“My son made a serious mistake and has paid the consequences,” the statement said. “It was a mistake which many Minnesota families are all too familiar with. Like all the other challenges in life, our family is dealing with our son in this matter with humility, seriousness, and love.”

According to campaign finance records (PDF), Tripp Emmer, has worked for the Emmer campaign as recently as July (the report only contains data for the pre-primary period). Tripp Emmer was also featured in Tom Emmer’s first television ad.

It isn’t the first time a gubernatorial candidate’s children’s partying became a campaign issue. In 2005, DFL candidate Mike Hatch found his daughters in the news following an incident at a Chicago night club.

In the most infamous incident, then-Preston Mayor David Pechulis furtively recorded a phone call during which Davids threatened to sue opponents of the tire-burning plant. The state legislator was particularly incensed about a letter that had recently run in the Republican-Leader newspaper accusing him of “slimeball politics.”

“That’s not acceptable,” Davids said during the phone call, as recounted in a 2004 City Pages cover story. “That’s lawsuit city.” Davids went on to threaten other member of the main group opposing the tire-burning plant, Southeastern Minnesotans for Environmental Protection (SEMEP), with litigation. “Does this SEMEP group have insurance?” Davids asked. “You better get some. This happens again, I’ll sue them. I’ve got good attorneys. Junkyard-dog-killing attorneys that will rip their eyes out and pee in their brains.”

The election proved to be one of the most tightly contested in the state, with Tschumper eking out a 52-vote upset victory. The triumph was one of many for Democrats in 2006, as they picked up 19 seats, giving the party a 85-49 majority. This year the DFL is hoping to add at least five more seats, establishing a veto-proof majority in the House, while Republicans will seek to stop the electoral bleeding.

Among this year’s marquee contests is a rematch between Tschumper and Davids in House District 31B. In the ensuing two years, Tschumper has developed a staunchly progressive legislative track record, while Davids is a largely doctrinaire conservative. “This is perhaps the most ideologically striking contest in the state,” says Sarah Janecek, publisher of Politics in Minnesota. “Ken Tschumper voted his liberal conscience, which is not necessarily the greatest politics for 31B.”

The Democrat has also picked up some baggage of his own. He’s twice been ticketed for allowing his cows to escape.

Tschumper v. Davids is perhaps the most intriguing rematch of the electoral season, but it’s far from the only one. There are at least seven other competitive state House contests that pit foes against each other for a second — or even third — time. Here’s a rundown of the electoral rematches from 2006:

House District 8B: Rep. Tim Faust (DFL) v. Judy Soderstrom (GOP). During the last two election cycles, voters in 8B have rendered a split decision in this contest. In 2004 Soderstrom retained her seat by less than 100 votes against first-time candidate Faust. But two years later the Democrat turned the tables, winning by a 52-48 percent margin. Now Soderstrom is hoping to regain her post at the Capitol. She argues that Faust’s vote to increase the gas tax doesn’t sit well with voters in the district. “I hear that all the time,” she says. “There’s a lot of people in our district that travel a long distance to their jobs.” Faust counters that he’s spoken to roughly 4,000 or 5,000 people in the district while campaigning this year and only a handful have been critical of the transportation bill. “To claim that there’s a huge pushback is certainly not correct,” he says. “If that’s the best issue they’ve got I feel pretty good.” 8B includes parts of Isanti, Kanabec and Pine counties, and is considered a swing district. In 2006 Amy Klobuchar took 54 percent of the vote in the U.S. Senate race, but Pawlenty narrowly defeated Mike Hatch in the gubernatorial contest.

House District 16A: Rep. Sondra Erickson (GOP) v. Gail Kulick Jackson. (DFL). The Democratic challenger is hoping that the third time is the charm. In 2004 Kulick Jackson took 44 percent of the vote, but two years later upped her margin to 49 percent, coming to within 500 votes of victory. Erickson (pictured) is a retired English teacher who has been her church’s organist for 34 years (according to Politics in Minnesota). Kulick Jackson is an attorney based in Milaca. 16A includes parts of Benton, Mille Lacs and Morrison counties, and is solidly Republican. Pawlenty defeated Hatch by 13 points in 2006, while President Bush bested John Kerry by 17 points two years earlier. One wildcard factor: the shenanigans of former GOP Rep. Mark Olson, who is running as a write-in candidate in Senate District 16. Will his behavior tarnish other Republican candidates in the area?

House District 30B: Rep. Andy Welti (DFL) v. Bill Kuisle (GOP). This is another race in which the candidates are facing each other on the ballot for the third time. The first two rounds went to Welti (pictured), who won by just over 700 votes in 2006. But Bruce Kaskubar, co-chair of the Olmsted County Republican Party, points out that Kuisle was suffering from colon cancer when he was ousted in 2004 and drowned in a nationwide Democratic tidal wave two years later. “Frankly I was surprised by that,” Kaskubar says. “I didn’t think our local Republicans deserved those coattails, but they got them in spades.” He argues that Kuisle is a better ideological fit for the district. “Welti votes with the left-leaning Democrats,” Kaskubar says. “Kuisle will vote for smaller government and low tax rates.” But while Olmsted County has traditionally been a GOP stronghold, in recent years it has trended strongly Democratic. All three state legislative spots in Senate District 30 are now held by DFL’ers. Lynn Wilson, chair of the Olmsted County DFL, doesn’t see that trend changing this election cycle. “Because of a lot of hard work, grassroots politics, people have learned they can have another voice down here and they have liked the opportunity to vote for Democratic representation,” she says. “Andy has won the trust of the same electorate twice. I think this district has shown where it wants to go and we intend to prove it again on November 4.”

House District 22B: Rep. Rod Hamilton (GOP) v. Richard Peterson (DFL). Hamilton was a member of the “override six” who voted to overturn Pawlenty’s veto of the transportation bill during the last legislative session. But unlike some of his GOP colleagues (most notably Rep. Neil Peterson, who was defeated in a primary contest), Hamilton (pictured) doesn’t seem to have paid much of a political price for straying from Republican orthodoxy. The vote has even helped him pick up endorsements from some labor groups such as Education Minnesota. Even so he’ll face a tough contest from third-time challenger Richard Peterson. The DFL’er has twice garnered at least 48 percent of the vote, but has so far failed to knock off his Republican nemesis. The district, which includes the Turkey Capital of the World, tilts slightly GOP. Pawlenty carried the area by four percentage points in 2006, while Bush won by an 11-point spread two years earlier. Few observers, however, believe Hamilton is in serious danger. “I would think that even if it’s a DFL blowout year that Rod Hamilton will be re-elected,” says Janecek, of Politics in Minnesota.

House District 26B: Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL) v. Otto Luknic (GOP). Fritz is used to repeat opponents. It took her two tries to knock off conceal-and-carry poster child Lynda Boudreau, succeeding in 2004. This year Fritz will face Luknic for the second consecutive election. Two years ago the Republican garnered 48 percent of the vote, falling roughly 500 votes short. The district, which is centered around Faribault, leans slightly Republican. While Klobuchar won the area handily in the 2006 senate contest, both Bush and Pawlenty have scored victories there in the last two election cycles. “It’s a tough district,” concedes Brandon Rettke, political action specialist for Education Minnesota, which is supporting Fritz. “It’s never going to be a safe district for her. But I think she’s going to pull it out.”

House District 2B: Rep. Brita Sailer (DFL) v. Doug Lindgren (GOP). This will be the third contest between Sailer and Lindgren. The Democrat squeaked out a 50-48 victory four years ago, but increased her margin to eight points in 2006. So it’s somewhat surprising that Lindgren is taking another crack at the post. Former House Speaker Steve Sviggum has called Sailer a “liberal, leftist extremist” and Republicans have clearly targeted the seat. But the northwestern district, which includes Park Rapids, will not be easy to swing. Hatch, for instance, won the area by six percentage points in 2006.

House District 50B: Rep. Kate Knuth (DFL) v. Lori Grivna (GOP). This open seat was tightly contested in 2006, with Knuth ultimately prevailing with 54 percent of the vote. Grivna is again running a vigorous campaign, but faces an uphill battle in a suburban area that leans Democratic. All three state legislative posts in Senate District 50 are currently held by DFL’ers. Few political observers view Knuth as facing much danger.

Stanley and Karen Hubbard are in a league of their own when it comes to political contributions. In the first 18 months of this election cycle the couple doled out $163,500 to federal political candidates and causes — $40,000 more than the next most generous Minnesota household. Republicans have largely been the beneficiaries of their largesse, with more than 80 percent of that money ending up in GOP coffers.

Stanley Hubbard

The owners of Hubbard Broadcasting, which includes KSTP radio (AM-1500) and TV (Channel 5), are not newcomers to the political game. Since 1990 Stanley has made 468 political contributions totaling more than $1 million to federal campaigns across the country, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Meanwhile, Karen has distributed 204 donations totaling more than a quarter of a million dollars.

Critics have sometimes accused Hubbard Broadcasting of letting the owners’ political beliefs interfere with its journalism. Most recently the company’s flagship TV station aired a rare editorial praising the behavior of police officers during the Republican National Convention, despite more than 800 arrests and accusations of police misconduct. Left unmentioned was the fact that Hubbard Broadcasting was a corporate sponsor of the event and that Stanley Hubbard served on the RNC Host Committee’s executive board.

In 2006 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch pilloried the company for its coverage of a gaffe by running mate Judi Dutcher regarding ethanol fuel E85. “Stan Hubbard is a political hack and he has a news media station that is full of political hacks,” Hatch said at the time. “What they did is they took her out of context.”

The top 100 givers in the state have made $4.1 million in federal political contributions since the beginning of 2007, or more than $40,000 per household. Republican donors have cut checks for $2.3 million, while their Democratic counterparts have contributed $1.8 million. To get a better understanding of the state’s most generous political patrons, the Minnesota Independent commissioned a study by the Center for Responsive Politics looking at the top 100 contributors.

In the first six installments of this series we looked at the bottom 90 members of the list, those contributing between $23,000 and $67,000. Today we hit the top 10. Donors on this section of the list contributed a total of $1,077,859 to federal political candidates and causes during the first 18 months of this election cycle. Democrats dominated this portion of the list, collecting nearly $700,000 from the top 10 donors.

Right behind the Hubbards on the list is another influential media figure, John Cowles Jr. A native of Des Moines, Cowles came to Minneapolis in 1938 after his family purchased the Minneapolis Star newspaper. He eventually rose to become CEO of Cowles Media Co. and publisher of its flagship newspaper, the Star Tribune. In 1998 the company was sold to the McClatchy Co., and since then Cowles has been a prominent philanthropist and major Democratic contributor. So far this election cycle, Cowles and his wife, Sage, have given $122,000 to campaigns and causes.

Mark Dayton

Not surprisingly, some of the other biggest names in Democratic political circles crop up at the top of the fundraising pyramid. Former Sen. Mark Dayton hits fourth place on the list, contributing at least $105,900 to Democratic campaigns and causes through the first 18 months of this election cycle. Roughly half that money ($52,000) went to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Although Dayton walked away from the Senate in 2006 after just one term, he is often rumored to be mulling a run for governor in 2010. Spreading around lots of cash to Democratic candidates will undoubtedly endear him to the party faithful.

Not far behind Dayton is his ex-wife, Alida Messinger. The Rockefeller heir, whose brother is Sen. Jay Rockefeller, has given at least $95,900 to Democratic efforts since the beginning of 2007. Messinger, who is invariably referred to as secretive in media reports, has long been one of the most prolific Democratic donors in the country.

A 2003 study by the Center for Public Integrity found that she’d given $2.3 million to so-called 527 groups during a two-year period, ranking her behind only Jane Fonda among the country’s most generous donors to such organizations. She hasn’t stopped writing checks since. An April study by the Campaign Finance Institute determined that she had contributed $433,000 to 527 groups in the first 13 months of this campaign cycle, making her the 11th largest donor to the advocacy organizations nationwide. She also has written a $1 million check this year to bolster support for a ballot referendum in Minnesota that would raise the sales tax to provide funding for the outdoors and arts.

Jim Deal is a relative newcomer to the world of big-time Democratic donors. The retired insurance executive first made a splash in 2006 when he donated $100,000 to Minnesotans for Change, an organization set up to thwart Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s re-election plans. “Minnesota’s on a disastrous collision course,” Deal told the Star Tribune at the time. “Obviously, I’m a liberal.”

That outlay of cash may have been made in vain, but it hasn’t stopped Deal from continuing to be one of the DFL Party’s biggest backers. Since the beginning of 2007, Deal and his wife, Pamela, have contributed $119,560 exclusively to Democrats, making them the third most generous household in the state.

On the Republican side of the ledger are a couple of prominent local business executives. George Anderson is vice president of operations at Roseville-based Crown Iron Works. He and his wife, Barbara, have contributed $94,400 to political campaigns since the beginning of 2007, with all but $4,400 of that money going toward Republicans. George Anderson also made a $10,000 contribution in 2006 toward a campaign to outlaw gay marriage. “I don’t have anything against anyone personally,” Anderson told Minnesota Public Radio at the time. “But I think it’s important to keep that definition straightforward, and not muddle it up.”

Brad Anderson

Brad Anderson has also been a reliable source of cash for GOP candidates. The Best Buy CEO, who got his start as a sales clerk at stereo store Sound of Music, took in compensation of $49.3 million last year. Roughly $75,000 of that money ended up funding Republican campaigns. Among his contributions: $10,000 for the Republican Party of Minnesota and $5,000 for Sen. Norm Coleman’s Northstar Leadership PAC.

Gerard and Cleo Cafesjian are the rarest of big-bucks political donors: they give generously to both parties. The couple have contributed a total of $102,700 this election cycle, split between Democrats and Republicans. Staunch conservatives like Rep. Michele Bachmann ($5,500) have enjoyed their support, as have liberal politicians like Rep. Betty McCollum ($3,000). Gerard Cafesjian is a prominent Armenian-American businessman who made his fortune as an executive at West Publishing Co. The couple is best known for spending $1.2 million to restore the Como Park carousel.

Here’s the complete list of donors occupying slots 1 through 10:

1. Stanley and Karen Hubbard, Lakeland, Hubbard Broadcasting, $163,500

2. John and Sage Cowles, Minneapolis, retired, $122,000

3. Pamela and James Deal, Anoka, NAU Companies, $119,560

4. Mark Dayton, Minneapolis, retired, $105,900

5. Cleo and Gerald Cafesjian, Naples, retired, $102,700

6. Joseph and Christina Sriver, Minneapolis, designer, $100,050

7. John and Sheila Morgan, Minneapolis, Winmark Corp., $96,850

8. Alida Messinger, Minneapolis, philanthropist, $95,900

9. George and Barbara Anderson, Champlin, Crown Iron Works, $94,400

10. Bradbury and Janet Anderson, Minneapolis, Best Buy, $76,999

Previously in The Crunch:

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 11 to 20

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 21 to 30

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 31 to 40

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 41 to 50

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 51 to 75

Minnesota’s Top 100 political givers: 76 to 100

Advocates for both stations ask their state attorneys general to investigate whether the prospective sales violate laws governing charitable trusts, the structure under which the stations raise funds from donors.

Last month, Florida’s AG agreed to examine whether MPR’s current bid for WMCU at Trinity International University runs afoul of charitable trust law. But in Minnesota four years ago, Mike Hatch, then Minnesota’s attorney general, declined to investigate a similar deal for WCAL (now MPR’s The Current) between MPR and St. Olaf College. WCAL donors thought they saw politics in Hatch’s lack of interest in exercising oversight of a deal involving a charitable trust when the willing parties were powerful people at MPR and St. Olaf.

Now, through a comments thread at MinnPost, comes anecdotal testimony that even before the WCAL deal, Hatch seemed not to have time for charitable trust concerns — even when invited to speak to a roomful of people who cared deeply about them at a Minnesota Planned Gifts Council conference. According to one attendee, 30 seconds on the issue was all Hatch could muster before veering off-topic into extended populist broadsides.

“Hatch clone” though she may be, his successor, Lori Swanson, engaged the issue in a pending case regarding WCAL in Rice County District Court, suggesting that the court continue its investigation. 

Of course, he was helped by the implosion of his DFL opposition in the waning days of the campaign. Lieutenant governor candidate Judi Dutcher’s bumbling response to a question about E85 ethanol was arguably survivable. But Hatch’s bullying, over-the-top response to the flap merely served to ratify the caricature of him as an unstable hothead that Republicans had been attempting to paint for months.

Despite that lucky break, there’s no doubt that Pawlenty is a nimble campaigner whose Aw shucks, I’m just Tim from South St. Paul schtick plays well with voters. In what is clearly shaping up as a brutal political climate for the GOP in 2008, T-Paw still regularly commands not-too-shabby approval ratings of 50 percent or better.

So Democrats could be forgiven for (quietly) hoping that Pawlenty is indeed tapped by John McCain for the Republican presidential ticket. With the two-term incumbent out of the way, and Gov. Carol Molnau (!) as his lame-going-on-dead-duck successor, the field would be extremely enticing for DFLers — who haven’t won the state’s top post for nearly two decades.

“Any Democrat sizing up the governor’s race will be encouraged not to be facing an incumbent who’s been a political killing machine,” says Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. “The stronger quality candidates are more likely to jump in the more open they see the race.”

Some DFLers aren’t bothering to wait and see if Pawlently ultimately gets the nod from McCain.

Continued: Click “Read more”Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner has been raising money and traveling the state for more than a year already in anticipation of a 2010 bid. Last weekend the four-term prosecutor was working the room at the 6th Congressional District’s DFL endorsing convention. Yesterday she was on the road to Duluth for a house party. “I’m not talking about it; I’m doing it,” says Gaertner of running for governor.

Also testing the waters is Sen. Tom Bakk, chair of the powerful Taxes Committee. The Virginia DFLer intends to form an exploratory committee to gauge support for a gubernatorial run as soon as the legislative session ends later this month. “I don’t see where we’re getting much leadership out of Gov. Pawlenty,” Bakk says. “I’m just not going to sit by and manage the decline of the state.”

Bakk says that earlier this week the Ghermezian brothers, owners of the Mall of America, were in town to promote their plans for a roughly $2 billion expansion. They expected to meet with Pawlenty about their proposed development, but were forced to settle for a confab with some of his staff members. “Here they come down from Edmonton, the people who own the Mall of America, and they can only get a meeting with the staff,” Bakk says. “I’m just very troubled by the fact that I don’t think the governor is very interested in governing.”

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak could also be seen stalking the 6th District convention last weekend. Surely constituent services weren’t his motivation. The 52-year-old two-term mayor openly floated the possibility of seeking the governorship at a New Year’s Eve fundraiser.

Rybak’s counterpart across the river, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, is also frequently cited as a pol with gubernatorial ambitions. But he’ll face re-election in 2009, and it would require an exceedingly dexterous political dance to then turn around and run for governor. Another former mayor of St. Paul who shares Coleman’s surname famously failed to make that electoral leap in 1998.

Several state legislative leaders might also find the race enticing. House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, fresh from successfully corralling enough votes to override Pawlenty’s veto on the transportation bill, is drawing attention. “Kelliher has been soaring in people’s estimation,” says Jacobs. “That was a very difficult vote and to be able to pull it off and pull away those Republicans in an era of hyperpartisanship is notable.”

Her ally in the Senate, Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark, is also drawing attention from political prognosticators. Another potential wild card is third-term Rep. Joe Atkins, whose penchant for getting his name in the media has not gone unnoticed. “Within the Legislature, Atkins is the one that everybody seems to think is being groomed,” says David Schultz, political science professor at Hamline University.

The final name that pops up frequently in discussions about the 2010 gubernatorial race is first-term U.S. Rep. Tim Walz. The Minnesota National Guard vet from Mankato soared to rock-star status in the DFL by defeating seven-term incumbent Gil Gutknecht two years ago and has raised a formidable war chest to protect his seat this year. “He certainly has impressed people. And he comes from outstate, which is a big advantage,” says Jacobs.

Those politicos who are open about their gubernatorial ambitions profess to not be daunted by a potential electoral dustup with Pawlenty if he ultimately fails to get the VP nod.

“That’s obviously a more difficult task,” says Gaertner. “But I’m more than willing and ready to run against Tim Pawlenty.”

“If he is in, I’m probably more likely to be in,” says Bakk. “He’s got a record to run against. He won’t be easy to beat, but he does have a record.”

Most Minnesotans agreed with me, of course, and Swanson became the state’s first female attorney general in January.  Given the recent history of attorneys general in this state, it was certainly reasonable to think that a gubernatorial or senate run might be in Swanson’s future, perhaps as soon as 2010.  Certainly she appeared to have a bright future ahead of her, if nothing else as attorney general for years to come.

But something terrible has happened to Swanson’s once-bright political future: she took office.  Ever since, Swanson has been mired in controversy and rancor that has angered one of the key players in the DFL’s base.  And unless something changes, and quickly, Swanson will be lucky to survive her term. Swanson’s first major misstep was to keep former Attorney General Mike Hatch around the office.  Hatch had eight years of experience as an attorney general, and it wasn’t an obvious mistake at first.  But having Hatch around didn’t help Swanson solidify her control over her office.  In a Pioneer Press article, an unnamed source said, “Hatch looked like he couldn’t let go, and Lori appeared not ready for prime time.”

Swanson and Hatch didn’t work to calm the waters during the transition between attorneys general.  Instead, they reportedly clashed, making the transition all the worse.  Over thirty employees have left the office since Swanson took over from Hatch in January — including Hatch, who left last week. 

But while the Hatch story is embarassing, and didn’t help matters, it is small potatoes compared to the other scandal currently roilling the office of the attorney general.  It ties to those 30-odd employees who have left since Swanson took office, at least one involuntarily.  And it threatens not just Swanson’s future but her present as well.

In April, Swanson’s office fired Assistant Attorney General KariJo Ferguson, a 10-year veteran of the office.  Swanson and her office have yet to give a reason for the firing, but Ferguson and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) allege that Ferguson was fired for distributing union cards.

Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, was blunt in a statement on the firing and turmoil in Swanson’s office.  “I am disgusted to be here today,” he said in a statement, in which he alleged that Swanson has created a climate of “political patronage, fear, intimidation and humiliating working conditions.”

  “You won’t hear from attorneys until they have the protection of a union,” Seide continued.  “An assistant attorney general was fired last week for trying to organize a union of her co-workers. That talented attorney received a commendation and a raise on March 25 and competently argued a case for the attorney general before the Court of Appeals. Then she was fired on April 17. What changed? She collected scores of union sign-up cards and convinced her co-workers that they need the protection of a union.”

To say this allegation is serious is an understatement.  If true, Swanson’s office is guilty of violating federal labor law.  Almost more dangerous is the fact that AFSCME is not a minor, two-bit union.  It is a cornerstone of the DFL, one of the strongest unions in the coalition, and a part of the AFL-CIO.  Moreover, other key DFL union supporters, like Education Minnesota, are unlikely to continue to back Swanson against allegations of union-busting.  While the GOP has, as may be expected, been making the most noise about this scandal, these are charges that the DFL will have no choice but to pursue vigorously.  The DFL party can do without Lori Swanson far more easily than it can do without labor support.

When Matt Entenza was forced from the race last fall, most DFLers were pleased.  Entenza clearly had baggage and wasn’t a paragon of ethics.  Swanson, it was hoped, would be a more stable, ethical, and competent attorney general.

That hope appears to be misplaced.  It is long past time for Swanson to answer these charges — and not simply by attacking the union.  Lori Swanson is attorney general, and she owes her constituents — us — an open and honest explanation.  If there is nothing to these allegations, Swanson needs to make that clear.  If she is unwilling — or unable — to do that, then she should join her former mentor and resign.

Hatch, who served two terms as attorney general before an unsuccessful 2006 gubernatorial run on the DFL ticket, had been working on special litigation projects under new Attorney General Lori Swanson, a DFLer who had been Hatch’s solicitor general. 

Thirty of the 350 members of Swanson’s staff have resigned since January, and while Swanson has characterized this as a normal turnover, some have argued it indicates turmoil in her office. 

Hatch’s resignation appears meant to address some of these issues.  In his resignation letter, he said, “Because of my presence in your administration, it is apparent that changes I made during my administration are unfairly attributed to you.”

He added, “It is not appropriate you should become targets of complaints involving my administration.”

In a statement, Swanson praised Hatch, calling him “one of the most talented, successful and hard-working lawyers I know.”

Hatch, a fellow DFLer who unsuccessfully challenged Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2006, will oversee a new team focusing on complex litigation, according to Swanson.  His title and compensation have not yet been made available.

Hatch served as Attorney General from 1999 through 2007.  He is a former commissioner of commerce, and unsuccessfuly sought DFL endorsement for Governor in 1990 and 1994.

more inside

The case against the Swiftboat group – which financed attention-getting ads accusing Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry of lying about his Vietnam War record, without substantiating its claims – involved what the FEC termed the group’s illegal collection of more than $12.5 million in personal contributions above the $5,000 annual limit, and $715,050 in prohibited corporate contributions.

According to TPMMuckraker, the fine may signal the end of this type of activity, as Perry groups would now have to register themselves as a committee versus a 527, limiting them to only $5000 in contributions per individual per year.

If the FEC were to really crack down on this sort of thing (the 527 loophole has been an open secret for a number of years), as they’ve idly been threatening to do, then 2008 would be a remarkably different election than the past two cycles.

Update: I talked to David Donnelly, the director of Campaign Money Watch, who knows a lot about this sort of thing, and he said that these fines (and the ones rumored to follow soon), probably will have a significant deterring effect in the ’08 elections.

Besides Minnesota, Perry also contributed significant amounts in other groups that focused on the Montana Senate race and 6 House races, contributing $9 million in donations to attempt to defeat democrats.