Emmer, Senjem fined for campaign finance violations

Sen. David Senjem and former GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer were fined by the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board on Monday. The board reviewed complaints stemming from the Nov. 2 election: Emmer’s campaign was fined for accepting illegal corporate contributions while Senjem was found to have violated campaign laws when he gave money to former Sen. Paul Koering.

Emmer’s campaign was fined $150 for accepting a contribution from Reliakor, a “national property maintenance company specializing in sweeping, striping, and snow removal.” Reliakor was also fined $150 by the board. Campaigns are not allowed to accept direct campaign contributions from corporations without disclosing the donation, and Reliakor did not make such a disclosure, the board said.

In a separate case, the board said that Emmer’s campaign accepted a donation from lobbyist Paul Hoff, a representative of the Onvoy communications firm, during the 2010 legislative session. The board directed the Emmer campaign to return the $200 gift and did not impose a civil penalty on the campaign. Hoff, however, was fined $400 for contributing as a lobbyist without disclosing that status.

“There is probable cause to believe that the Tom Emmer for Governor Committee accepted the contribution from Mr. Hoff because there was no registration number to identify the donor as a lobbyist,” the board stated. The Emmer campaign would have a hard time knowing the donation was illegal “without receiving the appropriate disclosure with the contribution.”

The campaign of Senjem, the Rochester Republican who currently serves as assistant majority leader, was fined $250 for donating to former Sen. Koering’s campaign. Campaigns can donate to other campaigns as long as the campaign is dissolving, the board noted in its findings. Though Senjem’s camp was fined, the board found that “there is no probable cause to believe that the violations were intentional or done with the intent to circumvent the requirements of Minnesota Statutes.”

In a letter to the board in December, Senjem stated that “he misunderstood the statute relating to contributions made with campaign funds and acknowledges violating the noted statute.”

Senjem was one of few Republicans who defended Koering against what he called a Republican party-led “witch hunt,” during which the state GOP requested law enforcement information on Koering. Koering subsequently lost the GOP primary to Paul Gazelka.

Several other entities were fined by the board on Monday.

A lobbyist for MiningMN illegally donated to the campaign of Patricia Anderson during the legislative session. Anderson ran unsuccessfully for state auditor. Ernest Lehmann will have to pay a two fines of $100.

The board said there was probable cause to believe that Anderson’s campaign violated state statute in accepting the donation but that the campaign “accepted the contribution from Mr. Lehmann because there was no registration number to identify the donor as a lobbyist.” Anderson’s campaign was not fined because it did not know it had violated the law due to Lehmann’s negligence.

Judicial candidate Dawn Hennessy was fined $1,900 for “accepting and depositing a contribution from an unregistered association without the disclosure required by Minnesota Statues” after her campaign took a donation from Trailside Liquor, an entity that was not registered with the campaign finance board. Hennessy was a candidate for the 10th District judicial race, running in a field of 24 candidates. She lost the election.

Trailside Liquor was also fined $1,000 for donating to Hennessy.