« MN GOP PRESS RELEASE: “RPM FILES CAMPAIGN FINANCE BOARD COMPLAINT REGARDING CHRIS COLEMAN & R.T. RYBAK CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES” | Home | MUST READ FROM THE PIONEER PRESS: “GOP TAKES AIM AT COLEMAN, RYBAK” »
MUST READ FROM THE STAR TRIBUNE: “STATE GOP COMPLAINS ABOUT MAYORS CAMPAIGNING”
By Aaron Cocking | September 29, 2009
“The Minnesota Republican Party announced a formal complaint Monday against St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, saying both men are actively running for governor but are violating a state law that requires them to formally register their campaigns.
The complaint raised what has become a delicate issue for Coleman and Rybak, both of whom are running in mayoral elections this year but have also shown signs they are considering joining a crowded field in next year’s governor’s race. John Stiles, Coleman’s mayoral campaign manager, downplayed the complaint Monday and said Coleman would have a statement on his political plans in October, before votes were cast in the St. Paul mayor’s race.” Source: Star Tribune, September 28, 2009
Click here for the complete story.
Topics: Uncategorized | 21 Comments »
21 Responses to “MUST READ FROM THE STAR TRIBUNE: “STATE GOP COMPLAINS ABOUT MAYORS CAMPAIGNING””
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
September 29th, 2009 at 9:15 am
I have to ask, why are Sutton and Brodkorb inserting themselves into the Democratic nominating process? Are they thinking of converting?
September 29th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Hiram,
It’s pretty clear from Coleman’s Mayoral campaign finance report that he’s spending mayoral campaign cash to run for governor in violation of Minnesota campaign finance laws. I haven’t seen Rybak’s report, so I can’t say whether Rybak is also violating those rules. I do know that Rybak has been in several parades and community festivals in Southern Minnesota. If he’s spending cash to be there, he better be filing the appropriate report.
September 29th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
“It’s pretty clear from Coleman’s Mayoral campaign finance report that he’s spending mayoral campaign cash to run for governor in violation of Minnesota campaign finance laws.”
Really? Which specific expenditure screams out to you “I’m running for governor.” Or is everybody who shows up at Farm Fest, running for governor, and required to make the appropriate filing, as Sutton and Brodkorb seem to pretend to believe?
What’s interesting to me is that none of the dozen or so Republicans who have wandered around the state over the last 8 years or so “doing political work” and who are now running for governor haven’t stepped up to back the charges. Republican operatives should really be prepared to abide by the standards they want to impose on others.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Hiram, who are the “dozen or so Republicans who have wandered around the state over the last 8 years or”? Were any of these people using funds from one campaign, to actively run for another?
September 29th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Hiram asks, Which specific expenditure screams out to you “I’m [Chris Coleman] running for governor.â€
These, for example …
Coleman Travel
3/12/09 Midwest Airlines $619.39
3/13/09 Orbitz.com $107.88
7/23/09 Arrowwood Resort Deposit $200.00
7/30/09 Kahler Grand Hotel $452.98
7/30/09 Northwest Airlines $249.19
8/17/09 Arrowwood Resort Lodging $107.80
Coleman Meals
6/18/09 Congressional District 7 Dinner $60.00
7/29/09 Gilligan’s Cove (Rochester) $13.00
7/30/09 Kahler Grand Grill $86.89
8/3/09 Granite City Brewery $35.82
Other Coleman Expenditures
4/14/09 Mileage for Stiles $90.00
7/27/09 Mileage for Stiles $60.00
Coleman Donations to DFL Units
2/7/09 Senate District 32 DFL $50.00
6/11/09 Rice County DFL $200.00
September 30th, 2009 at 6:33 am
Nowhere in your list is Coleman quoted as saying “I am running for governor.”
According to the Sutton-Brodkorb definition of candidacy, every politician in Minnesota is required to file for governor, the moment he thinks about running after spending a hundred dollars. If that were truly the state of the law, the list of filed candidates would be considerably longer than it is, and would include many, many Republicans.
People don’t run for governor, until they run for governor. Coleman, from all the evidence, seems to be running for mayor of St. Paul.
September 30th, 2009 at 9:10 am
“Nowhere in your list is Coleman quoted as saying “I am running for governor.â€
No where does it say: “This money is not being spent on my campaign for Governor”
Hiram there were three ways CC could have avoided this pickle. A) He could have simply filed the legal paper work to raise funds for his gubernatorial campaign. B) He could have paid for his outstate excursions with his own dime. C) He could have put off his guberatorial campaign until November 4.
September 30th, 2009 at 9:27 am
“This money is not being spent on my campaign for Governorâ€
Would that have changed what the money was spent for?
“there were three ways CC could have avoided this pickle. A) He could have simply filed the legal paper work to raise funds for his gubernatorial campaign. B) He could have paid for his outstate excursions with his own dime. C) He could have put off his guberatorial campaign until November 4.”
Coleman seems to have chosen option C.
September 30th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Hiram, you and I know that isn’t true.
September 30th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I don’t see a lot of Coleman for governor signs around town. Do you?
September 30th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Hiram,
You don’t see any Coleman for governor signs going around town, huh? You know the way you’re parsing words reminds me a lot of Bill Clinton saying that getting oral sex wasn’t really sex.
Your arguments are completely absurd and you know it. Chris Coleman and RT Rybak are most certainly campaigning for governor. Rybak sure as hell wasn’t campaigning for re-election as mayor when I saw him in Montgomery at Kolacky Days. Rybak isn’t even keeping his aspirations a secret, which begs the question who paid for the Draft Rybak booth at the Minnesota State Fair.
September 30th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
“Chris Coleman and RT Rybak are most certainly campaigning for governor.”
But this isn’t something that you have been able to prove, is it? Sutton and Brodkorb have put in so much work on this, yet they haven’t been able to produce one single piece of evidence showing Coleman actually campaigning for governor.
September 30th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Hiram,
The complaints have been filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. It’s in their hands to review the evidence and decide whether a violation has occurred.
Let me ask you a question, Hiram. I personally saw RT Rybak in Montgomery, Minnesota over Kolacky Days weekend in August. If he wasn’t campaigning for governor, what was he doing there?
September 30th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
“If he wasn’t campaigning for governor, what was he doing there?”
Eating kolacky? But you were there, you tell us.
Did he give a speech asking people to vote for him for governor?
Did he pass out campaign literature identifying himself as a candidate for governor?
Did he come up to you or anyone you saw, and say something to the effect, “Hi, I’m RT Rybak and I would like to ask you to vote for me for governor?
In short, was he campaigning for governor?
September 30th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Hiram,
Rybak was in the Kolacky Days parade walking with the DFL. He walked around Kolacky Days shaking hands and talking to people. He didn’t talk to me since I’m not a Democrat, so I can’t tell you what he discussed. But I can promise you with my whole heart that he was NOT soliciting votes in his mayoral re-election.
September 30th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
P.S. Hiram,
I wasn’t there so I didn’t personally see him, but one of my GOP friends was at the Applefest parade in LaCrescent and saw Rybak with the DFL in the parade as well. There were other DFL candidates for governor with the DFL unit including Tom Rukavina.
So was Rybak scrounging for Mayoral votes in LaCrescent also?
September 30th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
“Rybak was in the Kolacky Days parade walking with the DFL. He walked around Kolacky Days shaking hands and talking to people. He didn’t talk to me since I’m not a Democrat, so I can’t tell you what he discussed. But I can promise you with my whole heart that he was NOT soliciting votes in his mayoral re-election.”
I guess that means the answer to all my questions except the one about Kolacky, is no. I know of no statute that requires anyone to solicit votes for anything.
“one of my GOP friends was at the Applefest parade in LaCrescent and saw Rybak with the DFL in the parade as well.”
And of course walking a parade doesn’t mean you are running for governor. I would say the majority of people walking in most parade, in fact, aren’t.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Hiram,
Your arguments are absurd and you know it. It’s sad that you’re so willing to throw the truth out the window in favor of blind partisanship. If Rybak and Coleman are not candidates for governor, I’ll eat my hat.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
P.S.
Who paid for the draft Rybak booth at the Minnesota State Fair?
October 1st, 2009 at 7:04 am
“Your arguments are absurd and you know it. It’s sad that you’re so willing to throw the truth out the window in favor of blind partisanship. If Rybak and Coleman are not candidates for governor, I’ll eat my hat.”
You went to the parade, I didn’t. I asked several specific questions about campaigning. None of them were you able to answer in the affirmative.
I used to see Marty Seifert around quite a bit. I don’t share the fear others have around here concerning talking to one’s political adversaries, so I would in fact got up and talk to him. He’s a good guy, and I like him on a personal level. But I never did get the impression that he was attending those events out of a burning desire to exchange political insights with me. He was doing what politicians who have ambitions for higher office but aren’t prepared to declare their candidacies do. He was going around the state, introducing himself, making his name known, talking and maybe even listening to people. I have to say, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. I think politicians should do more of that, quite frankly. And I don’t think it’s good policy for politicians, like Seifert, like any number of Republican potential candidates waiting in the wings, and like Coleman and Rybak, to be required to file papers to do that, and I don’t think it’s the law.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
[...] MUST READ FROM THE STAR TRIBUNE: “STATE GOP COMPLAINS ABOUT MAYORS CAMPAIGNING†[...]