy the loyalty of the DFL candidates who won close races with the help of his money.
"He's spending an incredible amount of money in ways that I almost think are making it possible for him to buy the speakership of the House," Schultz said. If DFL candidates had won a majority with two more House seats in the November election, Entenza would have been in line to be elected speaker.
Entenza said Friday that he and Quam each gave $75,000 to the DFL Party and $75,000 to the DFL House campaign committee this year. Those donations put both of them in the top 10 individual donors to state campaign committees since 2000.
During that period, only eight other people — Eibensteiner, U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, Edward Hamm, Vance Opperman and Dayton's ex-wife, Alida Messinger among them — have contributed $75,000 or more to a state party or legislative campaign committee, according to records maintained by the campaign finance board. Most of those very big donors gave to Democratic campaigns.
Entenza told reporters Friday about his and Quam's latest donations, which have not yet been reported to the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. He was responding to a Republican legislator's call for him to release campaign contribution and spending records for the last weeks of the campaign.
Entenza said he was happy to provide the disclosure that Rep. Jeff Johnson of Plymouth sought. He said he had nothing to hide about the campaign contributions, which he and Quam would have been required by law to reveal in February.
The 21st Century Democrats, the national group that this year received three $100,000 contributions from Entenza, funded two major election efforts in Minnesota. One was a young-voter registration drive; the other trained and paid more than $250,000 in salaries and expenses for about 20 campaign field workers who assisted DFL House candidates.
Eibensteiner said Friday, as he has in the past, that he suspected Entenza's $300,000 contribution to 21st Century Democrats paid for those field workers. And Entenza insisted, as he has in the past, that his money went only to the voter registration part of the group's work.
Entenza also gave reporters a copy of a canceled $100,000 check to 21st Century Democrats to support his assertion that his donations to that group went to the young-voter registration drive. The check showed a "young voter" notation on the line provided on the check for listing its purpose.
In addition to the money they gave to the two Minnesota campaign committees and to 21st Century Democrats, Entenza and Quam also gave about $40,000 to candidates for Congress and national political action committees over the past two years.
Quam told Pioneer Press business columnist Dave Beal this week that she has realized net proceeds of $4.2 million through the sale of UnitedHealth stock since the beginning of 2002.
Entenza said the political contributions he made came from "our" money. Quam said she and Entenza have joint accounts.
House DFLers this year picked up 13 seats, moving into a near-tie with Republicans for control of the House.
COMING SUNDAY
Read more about Lois Quam, dubbed by Fortune magazine one of the 50 most powerful women in U.S. business, in the Sunday Business section. Source: Pioneer Press, December 4, 2004
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