In the scheme of things, Ritchie’s original transgression was not huge. Apparently the list was provided to a bunch of people and could be used by any of them for just about any purpose. But Ritchie isn’t just anybody, and his excuse that the newsletter was mostly apolitical doesn’t hold water. When he, in his capacity as a constitutional officer for the state of Minnesota, gathers people for a publicly funded event, those who attend should not need worry that signing a register will bring them unsolicited material from candidate Ritchie  — or from any candidate for that matter. If preventing that requires a rule change, Ritchie should see to making it, soon. As for his own campaign, he should make clear that this sort of transfer of material from Secretary of State Ritchie to candidate Ritchie won’t happen again.

Which leaves the secondary offense, the lie. As so often happens in politics, Ritchie compounded a relatively minor lapse in judgment by lying about it. For that, candidate Richie will surely, and deservedly, be called to accounts by political opponents.