The shutdown of the state government has shuttered the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure database for the duration.
Those seeking to get a general sense of how deep a hole the state's two major parties find themselves months after the 2010 election can still check out monthly reports online at the Federal Election Commission.
The data is dated, however, as the reports for June aren't due until July 20. Despite that, some interesting tidbits can be gleaned from May's report.
The quest for data arises out of news reports about efforts by failed burrito baron Tony Sutton to exploit the shutdown as a tool for fill his party's coffers. Yesterday, in GOP fundraises off shutdown as chairman Sutton begins $100,000 salary, the Minnesota Independent's Andy Birkey noted:
The fundraising campaign came the same day that Sutton announced he would be drawing a salary for the first time as head of the party.
It’s also at the same time the party finds itself in debt to several Minnesota counties who are owed money from the 2010 gubernatorial recount (the state party’s debt is unknown as the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure database is unavailable due to the shutdown).
Even if the database were accessible, there's still a problem with using the state reports to assess where the Republican Party of Minnesota stands with regard to paying old debts while taking on a new and pricy CEO salary. During "off years" in which there's no general election held, all committees regulated by the campaign board are only required to file a year-end report.
The year-end reports for 2011 required of campaign committees, political party committees and political action committees (PACs) aren't due until the end of January 2012.
So where can Bluestem's curiosity find some satisfaction? Nowhere for the state-level campaigns and PACs; for the Republican Party of Minnesota, there are those monthly reports napping at the FEC. The report for May 2011 (Covering Period 05/01/2011 Through 05/31/2011) was filed on June 20.
Here's the summary statement for the period:
Column A This Period |
Column B Year To Date |
|
6. (a) Cash on hand, January 1, 2011 | -31277.66 | |
(b) Cash on hand at Beginning of Reporting Period | 263.67 | |
(c) Total Receipts (from line 19) | 160800.39 | 946134.99 |
(d) Subtotal (6(b) + 6(c) for A, 6(a) + 6(c) for B) | 161064.06 | 914857.33 |
7. Total Disbursements | 157315.78 | 911109.05 |
8. Cash on Hand at Close of Reporting Period | 3748.28 | 3748.28 |
9. Debts and Obligations Owed TO the Committee | 0.00 | |
Itemize all on SCHEDULE C or SCHEDULE D | ||
10. Debts and Obligations Owed BY the Committee | 617568.80 |
According to this figure, the federal committee owed $617,568.80 at the end of May, and spent $157,315.78. The deets on the spending can be found here. Curiously, in this report of federal activity, there are two payments to Minnesota counties:
Martin County 201 Lake Avenue Fairmont, Minnesota 560311845 |
05/06/2011 | |
Public Data Document Printings | 375.00 | |
|
Brown County PO Box 115 New Ulm, Minnesota 560730115 |
05/12/2011 | |
Data Practice Document Copies | 1441.00 | |
|
Bluestem finds this curious, since the gubernatorial recount was for most decidedly a state-level affair. And the items do not show up as debts and obligations on earlier reports and amended reports. Certainly, there's a logical explanation somewhere.The method for allocating shares of federal/state costs is documented here.
What did Bluestem see in our earlier post in the state-level report end of year report--which is the last report required required of the committee? BSP wrote:
Since Minnesota's campaign finance laws only require all sorts of state-level committees to report at the end of the year, it's hard for several reasons to get an idea of what the Republicans still owe and what they've paid--although there was a positive balance on their state account. The payments that are owed to the counties do not show up on this report, and thus must be coming from that other fund for the recount that Sutton named back in February, noted by MPR in MNGOP won't disclose recount fundraising:
The Republican Party of Minnesota and Republican Tom Emmer's campaign for governor will not disclose the money it raised to help with the recount. Minnesota Republican Party Chair Tony Sutton said today that the group created a separate corporate account, Count Them All Properly Inc., for their recount efforts. He said they won't disclose the amount of money raised or by whom -- and state and federal laws don't require them to release it.
That's on the state side. The gubernatorial race, after all, is a state-level affair. And recently, it was revealed that Tom Emmer's campaign committee has paid for some of the bills the Republican Party of Minnesota (at the state, federal, or slush fund-level) owed. MPP reported last week that some counties remained unpaid.
Perhaps my early June guess about where the money to pay the counties is coming from is simply wrong; unfortunately, public record sleuths will have to wait until the end of January 2012 to get our mitts on the reports for the RPM state account and Emmer campaign committee to figure out who paid what (and perhaps still not know what burrito bucks Sutton pulled out of the Count Them All Properly Inc. slush fund). Like good believers, perhaps we'll all just have to settle for the catch-all explanation: it's a mystery.
The RPM federal committee's debts at the end of May are listed here. Now described as "Administrative/Salary/Overhead: General," there was still $11,250.00 owed to Senator Dave Thompson for work done in January, as Bluestem noted in detail in early June.
With a client like that, no wonder he claimed to be speaking only for himself Tuesday during his news conference when he railed against what he imagined would be the recommendations of the bipartisan commission being formed by Walter Mondale and Arne Carlson.
Image: Burrito baron bill, by the Divine Tild. Please, Senate Majority Leader Brodkorb, let Senator Parry say something outrageous soon, so Bluestem can use her latest work of genius, Plan 9 Parry?
Well done!
Posted by: Niel Ritchie | Jul 07, 2011 at 06:24 PM
Sleight of hand is quicker than the eye.
Jeff Wilfahrt, Rosemount, MN
Posted by: Jeff Wilfahrt | Jul 07, 2011 at 07:47 PM