Campaign finance system threatened by extended state shutdown

As Minnesota heads into a contentious campaign season where the state is expected to be flooded with outside donations, the state agency responsible for documenting campaign contributions and lobbying disclosures is shuttered along with the rest of state government.

The Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board was one of the state agencies deemed not to be essential by the state in the shutdown, which started July 1. The board collects records and makes judgments on campaign finance cases. All records are typically available to the public through the board’s website, which is also closed.

Mike Dean, executive director of Common Cause Minnesota, told the Minnesota Independent that the impact now is small, but that an extended shutdown could be a “serious issue” for the state. The board is already expected to take another cut in next year’s budget.

“The campaign finance board has been so underfunded over the last five years that they’re barely able to keep up with the problems that exist out there when it comes to enforcing Minnesota’s campaign finance laws,” Dean said. “They’re already understaffed, and now you’re going to take this period of time away from them — maybe it’s a week, maybe it’s two — but if it’s six or eight weeks, there’s going to be a significant backlog.”

Fundraising for the controversial vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage has already begun, and the board ruled the last day before shutdown that groups involved in this issue do need to disclose donors.

“The one area I’m most concerned about though is that many of our campaign finance laws now are not being enforced,” Dean said. “You don’t have the watchdog, which is basically the campaign finance board, out there monitoring campaign activity, then identifying possible violations, then prosecuting those violations.”

“It’s basically the Wild West right now of campaign finance laws,” Dean said.