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MUST READ FROM STAR TRIBUNE: “LEGISLATIVE AUDITOR STEPS UP SECRETARY OF STATE PROBE”
By Michael B. Brodkorb | November 26, 2007
"The state's legislative auditor is racheting up his investigation of Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie after a response Ritchie's office provided proved "unreliable" regarding allegations of inappropriate use of a mailing list generated through an official program.
As a consequence, the legislative auditor will be requiring Ritchie and members of his staff to submit to questioning under oath, an unusual step in legislative audit investigations.
Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles said today his office will continue working on several other investigations but will proceed quickly into the Ritchie probe.
'If (Ritchie) was not forthcoming, that is a serious matter in and of itself' Nobles said. 'If we cannot confirm the veracity of the statements from him and others in his office we'll have to take other measures to determine what went on." Source: Star Tribune, November 26, 2007
Click here for the complete story.
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"In a Nov. 9 letter to Nobles' office, Ritchie's legal advisor, Bert Black, said the mailing list was public information and widely distributed, including at the State Fair, and that it was his understanding that was how the directory was obtained by the Ritchie campaign.
Last week, Ritchie acknowledged to the Star Tribune that he personally transferred the contact information from the Secretary of State's office to his campaign organization. In an e-mail to Nobles later the same day, Ritchie made the same acknowledgment.
In a letter to the Legislative Audit Commission today, Nobles said the admission changed the scope of his investigation.
'Mr. Ritchie's belated acknowledgment of personal involvement renders the information I received from his office on November 9 unreliable,' the letter said. 'Therefore, I have informed Mr. Ritchie that I intend to conduct an investigation into the allegation concerning the Secretary of State's office by interviewing Mr. Ritchie and his staff under oath.'" Source: Star Tribune, November 26, 2007
Click here for the complete story.
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19 Responses to “MUST READ FROM STAR TRIBUNE: “LEGISLATIVE AUDITOR STEPS UP SECRETARY OF STATE PROBE””
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November 26th, 2007 at 3:04 PM
Wow!
Once again, the cover up is worse than the crime. It’s uncanny how closely this resembles the Entenza debacle. And, how classic is it that Entenza was defending Ritchie on At Issue over the weekend!
Ritchie has really backed himself into a corner on this….keep up the great work, MDE!
November 26th, 2007 at 3:19 PM
I don’t know if there is any other way to read this than that Ritchie has lied to the Legislative Auditor.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong.
His entire role in life is to maintain the integrity of our elections, and he has apparently lied to the investigating authority about an election oriented scandal involving his own political campaign.
The way this plot is thickening has the makings of a good political thriller.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:21 PM
This is huge. Thanks, MDE.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:27 PM
It is sad that it was apparently all too easy for Secretary of State Ritchie to lie when he wasn’t under oath.
“‘If (Ritchie) was not forthcoming, that is a serious matter in and of itself’ Nobles said. ‘If we cannot confirm the veracity of the statements from him and others in his office we’ll have to take other measures to determine what went on.”
I wonder if Ritchie will even allow himself to be put under oath.
Perhaps he will do the cowardly thing and start throwing employees under the bus.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:29 PM
Perhaps it is time for all citizens to brush up on Article VIII of the Minnesota Constitution.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:32 PM
This makes me all the happier that I was a die-hard supporter of Christian Sande. He would have made an excellent Secretary of State. Unfortunately, my fellow DFLers endorsed Ritchie last year.
Where have you gone, Christian Sande?
November 26th, 2007 at 3:33 PM
[...] UPDATE: Michael is all over this too. Rest assured that this development will spread like wildfire throughout the Right & Left Blogospheres [...]
November 26th, 2007 at 3:35 PM
Hey I’ve been saying that Ritchie should pay for the cost of this investigation. Is there any liberal Democrat that will want to say that Ritchie shouldn’t have to pay since he obviously delayed the investigation being finished and added to it’s expense by forcing witnesses to give sworn testimony.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
November 26th, 2007 at 3:39 PM
Walter, by the looks of it, if Ritchie were forced to pay for this, he’d just solicit money from people he has brought into his official office for official functions anyway.
So either way the taxpayer is getting fleeced for Ritchie’s partisan, political gain.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:50 PM
I hear that DFL legislators are apoplectic.
They know they are renting a few of these legislative seats, and to have this big of a scandal hanging over the DFL (especially one involving the ability to fairly administer this next election) has a lot of them wanting Ritchie to just go away.
I don’t think many of them believe Ritchie’s political career will survive this.
And having watched Brunswick in the past, I firmly believe the fact that Ritchie has been evasive and deceptive with him will only make him dig for the truth further.
My experience with him is that he absolutely HATES getting lied to by politicians who think he’s too lazy to pursue the truth.
November 26th, 2007 at 4:05 PM
when will Ritchie give another interview to explain himself?
The silence from him is deafening.
I guess his excuse will now be that he can’t comment while an investigation is under way. I’d be the DFL political hacks in the Secretary of State’s office are checking MDE every couple minutes!
This makes me think there are probably other issues out there where Ritchie misused state resources for campaigning. This issue is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
November 26th, 2007 at 4:10 PM
Can’t comment during an ongoing investigation?
Hmmmmm that sounds so familiar. Where have I heard that before, hmmmm. I’m stumped.
November 26th, 2007 at 4:16 PM
damn, looks like Nobles is fixing to open a can of whoop-ass on Ritchie.
And, Brunswick will be right there, dutifully ready to report on the action.
November 26th, 2007 at 4:26 PM
Loved this line:
“Mr. Ritchie’s belated acknowledgment of personal involvement renders the information I received from his office on November 9 unreliable,”
Nicely saying: LIAR!
November 26th, 2007 at 5:07 PM
Hey Dumb. I have also been saying that Ritchie should resign. The point is if Mark Ritchie has said he will take full responsibility what does he mean by full responsibility?
Saying he messed up isn’t full responsibility. Resigning is a good start.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
November 26th, 2007 at 5:25 PM
Ask Ritchie to resign and have the Governor replace him with a Democrat. That way the DFL can save face and MN gets rid of a statewide official who lied to the legislative auditor.
November 26th, 2007 at 10:56 PM
A hearty good evening to the staff in Ritchie’s office, who must now be checking this blog religiously to see what else their Wellstonian icon has done to put their job in danger.
November 26th, 2007 at 11:01 PM
I think the only talking Ritchie is doing is to himself.
Pathetic. I know there are decent Democrats out there and this Ritchie fiasco is giving them a bad name.
November 27th, 2007 at 6:36 AM
Interesting,
Why on earth would anyone give a shit whether the liars, frauds and thieves at the DFL “save face.”
To hell with them.