Have you been charged in the past year, or ever been convicted, of a misdemeanor or higher, or been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy or foreclosure?
No, I have not, but my opponent is currently under investigation for violating Fair Campaign Practice Law, and I suspect a panel of three judges will be finding him guilty in the near future as his violations were careless and blatant. Additionally, Tabke has had numerous judgements against him in several different states for unpaid debts exceeding $50,000. Tabke simply can’t be trusted to manage taxpayer money when he’s proven to be incapable of managing his own.
Why did Bluestem pause? We'd read in the October 13 article
Three-judge panel dismisses campaign complaint against Tabke:
A panel of administrative law judges on Wednesday, Oct. 12, dismissed a campaign complaint accusing House District 54A candidate Brad Tabke of violating state campaign law.
The complaint alleged Tabke, a Democrat, violated the Fair Campaign Practices law by using the term “reelect” in digital campaign ads from August, despite him not being the incumbent candidate.
The complainant, Kari Mortensen, is the wife of Rep. Erik Mortensen, R-Shakopee, one of Tabke’s opponents in the general election. She filed the complaint against Tabke on Aug. 31.
Tabke and his campaign committee hired an outside consultant in August to create and manage Google ads for his campaign, the order states. The consultant enabled a “test ad” to activate the campaign committee’s Google advertising account. The test ad was one from Tabke’s 2020 campaign and modified slightly by changing the general election date to Nov. 8, 2022.
The consultant did not show Tabke “or any member of his campaign committee a proof of the modified advertisement prior to enabling it,” according to hearing documents. The order also states that Tabke and his campaign committee were not aware of the ad’s content or that it had been enabled, and they did not participate in its creation.
Tabke disabled the advertisement after being made aware of the complaint on Sept. 2. Prior to this, he was not aware of the content of the test ad. The order reports that Tabke posted two Facebook posts and a Facebook live video acknowledging the ad error and stating it was “an honest mistake.”
The hearing was held Oct. 7 before a three-judge panel with the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings, which dismissed the complaint after finding no violation.
Gee willikers Mort. How did you miss that one? How did the newspaper?
Update 10/29: The online article, Q-and-A with House District 54A Candidate Erik Mortensen, has been edited. Here's what Mort's answer looks like now:
Have you been charged in the past year, or ever been convicted, of a misdemeanor or higher, or been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy or foreclosure?
No.
[end update]
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