Ethics board fines Entenza campaign $28,105
08/17/2006
Conrad deFiebre
Star Tribune
Matt Entenza’s aborted campaign for attorney general has been fined $28,105 by the state campaign ethics board for taking excess contributions from special interests and large individual donors.
The former DFL state House leader will fight the penalty in court, his lawyer said Wednesday, on the contention that contribution limits do not apply to a candidate such as Entenza who did not agree to spending caps in return for state campaign subsidies.
“We respectfully disagree with the board’s interpretation of the law,” Alan Weinblatt, Entenza’s attorney, said in a news release. “We look forward to a review by the courts and will abide by their decision.”
The state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board issued the fine Wednesday after five months of fruitless settlement negotiations with Minnesotans for Matt, Entenza’s campaign committee.
If the penalty, equal to the amount of excess contributions the board said the committee accepted, is not paid within 30 days, the case will be referred to the Ramsey County attorney for civil enforcement.
“A candidate who declines the voluntary campaign expenditure limits imposed by the public subsidy agreement has not freed their campaign from statutory contribution limits,” the board wrote.
According to the board, Entenza was limited to accepting $14,588 in contributions last year from political committees and funds, lobbyists and individual contributors of more than $100. He reported taking $42,693 from those sources.
Weinblatt said the campaign has returned some of that money to large donors. But he said the law remains unclear over contribution limits.
Entenza dropped out of the race for attorney general in July after revelations that he commissioned a secret investigation of Attorney General Mike Hatch.
Judges, gay groups cleared
In other rulings Wednesday, the six-member board dismissed complaints against state judges and said it would not fine four gay-rights groups for unintentional violations of disclosure laws.
Two state Supreme Court justices were among those targeted in a complaint from Golden Valley attorney Greg Wersal over a February taxpayer-funded judges’ retreat that included discussion about judicial elections.
Wersal accused the Minnesota Judicial Council of improperly aiding incumbent judges, who must periodically stand for election, saying the $3,000 retreat should be counted as campaign activity. The 25-member council headed by Chief Justice Russell Anderson is the state governing body for judges and court staff members.
Anderson has maintained that the retreat was aimed at learning how partisan elections have affected other states.
The probe of the four gay-rights groups—OutFront Minnesota, Northfield PFLAG and Equality Minnesota, plus the Faith, Family, Fairness Alliance, which was cleared of any violations—was prompted by Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage, an anti-gay-marriage group that filed a complaint after questions were raised about its own disclosure practices.
The board ordered Equality Minnesota and Northfield PFLAG to register as political funds and report financial details. OutFront Minnesota already has done so.
The Faith, Family, Fairness Alliance didn’t spend enough to trigger registration requirements, the board found. It dismissed complaints that OutFront failed to report spending on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions and that Equality Minnesota and Northfield PFLAG should have filed lobbying reports.