Photo Shoots Involving Local DFL Candidates Lead to Big Fine

Candidate photo shoots arranged by the Minnesota DFL Senate Caucus have gotten the party into trouble for illegal coordination with 13 candidates in the 2012 election.

The Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board on Tuesday levied a $100,000 fine, one of its largest fines ever, after approving a settlement with the DFL.

The case began Oct. 11 when the Republican Party of Minnesota accused the DFL State Central Committee and the Minnesota DFL Senate Caucus of improperly coordinating with five candidates to produce campaign mailings, according to the settlement. Based on the photographs used, Republicans argued that the literature involved the “active participation” of the candidates’ campaigns even though the expenses were classified as “independent expenditures.”

A week later, Republicans accused another DFL candidate of improper coordination. Then on Nov. 2, they accused three more. In addition, the board’s investigation turned up five more candidates.

In all, the party was found to have improperly helped the following 13 candidates:

• Jim Carlson: District 51; Burnsville, Eagan
• Greg Clausen: District 57; Apple Valley, Coates, Lakeville, Rosemount
• Kent Eken: District 4; Moorhead and all or parts of Norman County, Clay County and the Detroit Lakes area.
• Kevin Dahle: District 20; Elko New Market, Le Center, Lonsdale New Prague, Northfield and surrounding area
• Melisa Franzen: District 49; Bloomington, Edina, Minnetonka
• Vicki Jensen: District 24; Faribault, Medford, Owatonna, Waseca and surrounding area
• Alice Johnson: District 37; Blaine, Coon Rapids, Spring Lake Park and other parts of Anoka county
• Susan Kent: District 53; Landfall, Oakdale, Woodbury
• Lyle Koenen: District 17; Chippewa County, Kandiyohi County, Renville County, Swift County
• Alan Oberloh (did not win): District 22; southwest Minnesota
• Laurie McKendry (did not win): District 48; Minnetonka, Eden Prairie
• Matt Schmit: District 21; Goodhue, Wabasha and Winona counties
• Tom Saxhaug: District 5; Grand Rapids, Bemidji and surrounding areas

The board did not investigate claims against a 14th candidate, former Lake Elmo Rep. Julie Bunn, because the photos under scrutiny were publicly available on the Internet.

Improper photo shoots

The investigation found that consultants overseen by Mike Kennedy, campaign director for the Senate DFL Caucus, hired professional photographers to take photos of the candidates in a series of shoots arranged by Senate Caucus staff.

“In each case, the photo shoot was conducted solely for the purpose of acquiring images that the Senate Caucus Party Unit intended to use in independent expenditure communications,” the settlement stated. “The use of high-quality images of the candidates interacting with business persons, children, and constituents, often in recognizable locations within the candidate's district, made it possible to create more effective communications than could have been created without the images.”

The board did not find any evidence that the DFL Central Committee communicated improperly with the candidates.

It recognized that the candidates trusted the Caucus’ decisions and assumed the Caucus wouldn’t ask them to do something illegal—a trust that the board added was “misplaced.” The board also said it didn’t find any evidence that Kennedy thought arranging the photo shoots was a prohibited type of coordination and that the board had never addressed such an issue before.

But ultimately, the action was still illegal.

“Senate Democrats were so intent on winning at any cost and throwing huge money into the 2012 campaign that they played fast and loose in a big way,” a Republican party news release quoted Keith Downey, party chairman and Franzen’s opponent. “Even though it is over a year too late for the voters in these thirteen districts, and the ruling says nothing about the truthfulness of their ads, today’s ruling does at least provide a much needed check on their campaign financing tactics.”

Reclassification of Expenses

State law doesn’t allow candidates to accept more than $5,000 from their political party. Because the photo shoots involved cooperation with the candidates, they were deemed to be an in-kind contribution. That meant that the candidates exceeded the contribution limit by a total of $312,641.19.

Each of the candidates also signed a public subsidy agreement, which limits campaign expenditures. Franzen was released from her agreement because her opponent didn’t agree to an expenditure limit and spent enough money for her to be released. That meant that she couldn’t have a campaign expenditure violation.

But seven of the remaining 12 candidates exceeded the spending limit once the photo shoots were added to their books. Those candidates exceeded the maximum by a total of $133,557.13.

“Many of the Democratic Senators on this list won their elections by narrow margins,” the release quoted Downey. “We will never know how this illegal coordination would have impacted the results in these races and ultimately control of the legislature.  They cheated, they won, but at least they are being held accountable now.”