Minnesota Independent

Campaign Finance Board rules in favor of RGA and Minnesota’s Future

By Patrick Caldwell | 12.10.10 | 12:04 pm

Minnesota’s Campaign Finance Board issued their finding Thursday for Common Cause’s complaint against Minnesota’s Future and the Republican Governors Association (RGA). The Board’s report — published online Friday afternoon — essentially goes with the principal of ‘no harm, no foul,’ noting that Minnesota’s Future and the RGA may not have strictly complied with Minnesota law initially but that the offense did not merit any fine.

Minnesota’s Future changed pattern after complaint, according to finance report

By Patrick Caldwell | 11.01.10 | 8:30 am

Reports filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board this week indicate that independent expenditure group Minnesota’s Future has shifted its behavior after a complaint was filed with the board last month by the Minnesota chapter of Common Cause. That complaint alleged that Minnesota’s Future had failed to detail the full extent of donor information required by law in their last finance report.

MN Forward draws more limited corporate support, picks up RGA backing

By Patrick Caldwell | 10.26.10 | 12:38 pm

MN Forward — the independent expenditure organization that received heavy criticism for using donations from Target to run campaign ads supporting Republican Tom Emmer — has raked in $1.9 million so far this year. New campaign finance reports released Tuesday morning reveal that the group continues to receive the majority of its funds from local corporations, though high-profile public companies largely shied away from contributing to the group after the Target backlash.

RGA puts $1 million into Minnesota elections in final week

By Andy Birkey | 10.22.10 | 9:01 am

The Republican Governor’s Associaton (RGA) plans to dump $1 million into the coffers of Minnesota’s Future, a group that has released attack ads against DFLer Mark Dayton. The group has gained notoriety for an ad that falsely claimed that Dayton wants to institute an email tax and for questionable financial arrangements that are currently being investigated by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

Mike Dean, executive director of Common Cause Minnesota

Campaign finance board investigating complaint against RGA, Minnesota’s Future, says Common Cause

By Patrick Caldwell | 10.08.10 | 3:11 pm

The Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board has begun an investigation prompted by a complaint filed last week by Common Cause Minnesota, according to that group’s executive director, Mike Dean. The complaint alleges that the three groups coordinated to funnel money from the Republican Governor’s Association through Minnesota’s Future LLC to Minnesota’s Future, an independent expenditure committee with the same name, without disclosing all of the required donor information. The RGA has provided essentially all of the funding for Minnesota’s Future, which has used that money to run ads attacking Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton.

AM.MN: Will Quist make Walz quake? Will Wilf make Lege quake?

By Chris Steller | 11.19.09 | 8:30 am

Republican Allen Quist has been angling to get back in elective office since 1994 — about the same length of time the Minnesota Vikings have spent angling to get a new taxpayer-funded stadium. Now both are making dramatic moves.…

Pawlenty named vice chair of Republican governors group

By Chris Steller | 07.27.09 | 10:00 am

He didn’t quite get to be vice president on the GOP ticket last year, but today Gov. Tim Pawlenty was named vice chair of the Republican Governors Association (RGA).