DFL candidates rush to fill Entenza void
"B-log"07/19/2006
3 big names file after embattled attorney general hopeful quits race
BY PATRICK SWEENEY
Pioneer Press
Rep. Matt Entenza’s stunning decision Tuesday to drop his campaign for Minnesota attorney general drew three big-name Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawyers into a contest to replace him as the party’s candidate for one of the most powerful public jobs in the state.
Entenza, beset by questions about his wife’s job and Republican attacks on his integrity, withdrew from the race during a news conference on the Capitol steps.
The major contenders for the DFL nomination now are:
• Steve Kelley, a state senator from Hopkins who finished second in the race for the DFL endorsement for governor last month.
• Bill Luther, a former four-term U.S. representative who lives in Eden Prairie.
• Lori Swanson of Eagan, a top assistant to Attorney General Mike Hatch.
In addition, two lesser-known DFL candidates — Jennifer Mattson, a St. Paul lawyer, and Patrick Cotter, a Dakota County public defender — are on the Democratic ballot.
The DFL Party’s central committee is scheduled to meet this month or early August to endorse one of the five as the party’s favorite. Unless one or more of them withdraws by Thursday afternoon, all five will be on the Sept. 12 DFL primary election ballot.
For a week, there has been widespread speculation in political circles that one or more major opponents might challenge Entenza. Nevertheless, Entenza’s abandonment of his campaign was a startling development; many Democrats had expected that he would wage a high-profile, big-spending primary campaign against all comers.
His decision was perhaps the biggest bombshell in Minnesota politics since allegations of sexual improprieties forced Jon Grunseth, the Republican-endorsed candidate for governor, to drop his campaign just a few weeks before the 1990 general election. Arne Carlson then jumped into the race and defeated DFL Gov. Rudy Perpich.
Announcing his withdrawal — with his wife, Lois Quam, at his side — Entenza said he was quitting the race for the sake of his family and the DFL Party.
“With so little time and so many attacks, from anonymous faxes to attacks on my family, it is impossible to fight these attacks and win this race without it taking a serious toll on the people and the party we care about the most,” Entenza said.
He refused to take any questions from reporters.
Entenza, who until recently was the Democratic minority leader in the Minnesota House, did not seek re-election to his House seat from St. Paul.
Brian Melendez, the Democratic state chairman, predicted one or more of the better-known candidates — Kelley, Luther and Swanson — might decide to drop out of the race before Thursday. He also predicted that the other “serious contenders” might throw their support to an eventual endorsee.
The big-name candidates are:
• Kelley, who grew up in Minnetonka, and has served in the Legislature for 14 years. He has focused on technology issues and led the Senate in refusing to confirm Cherie Pierson Yecke as education commissioner.
He sponsored several bills to build stadiums for the Minnesota Twins and Vikings, and this year sponsored legislation to legalize the medical use of marijuana.
• Luther, who was born in Fergus Falls, served 20 years in the Minnesota House and Senate, representing the Brooklyn Park area. In four terms in Congress, he represented a swing district that forced him to devote lots of time to fundraising.
He survived two close re-election battles with John Kline in the old 6th Congressional District in the northern suburbs. After redistricting, Luther moved to the new 2nd District in the south suburbs and lost to Kline in 2002.
• Swanson, who is Minnesota’s solicitor general, is a longtime colleague and confidante of Hatch. She worked with him in private law practice as a law clerk and lawyer, then joined him in 1999 as a key member of his attorney general’s office staff.
In the 1990s, Swanson was treasurer of Minnesota Democrats, a committee that Hatch and some other Democrats employed to back DFL candidates for office. This year, Swanson sometimes stepped in for Hatch in gubernatorial candidate forums.
Entenza’s announcement came shortly after the Republican Party filed a complaint Tuesday accusing him of violating campaign finance laws by failing to report money he spent a year ago to hire a Chicago political research firm to investigate Hatch.
But even before Entenza won the DFL endorsement in mid-June, some Democrats worried he would be vulnerable in the fall election because of multiple federal investigations of UnitedHealth Group, where Quam is a top executive.
Quam, like many other executives and board members of the big Minnetonka-based insurer, has received millions of dollars in stock options from the company. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Internal Revenue Service are investigating UnitedHealth and many other U.S. firms in connection with stock options that allegedly were backdated to boost compensation.
Hatch also is fighting UnitedHealth in court for access to internal documents. State Rep. Jeff Johnson, the Republican attorney general candidate, repeatedly has charged that the UnitedHealth investigation would pose a serious conflict of interest for Entenza if he were elected.
Hatch has questioned Entenza’s commitment to policing health care companies, and Luther said last week that Hatch urged him to challenge Entenza in a primary.
On Tuesday, Hatch refused to make himself available to reporters for questions. He issued a statement saying Entenza’s withdrawal was “in the best interest for Democrats and best interests of our ticket.”
Over the last week, Entenza has faced repeated questions about his admission that he hired the Chicago firm to investigate Hatch.
Entenza said he intended for the investigation to seek only a few public documents about Hatch’s official spending. He denied the investigation had any political purpose, and said he paid only a few hundred dollars for the probe. Later, a Republican Internet blog — Minnesota Democrats Exposed — published evidence the Chicago firm had looked into a parking ticket Hatch got in 2003.
Entenza then said the investigation went further than he ever sought or authorized, and he apologized to Hatch.
His campaign manager also issued a public apology to AARP for improperly claiming that the group, which represents retirees and is a big customer of UnitedHealth, had cleared Quam of any wrongdoing.
Johnson, the GOP attorney general candidate, seized on discrepancies in Entenza’s explanation and his defense of the Hatch investigation. On Monday, Johnson accused Entenza of lying and charged that he lacked integrity.
David Schultz, a Hamline University professor who has written about campaign finance laws and ethics in government, said Entenza’s unraveling account of the investigation of Hatch was a bigger problem than the probe itself. And Entenza’s potential conflict of interest with regard to UnitedHealth was a bigger problem still, according to Schultz.
“He both had a short-term credibility problem and a longer-term conflict of interest problem that undid his campaign,” Schultz said.
Debra O’Connor, Bill Salisbury and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger contributed to this report.
Patrick Sweeney can be reached at or 651-228-5253.
In the race …
The following candidates have filed for the office of Minnesota attorney general. Unless they withdraw by the close of business Thursday, their names will appear on the September primary election ballot.
Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Dakota County public defender Patrick Cotter
State Sen. Steve Kelley
Former U.S. Rep. Bill Luther
Lawyer Jennifer Mattson
State Solicitor General Lori Swanson
Republican
Sharon Anderson, previous political candidate
State Rep. Jeff Johnson
Independence
Richard “Dick” Bullock, previous political candidate
Jual Carlos Carlson, previous political candidate
John James, attorney and former state revenue commissioner
Attorney Dale Nathan
Green
Blues-folk singer and guitarist Papa John Kolstad
timeline
Key events in the controversy surrounding state Rep. Matt Entenza’s bid for Minnesota attorney general:
August 2005: A Republican Internet blog reports that state Rep. Matt Entenza had hired a Chicago private detective to dig up dirt on current Attorney General Mike Hatch. Entenza at the time told the Pioneer Press the speculation was “just absolutely absurd.”
Oct. 24, 2005: Hatch announces he will run for governor. Two days later, Entenza announces he will run for attorney general.
July 12, 2006: The Minneapolis-based Star Tribune quotes Entenza and Hatch acknowledging that Entenza had hired a Chicago political research firm in 2005 to get public documents about the attorney general’s office. Later that day, Entenza says the documents were “as boring as boring can be.”
Thursday: Entenza releases a boxful of innocuous documents the research firm gave him. Later that day, the same Republican blog — Minnesota Democrats Exposed — posts new evidence that the firm made a wider background check on Hatch, including looking up a parking ticket he got in 2003. Entenza publicly apologizes to Hatch for the background investigation, known as opposition research. He says the Chicago firm expanded the scope of its inquiry without his knowledge or consent.
Friday: Entenza says that, in fact, he did possess some opposition research on Republicans, something he had denied on Thursday. Meanwhile, the national office of AARP makes public an apology from Entenza’s campaign manager retracting an earlier statement claiming the group had produced a report clearing Entenza’s wife, a UnitedHealth Group executive, of wrongdoing in connection with stock options.
Monday: A DFLer files to oppose Entenza in a primary election; Entenza’s Republican opponent accuses him of lying, and someone anonymously sends the media copies of documents purporting to show Entenza’s wife funneled $55,000 through two South Dakota political groups to the Minnesota DFL Party and an Entenza-led state House DFL campaign committee.
Tuesday: Entenza withdraws from the attorney general’s race.