Minnesota Progressive Project has twitted Allen Quist for being a "stickler for accuracy AND details" when it comes to his seeming inability to file the financial disclosure form required of any serious congressional candidate.
But the Norseland farmer and retired college professor has a reason for needing Congressman Tim Walz's help in completing the process: the government is to blame.
The New Ulm Daily Journal and the Mankato Free Press are on the story, and the DFL tracker caught Quist yucking it up about the document at the Lonsdale Candidiate Forum on October 15. The form was due May 15.
Journal staff writer Josh Moniz reports in Walz campaign mocks Quist over failure to file:
The Financial Disclosure form is required annually by members of the U.S. House of Representatives and by all official candidates for the U.S. House. The form provides detailed information on financial interests that belong to the candidate. Failure to meet the May 15 deadline results in at least $200 late filing fee. If a person is proven to have intentionally failed to file the form, the U.S. Attorney General can prosecute the individual for fines up to $10,000. . . .
Quist said last Monday on his failure to file by claiming he had now filled out the form and was unsure where to send it since the address was not on the form.
The Walz campaign responded Tuesday by mocking Quist for previously calling himself a "stickler for accuracy," yet failing to see the address on the front page of the form.
Quist's got his story, and he's sticking to it. On Monday in Lonsdale, Quist laughed at a question about the form raised in a candidate forum:
[laughing] Very interesting question. I just filled it out today, the financial disclosure. Typical government form. I just filled it out and guess what: there's no address in terms of where you send it [laughs]. No private business would operate that way. it's typical bureaucracy. [laughs] I assure you, when I send out a fundraising letter, I have an address, you know, where you can send the money. So as soon as I find the address, in term of where I can send it, [laughing] it's going to be sent.
Moniz reports:
Quist now claims that he printed off the form from online and that this form lacked the address. He said that he now has the address and will have form turned in within two days. He said he taking a little while longer so auctioneers get his exact land values because he wants all information he submits to be completely accurate.
Quist will be delinquent on turning in the form 155 days, or over 5 months, starting today.
But there's more. Quist may have told the public that he filled out the form Monday, but on Tuesday, he told the press that the paperwork wasn't yet complete.
In the Mankato Free Press, Tim Krohn reports in Walz challenges Quist on financial disclosure:
The New Ulm Journal reported that Quist said he hadn’t yet sent out the form because the required address is not on the form and he hadn’t been able to determine where to send it.
The Walz campaign sent a press release Tuesday saying they were offering a “helping hand” to Quist, pointing out that the return mailing address is on the first sheet of the financial disclosure forms.
“The public shouldn’t have to wait another minute for him to send his delinquent forms to Washington. Mr. Quist should release it to the public immediately,” Walz campaign manager Sara Severs said in a statement.
Quist told The Free Press Tuesday that he wasn’t aware of the forms until the Walz campaign brought them to his attention. “I honestly never saw it. It slipped through the cracks in our campaign.” He said he’s mostly filled it out but needs a couple of more days.
“I just got the address this morning that it needs to be mailed to,” said Quist, a retired farmer and teacher.
“I think I have to get advice from a couple of people on the value of (my agricultural) real estate. It looks like I could fall into one of two different categories there and I don’t think they want guesswork.”
Given the fact that Quist only raised $25,325 from contributors in the last reporting period, Bluestem wonders if his campaign actually did include a return address in its fundraising appeals.
Image: Allen Quist, by Ken Avidor. The conservative Norseland farmer doesn't need courage; he needs a better excuse.
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