With Minnesota's First Congressional District Republican convention less than a week away, the contest for endorsement became one email more negative. Late last night, Allen Quist's campaign sent out an email attacking state Representative Randy Demmer's FEC reports and amendments to the documents (the entire email is reproduced below the fold).
Quist's broadside joins earlier attacks on Demmer from GOP congressional hopeful Jim Hagedorn as well as from a surrogate for Jim Engstrand.
Given the frequency with which the reports are amended in general (review filings for any congress member or challenger to gain a perspective) this latest attack on Demmer suggests that he's in a strong position as a contender for the party's nod on Saturday.
Let's step back for a moment in order to provide context for the nature of the attacks. Back in early January, I noticed a discrepancy in amended reports the Demmer campaign had filed and wrote about my find in How much cash did state Rep. Randy Demmer's congressional committee have on hand in 2009? I concluded the post:
Will the press look carefully at Demmer's odd reports--or simply gleeful note a cash-on-hand balance that--in the existing FEC reports at least--may not have the most reliable provenance? Where did that money come from? Or is it phantom money created by a bookeeping error? I hope the campaign can clarify these mysteries.
So far as I can tell, no media venue picked up on this information-or if any did, they must have gotten a satisfactory answer from the campaign about the bookkeeping errors. I asked the question again in Do these reports add up? Demmer's year-end quarterly FEC report posted; again, the press, the Walz campaign, and the DFL paid no attention to the reports; I'm not sure that any blog linked to them. At the beginning of March, I noticed that the reports had been amended again, and the missing reports of loans were corrected. I posted about this discovery in It's back! Demmer's $131,000 campaign debt returns in amended FEC reports. Once again, this material wasn't thought newsworthy by the new media nor scold worthy by the DFL.
Once again, this material wasn't treated as newsworthy anywhere, any time. Friday morning, Randy Demmer posted an explanation of the mistakes on his Facebook page. Demmer writes in part:
Recently, a question came up in a few conversations regarding amendments made to my quarterly campaign finance reports posted on the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) Web site. These amendments were filed to correct data transfer problems encountered by my treasurer when we switched over to the FECfile reporting software. FEC staff has been very helpful and responsive as my treasurer has worked to make this transition. The transfer is now complete and any needed corrections have been made. We have filed a more thorough explanation on the FEC website to add clarity to the situation. A copy of this explanation, FEC Form 99, is posted on my Web site. If you have more questions please don't hesitate to give me a call.
This explanation is highly likely, given the complicated nature of the reports and the sort of glitches than can happen.
But it's not good enough for Allen Quist. He writes in an email that went out late Saturday after reviewing the problems:
...Why would a candidate enter these outrageously false numbers unto public FEC reports? In answer, the DFL will say that a candidate is clearly in a better position to raise money and to garner delegate support if he has no debt as opposed to having a debt of over $130,000. The DFL will say that the motive for such mischief is apparent.
We all need to recognize that if Randy Demmer is our candidate for First District Congress, the DFL will have a field day with these ethics concerns and will do so at a time of their choosing. . . .
Quist believes that Randy Demmer on the GOP ticket will bring the entire Republican ticket down:
As a result of this scandal, 2010 can become open season on Republicans in Minnesota. We will lose our opportunity to take this seat back from the Democrats, and the spillover effect can potentially cost us the governor’s race and numerous legislative races as well as the races for State Auditor, Attorney General, Secretary of State and the like. We must do everything we can to prevent this potential disaster from happening.
What Allen Quist doesn't say is that information about Demmer's disappearing and re-appearing debt has been available here at Bluestem Prairie since January, and both the media and the DFL haven't thought this worthwhile picking up.
That being the case, Quist's raising the alarm about Demmer's debt seems a closer kin rhetorically to the his warnings last December that Tim Walz is a greater threat to America than terrorism. I suspect that Demmer poses a threat to some Republicans' ambition alright: those three men who are the other more or less serious contenders for endorsement in the First.
Update April 13: Spared from the indignity of having to share desk space with the Uptake in the basement of the state capitol and their worries about bloggers stealing leads, the crack reporting team at the Post Bulletin reports on this story this morning in Quist, Demmer spar over finance reports. [end update]
Read the entire email below the fold.
The email:
From: Quist for Congress
To: [redacted]
Sent: Sat, April 10, 2010 9:54:08 PM
Subject: The Rest of the Story on Randy Demmer's FEC ReportsAllen Quist for U.S. Congress
The Rest of the Story on Randy Demmer's FEC Reports
By: Allen Quist
Minnesota and the First District are entering the most politically transformational election in our lifetimes. Yet, we are facing a major land mine that has the potential to wipe us off the map. I and other Republicans over the past several weeks have made strenuous attempts to have Republican Party leaders address this, and to do so in private. Since they have not done so, I have the obligation to bring this to your attention. You are now the judge of how serious this is and what to do about it.
I am speaking of the serious ethics issue dogging the Randy Demmer campaign for Congress. Here are the basic facts of these ethical concerns. (This is all public information available here and/or here.)
1. According to his last Federal Elections Commission (FEC) report, a corrected report, Randy Demmer's campaign has a debt of $131,000, a debt the campaign owes to Mr. Demmer himself.
2. Randy Demmer had initially filed an inaccurate fourth quarter FEC report which failed to report this large debt and thereby had the effect of hiding the debt.
3. All four of Mr. Demmer's other FEC reports were obviously inaccurate. The inaccuracies on the reports are so large, and so obvious, that it is difficult to imagine that neither the treasurer nor the candidate noticed the numbers were wrong. How, for example, can you not notice an increase in your check-book balance from $132 to $135,000? And how could you not be alarmed about something being wrong?
4. Mr. Demmer initially corrected his inaccurate FEC reports after notification by the FEC, and then again only after State Republican Party leaders received complaints that Mr. Demmer had filed inaccurate reports, and now only after the issue was raised to him by First District individuals.
5. Mr. Demmer was raising money when his FEC report said his campaign had no debt, but during the time his amended report revealed he actually had a debt of $131,000. When the DFL decides to use this, and they will, they are likely to say that raising money while his FEC filings reported that his campaign had no debt, but when it actually had a debt of $131,000, appears to constitute raising money under false pretenses, a serious ethics violation.
Randy Demmer will likely reply that the false number were the result of software change in their computerized records as he explained to the FEC on what is known as Form 99. But the DFL will say this excuse is not believable because Demmer’s Form 99 states that he adopted the new software in January of 2009, a full year before the false numbers showed up on his FEC forms. How can you use your new software for a full year and not have it working right, they will ask.
The DFL will then ask how a candidate and his treasurer wouldn’t notice that his cash balance increased from $132 to $135,000—especially when the campaign had no income at the time. The DFL will properly ask how a candidate and his treasurer would not notice that his debt of $131,000.00 disappeared—especially when the campaign paid $4,150 down on the debt during the same reporting period.
The DFL will point out that someone had to enter those numbers into the FEC reports. They will ask how any candidate or treasurer could enter numbers that are so obviously false, so outrageously false, and later claim to have not noticed the numbers were incorrect.
Why would a candidate enter these outrageously false numbers unto public FEC reports? In answer, the DFL will say that a candidate is clearly in a better position to raise money and to garner delegate support if he has no debt as opposed to having a debt of over $130,000. The DFL will say that the motive for such mischief is apparent.
We all need to recognize that if Randy Demmer is our candidate for First District Congress, the DFL will have a field day with these ethics concerns and will do so at a time of their choosing. In this way the DFL will divert the debate from the horrific policy agenda of Walz and Pelosi to the ethical problems of Randy Demmer. In politics, scandal trumps policy every time.
Because this is so important, I asked legal counsel to evaluate the matter. His conclusions are the same as those above. Commenting on the inaccuracies in Mr. Demmer’s FEC reports, legal counsel said:
These amended reports for the second and third quarters are manifestly false, for the same reason as the amended report for the first quarter is manifestly false.
And regarding Mr. Demmer’s failure to declare his debt on his fourth quarter FEC report, legal counsel said:
[The DFL could argue] that if the natural inferences are correct, then Mr. Demmer or those soliciting in his behalf, or both were soliciting money or property on false pretenses.
As a result of this scandal, 2010 can become open season on Republicans in Minnesota. We will lose our opportunity to take this seat back from the Democrats, and the spillover effect can potentially cost us the governor’s race and numerous legislative races as well as the races for State Auditor, Attorney General, Secretary of State and the like. We must do everything we can to prevent this potential disaster from happening.
Prepared and paid for by Quist for Congress, PO Box 355, Mankato, MN 56002.
Image: Allen Quist. Cartoon by Ken Avidor.
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