Minnesota state candidate and committee reports were due on July 26, and those reports filed on time are now online at the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board.
A look at the contrasts between one pair of caucus committee reports shows a sharp contrast not just in the amount raised, but may also provide a glimpse at the strategies the DFL and Republican house caucuses are using to fund this year's battle for control of the Minnesota legislature.
The DFL House Caucus outgunned the state House Republicans in fundraising for this first reporting period, which covers the year until July 19. Moreover, the HRCC only raised 67 percent of what the House Democrats collected, falling behind from 2008 levels, when it had raised 74 percent of what the DFL threw in its coffers.
The Republican caucus campaign committee also drew from a narrow base of wealthy contributors, with two wealthy suburban uber-conservative donors, Primera exec Robert Cummins and retired Target mogul Robert Ulrich accounting for 27 percent of the total haul.This slice of the pie reflects contemporary Republican politics in Minnesota, where a small pack of money men have culled RINOS from the diminished herd of GOP lawmakers.
Cummins threw in $100,000, while comparative piker Ulrich dumped $50,000 on the caucus's table.
One consequence of Republican wolf pack politics: the DFL has a veto-proof majority in the state senate, and falls only a few seats short in the House. But control of the governor's mansion enters into the electoral calculus this year. Should the DFL gain the governorship for the first time in a generation, the need to override a veto--or to block an override--becomes less important.
And yet, the left side of the aisle may face a mid-term backlash as a consequence of national politics. Or maybe not: Tom Emmer's increasingly hapless game on the top of the GOP ticket increasingly exposed the strategic stupidity of picking the small town bully to captain a team.
A look at the numbers:
In 2008 the HRCC raised $850,427, while the DFL House Caucus raised $1,143,869, or 74 percent. This year the gap has grown grown wider, with the house elephant herd bagging $547,624 to the donkeys' $813,139.68--a difference of $265,515, or 67 percent of what the DFL House has deposited.
With more to defend, the DFL House Caucus has also spent more, and so the cash on hand gap is much narrower. On July 19, the DFL House had $773,473.15 in the bank, while the pachyderms had $702,084 packed away--a difference of $71,000.
Profiles of the GOP's alpha wolves reflect their party's increasing hard right tilt. In 2008 the City Pages looked at The 10 most powerful Minnesota Republicans; Cummins profile reported:
Deephaven's Robert Cummins,
56, . . .is a strict conservative, an evangelical
Christian, and as CEO of Primera Technology, a very wealthy man.
. . .He's given $325,000 to the state Republican Party since 1998, and in
that same period he's written dozens of checks to state committees and
candidates—$250 and $500 at a time—totaling more than $35,000.
He's
also a faithful contributor to Freedom Club—a group founded by a cadre
of Minnesota entrepreneurs, including Cummins (who led the group in its
early stages), which raises money for the Republican Party and its
candidates through separate state and federal political action
committees, or PACs (since the club's inception, he's given the state
PAC $13,000 and the federal PAC $30,000). The group donates to
candidates and causes that toe a strict conservative line. It's a
powerful interest group in the state that has irked Democrats and
Republicans alike.
William Cooper credits Freedom Club efforts as being a "key element in the resurgence of the state Republican Party."
But
it's not just the party that gets Cummins's money. He also feeds the
coffers of organizations doing the fieldwork of conservative core
issues. Since 2004, he's given $408,000 to the anti-gay-marriage groups
Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage and the like-minded
Minnesotans for Marriage.
Sounds like a special fellow who will fit right in to Tom Emmer's Minnesota.
Another Freedom Club member, Ulrich gave $25,000 to the HRCC in 2008, according to PIM's July 2009 analysis, Campaign finance spotlight: Top 5 donor lists for 2008 DFL and Republican House caucuses.
A 2008 Star Tribune profile celebrating Ulrich's career in building Target's empire reported:
In the past decade, Target has settled lawsuits concerning working
conditions at some of its factories overseas and for alleged license
and copyright violations of its products.
Labor leaders have said that Target's charitable generosity doesn't extend to pay and benefits for its hourly workers.
"Target has been given a pass because of their persona as a
charitable company," said Bernie Hess, an organizer with the United
Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 in St. Paul. "They'll give
$30,000 for a new park, but the community leaders don't demand a living
wage, health benefits and a little something when you retire."
The AP reports today:
Money from Target's top executives has gone mainly to Republicans.
Former Chief Executive Officer Robert Ulrich, who retired last year,
gave $617,000 during his time as Target's leader, most of it to the
state GOP.
While Ulrich retired in 2008, the tension between Target's corporate image as a good citizen and its anti-worker agenda remains, highlighted most recently in the ongoing uproar over revelations that--in the wake of the notorious Citizens United court case--Target, along with three other Minnesota companies led by long-time individual contributors to Republican coffers-- are funding MNForward.
The Associated Press reports in Target Corp. spending company money on candidates:
Here's something Target Corp. isn't advertising in its Sunday
circular: The discount retailer is now a major donor to a group backing
the Republican candidate for Minnesota governor.
And that's not sitting well with every Target shopper.
Under new laws allowing corporations to spend company money on election campaigns,
the Minneapolis-based chain gave $150,000 to a Republican-friendly
political fund staffed by insiders from departing GOP Gov. Tim
Pawlenty's administration. The group, MN Forward, is running TV ads
supporting state legislator Tom Emmer, the presumptive GOP nominee.
. . .Target's donations to MN Forward — $100,000 in cash and $50,000 in
brand consulting — slightly exceeds the total amount the company has
given this year to all campaigns and causes at the federal level. By
contrast, individuals can give a maximum of only $2,000 to candidates
under Minnesota law.
Emmer
is a fiery conservative who opposes gay marriage, lauds Arizona's
strict approach to illegal immigration, once advocated chemical
castration for sex offenders and wants to lower taxes. His profile
contrasts with Target's moderate image in Minnesota, where the company
is known for donating to public school programs, food shelves and the
annual Twin Cities Gay Pride Festival.
Pool the contributions to the HRCC, and to MNForward by Republican executives now free to raid businesses to fund their personal anti-worker, anti-environmental, and anti-human rights agenda, and what emerges is a glimpse of Minnesota politics being set up for a classic class war as we head toward November. (Other more ambitious souls can add up all the different committee funds).
While Republicans may whine about union bosses and tribal funds fueling the DFL's machine, labor and tribal members elect their leaders. As far as the Dayton interests fueling some DFL interest groups goes, Democrats in general will have a chance to weigh on that at the polls in August.
Will the House Republicans get more funds from the socially-conservative business executives funding independent expenditures, while DFL contributor money goes to capture the governor's seat? It's a possible wager. Stay tuned.
Photos: Moneybags (above); moneybag Robert Ulrich (below).
