Gannet newspapers in Louisiana are reporting in Contractor's ties raise watchdog's hackles:
One Minnesota corporation with more than $93 million in Louisiana Department of Education contracts may have ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that government watchdog group Common Cause has called a corporate lobbying group masquerading as a public charity.
According to ALEC documents in the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, Data Recognition Corp.'s Chief Executive Officer Susan Engeleiter was a member of the ALEC Leadership Network during her tenure as a Wisconsin senator.
ALEC describes itself as a "nonpartisan membership association for conservative state lawmakers who share a common belief in limited government, free markets, federalism and individual liberty."
Engeleiter was named one of the 10 best Republican legislators in the nation by the National Republican Legislators Association. According to Data Recognition's website, Engeleiter joined the company in 1998, the same year the company's contract with Louisiana began.
Under Engeleiter's leadership, Data Recognition has able to turn public dollars into a reliable revenue stream. In 2006, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported in Data Recognition names new CEO:
The Maple Grove company's growth has been partially driven by a sharp increase in demand from schools scrambling to meet federal No Child Left Behind rules, which have helped boost the test-scoring market to about $1.5 billion, said Tim Wiley, a senior analyst at Eduventures, a research and consulting firm focused on the education industry.
Data Recognition has capitalized on that growth, winning testing contracts with a dozen states. Just this week, it landed a seven-year contract worth $110 million with Ohio for high school testing.
"When I arrived, we were not particularly profitable," Engeleiter said. "We've aggressively gone after new clients." .
Last year, City Pages' Jessica Lussenhop looked into the underbelly of Minnesota's private test review bonanza in Inside the multimillion-dollar essay-scoring business:
Today, tens of thousands of temporary scorers are employed to correct essay questions. This year, Maple Grove-based Data Recognition Corporation will take on 4,000 temporary scorers, Questar Assessment will hire 1,000, and Pearson will take on thousands more. From March through May, hundreds of thousands of standardized test essays will pour into the Twin Cities to be scored by summer.
Engeleiter's political giving on the state level suggests that she hasn't been on board with the rightward turn taken by the Republican Party of Minnesota, despite her involvement with ALEC in the last century. The state campaign finance board's contribution database lists three donations: $200 to 2002 IP gubernatorial candidate Tim Penny (reported as Susan S); one $198 check to the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce PAC in 1998 and $1500 in 2009 to Women Winning State PAC, the fund to elect pro-choice women in Minnesota. Although Penny was pro-life while serving as a Democratic congressman, he ran as a pro-choice candidate in 2002.
Update: On the federal level, Engeleiter has remained a steadfast contributor to Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner, McCain for President, Coleman for Senate and John Kline. Her last gift was for Tommy Thompson for Senate in 2011. Engeleiter lives in Somerset, WI; the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's database includes her and her spouse's giving; their contributions to Wisconsin politicians seem to have ended in 2008
Other Data Recognition executives gave more consistently to Republicans, although IP gubernatorial candidates Tim Penny and Tom Hormer and 2006 endorsed DFL Attorney General candidate Steve Kelley (who lost the primary in the open seat to Lori Swanson) enjoyed largesse of Data Recognition Corporation founder and board chair Russell (Russ) Hagen.
The vast majority of Hagen's state-level giving has gone to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fund, which tends to support Republican candidates. The Chamber's Business Plan for K-12 Education Reform includes using TIMSS and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Program International Student Assessment datasets. (Update: on the federal level, his giving is overwhelmingly to Republican and industry PACs, although CD6 DFL candidate Maureen Reed, Collin Peterson (2004) and Betty McCollum (2003) have received contributions).
The state-level records giving of large contributions (over $100) by Data Recognition Corporation employees from the state's database are pasted below the fold, since the board's database doesn't create linkable search results.
Photo: Susan Engeleiter in 2006; photo via Mpls/St. Paul Business Journal.
Records from the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board
| Individual |
Hagen, Russell |
10-02-2001 |
|
| Pawlenty, Timothy Gov. Committee |
Data Recognition |
$200 |
|
| Individual |
Hagen, Russell |
05-03-2002 |
Shorewood |
| Pawlenty, Timothy Gov. Committee |
Data Recognition |
$2000 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russell |
05-14-2002 |
Shorewood |
| Kiffmeyer, Mary E Sec. State Committee |
Data Recognition |
$500 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russell |
06-07-2002 |
|
| Rhodes, Jim House Dist. 44A Committee |
Data Recognition |
$250 |
|
| Individual |
Casmer, Kathleen M |
07-20-2002 |
Minnetonka |
| Penny, Timothy J Gov. Dist. Committee |
Data Recognition |
$165 |
MN |
| Individual |
Engeleiter, Susan S |
08-08-2002 |
Somerset |
| Penny, Timothy J Gov. Dist. Committee |
Data Recognition |
$200 |
WI |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russell |
08-08-2002 |
Shorewood |
| Penny, Timothy J Gov. Dist. Committee |
Data Recognition |
$200 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
09-18-2002 |
|
| St Paul Area Chamber of Commerce PAC |
Data Recognition |
$500 |
|
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
06-20-2003 |
Maple Grove |
| 2nd Congressional District RPM |
Data Recognition |
$1000 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
07-09-2004 |
Maple Grove |
| 2nd Congressional District RPM |
Data Recognition |
$1000 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russell |
08-30-2006 |
Shorewood |
| Anderson, Bob W House Dist. 3A Committee |
Data Recognition |
$200 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russell |
09-01-2006 |
Minneapolis |
| Kelley, Steve Atty. Gen. Committee |
Data Recognition |
$1000 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
05-21-2001 |
|
| Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd |
Data Recognition Corp |
$27800 |
|
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
05-30-2001 |
|
| TwinWest Chamber of Commerce PAC |
Data Recognition Corp |
$2000 |
|
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
10-03-2001 |
|
| St Paul Area Chamber of Commerce PAC |
Data Recognition Corp |
$500 |
|
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
12-18-2001 |
|
| HRCC |
Data Recognition Corp |
$250 |
|
| Individual |
Thompson, Steven |
08-18-2003 |
Bloomington |
| Republican Party of Minn |
Data Recognition Corp |
$135 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
06-28-2008 |
Minneapolis |
| Loon, Jenifer W House Dist. 42B Committee |
Data Recognition Corp |
$250 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
06-28-2008 |
Minneapolis |
| Loon, Jenifer W House Dist. 48B Committee |
Data Recognition Corp |
$250 |
MN |
| Individual |
CHAMBERLAIN, ANNETTE E |
02-07-2010 |
LINO LAKES |
| Chamberlain, Roger C Senate Dist. 38 Committee |
DATA RECOGNITION CORP |
$497.73 |
MN |
| Individual |
CHAMBERLAIN, ANNETTE E |
02-07-2010 |
LINO LAKES |
| Chamberlain, Roger C Senate Dist. 53 Committee |
DATA RECOGNITION CORP |
$497.73 |
MN |
| Individual |
Daniels, Dan L |
05-03-2010 |
Eden Prairie |
| Kelliher, Margaret Anderson Gov. Committee |
Data Recognition Corp |
$150 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hansen, Thomas J. |
05-10-2010 |
Edina |
| Emmer, Tom Gov. Committee |
Data Recognition Corp |
$500 |
MN |
| Individual |
Eastman, Jennifer |
10-08-2010 |
Wayzata |
| Emmer, Tom Gov. Committee |
Data Recognition Corp |
$250 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
08-19-2002 |
Shorewood |
| Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$10595 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
09-12-2002 |
Shorewood |
| HRCC |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$500 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
08-19-2003 |
Shorewood |
| Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$3525 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
06-10-2004 |
Shorewood |
| Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$6950 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
01-06-2005 |
Minneapolis |
| Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$9950 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russell |
08-21-2006 |
Mpls |
| Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$6770 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
05-18-2007 |
Minneapolis |
| Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$13500 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hansen, Thomas J |
06-23-2008 |
Edina |
| Downey, Keith House Dist. 41A Committee |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$250 |
MN |
| Individual |
Engeleiter, Susan |
06-03-2009 |
Saint Paul |
| womenwinning State PAC |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$1500 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
08-31-2009 |
Minneapolis |
| Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$3250 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hansen, Thomas J. |
02-01-2010 |
Edina |
| Downey, Keith House Dist. 41A Committee |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$250 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
04-07-2010 |
Minneapolis |
| Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$1000 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russell |
10-05-2010 |
Shorewood |
| Horner, Thomas (Tom) Gov. Committee |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$2000 |
MN |
| Individual |
Hagen, Russ |
06-09-2011 |
Minneapolis |
| Minn Chamber of Commerce Leadership Fd |
Data Recognition Corporation |
$500 |
MN |
Comments