December 16th, 2009 • 12:20 pmDid Brian Melendez Sit On His Hands?
Though I agree with Chairman Sutton that figuring out Minnesota campaign finance law isn’t difficult, I don’t agree with him when he says that the DFL doesn’t share in the blame for Speaker Kelliher’s mess. I’m saying that after reading this quote:
For instance, lobbyist Ted Grindal said Tuesday that he gave $1,000 to the DFL party at Kelliher’s urging but it was for general party expenses and not directed for her use. “It was without any strings attached,” he said.
My gripe isn’t with Mr. Grindal. He wrote a check for the DFL at Speaker Kelliher’s request. My question is with DFL Chairman Brian Melendez. Specifically, I’d like to know if it’s common practice at the DFL to credit a candidate’s account if the candidate coaxed a person to contribute to the DFL.
If the contribution came “with no strings attached”, how’d Speaker Kelliher’s campaign account get that money? Considering that Mr. Grindal had already maxed his contributions out for Speaker Kelliher’s gubernaorial campaign, wouldn’t contributing to the DFL be a way to circumvent Minnesota’s campaign finance laws?
Based on Tom Bakk’s reaction, I’m betting that they think Speaker Kelliher got preferential treatment:
“We’re all out working really hard every day by going to all kinds of forums and contacting delegates and trying to raise money,” Bakk told MPR’s Tom Scheck. “I think the assumption on everybody’s part is that we all have an equal chance to secure the endorsement. If you don’t, and the process is rigged, why would you make the commitment to abide by endorsement if it’s not a fair process.”
I think it’s time for Chairman Melendez to explain why the DFL routed a campaign contribution from a lobbyist to the DFL into the campaign account for Speaker Kelliher. I think it’s time for Chairman Melendez to explain why this contribution to the DFL is apparently being used to get around Minnesota’s campaign finance laws.
If Chairman Sutton wants to cut the DFL slack, that’s his choice. However, I’m not that willing to cut the DFL that much slack. I’m not convinced that this wasn’t an attempt on the DFL’s behalf to surreptitiously help Speaker Kelliher.
Finally, while I question the DFL, including Chairman Melendez, I still have to put most of the blame for this on Speaker Kelliher. If she doesn’t know Minnesota’s campaign finance laws by now, especially one as straightforward as this, then she’s too incompetent to run Minnesota’s state government.
Technorati: Scandal, Speaker Kelliher, Brian Melendez, Tom Bakk, Campaign Finance Laws, Corruption, DFL, Election 2010
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It’s an interesting situation.
A number of people saying different things - but mainly that a mistake, a number of mistakes were made.
How it resolves, and how quickly, will be an interesting thing to keep watching.
I expect mainstream media will keep attention on this - it is something they can understand, and not complicated in terms of levels of nuance, as is, for example, healthcare reform.
Also, megabuck amounts are not at stake, so they cover this while raising the debt ceiling gets passing attention and Walz has to ask how Afghanistan will be funded because the press is not asking.
Comment by eric z. • 16Dec2009 @ 5:14 pm
They originally said that they thought they had done it that way for the last Gov campaign and later found out that was wrong when a second candidate asked about doing it this way also. They were selling their own list and at least they weren’t just giving it to one candidate. Sure there is an issue with directing the contributions, but it’s really small compared to the campaign violations of the past.
Comment by Mike Bryant • 17Dec2009 @ 9:06 pm
Mike, I agree with you in that this wouldn’t rate as a big scandal in terms of campaign finance laws, though it is a violation of Minnesota’s campaign finance laws. What I find suspicious is the fact that the contributions that were sent to the DFL by a Kelliher donor then got sent to the Kelliher campaign. It’s just a hunch but I wouldn’t be surprised if Melendez is siding with Speaker Kelliher.
Comment by Gary Gross • 18Dec2009 @ 1:53 am