THIS DOESN'T PASS THE SMELL TEST
I bet Matt Quam paid for this with his lunch money.
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D.C. group to hire for DFL campaigns
Committee helped party win 13 seats
Washington-based campaign committee that last year helped the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party win 13 seats in the Minnesota House and incurred a record fine for failing to properly report donations is seeking to hire one or more field workers to assist DFL-endorsed candidates in this fall's St. Paul city and school board elections, committee officials said Wednesday.
The committee - 21st Century Democrats - has long ties to St. Paul. Former St. Paul Mayor Jim Scheibel is vice chairman of the group's board. Last year, House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, DFL-St. Paul, donated $300,000 to the group, making him the committee's third-largest donor.
In an e-mail sent this week to supporters and contributors, 21st Century Democrats announced it was "currently hiring campaign staff to start IMMEDIATELY in Minnesota." The e-mail sought applicants for jobs as field organizers who would conduct voter canvasses, organize phone banks, conduct "opposition research" on other candidates and supervise summer interns.
Despite the reference to summer interns, Scheibel said Wednesday that 21st Century Democrats has not yet adopted a strategy for next year's state election campaigns. He said he believed the e-mail was seeking to hire one or two field workers to assist St. Paul mayoral candidate Chris Coleman and three DFL-endorsed school board candidates in the remaining four weeks of their campaigns.
Kelly Young, the executive director of the committee, said the e-mail's reference to summer interns was a mistake. She said the committee hoped to hire a single campaign worker who would help conduct a coordinated campaign for Coleman and the school board candidates.
In December 2004, the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board imposed two fines, totaling nearly $318,000, against 21st Century Democrats for "inadvertent" violations of a campaign-finance reporting law. The board concluded that 21st Century Democrats failed to disclose in Minnesota all the donors to the national committee.
In a separate investigation initiated by the Minnesota Republican Party, the campaign finance board cleared 21st Century Democrats, the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and three Democratic campaign committees of allegations that they improperly accepted and spent the money donated by Entenza. The Republican complaint did not accuse Entenza of any wrongdoing.
Twenty-first Century Democrats challenged that fine, and Scheibel said Wednesday the committee is negotiating to win a reduction in it. Source: Pioneer Press, October 13, 2005
8 Comments:
This is so obvious.
So obviously what? It is completly legal for an organization to hire someone to work for candidates they support. Do you think the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce doesn't have any paid employees working on behalf of Randy Kelly?
That would almost be plausible, except I doubt Randy Kelly gave the St. Paul Chamber $600,000 last year.
But let's be real. If he did and all of a sudden this year they announced an all out effort on their behallf to re-elect him, you'd scream to the high heavens.
When Entenza runs for AG, watch these staffers suddenly do opposition research on Jeff Johnson and lit drops for Entenza for AG.
I think it's safe to say "he" can afford to do both.
Can anyone say Kingpin?
Did Chris Coleman or any of those school board candidates gives lots of money to 21st Century Democrats? No. It is not right to make allegations that tie two unrelated issues together.
Further, the branch of 21st Century Democrats that Entenza gaze money to last year ($300,000, not $600,000) was unrelated to any work that was done on behalf of House Candidates. That was for the Young Voter Project that worked to maximize young people's votes in center cities all over the country.
Further, even if Entenza was giving that $300,000 to aid House candidates, he would have just given it to the House Caucus (which he did contribute a different $300,000 to). Because the GOP in Minnesota refuses to accept campaign finance reform similar to McCain Feingold unlimited soft money contributions are not illegal in Minnesota. He could have given $10 million if he wanted to, it is legal to give as much as you want to a Minnesota political party.
There is nothing at all illegal here despite numerous GOP efforts to show that there is. The House Caucus or 21st Century Democrats or the DFL or any other party was nit found to have done anything wrong related to this in the 2004 election cycle.
Mike-
Get real. If the shoes were on the other foot, you'd be shitting your pants and the media would be having a field day, even the new "how it affects you" Star Tribune. There would be calls for hearings, massive media coverage. All of it.
And you have no fucking clue, not one, about campaign finance reform. If the DFL wants it so much, if Matt Entenza wants it as much as he says he does, where was he on the Emmer bill this year for better disclosure regulations? Who had the bill in the Senate? Anyone know? I do, John Hottinger. So what? There are two reasons to carry a bill: to pass it or kill it. Hottinger killed it, plain and simple. You might try coming back with allegations about the MCCL, but they aren't true.
But thanks for finally admitting he paid $300,000 for his 13 House seats last year.
First, there was a complaint filled and the same campaign finance board that has fined the House Caucus/Pawlenty/and a host of other candidates and orgs in the past found nothing was wrong. That should be the end of the story.
But okay, I did some research and here are the facts. Entenza, in 2004 contributed a grand total of $185,478 to the DFL, the House Caucus, and to individual candidates. Lois meanwhile donated $150,250 to any DFL organization or DFL candidate. That does not include the $300,000 to the 21st Century Democrats, that again, was donated to the Young Voter Project, not to help elect DFL House candidates.
In last election cycle the DFL House Caucus and State DFL (the two orgs Entenza and Lois gave to) received $5.9 million; the respective GOP orgs received $4.2 million. I don't know what all organizations spent on behalf of DFL or GOP candidates, but from these numbers alone you can see that the $300,000 donated by Matt and Lois was a small amount compared to the overall totals.
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