Campaign board fines local DFL official over Hatch lawn signs

Posted at 1:08 PM on April 11, 2007 by Tom Scheck

Here's the ruling. AP has the story:

ST. PAUL (AP) - A lengthy investigation into the production and distribution of a batch of lawn signs promoting Mike Hatch for governor has led to fines. The Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board has fined the Lac qui Parle (lak kwih parl) D-F-L and its treasurer three-thousand dollars apiece for violating six campaign reporting regulations. They stem from the western Minnesota party branch's production of ten-thousand signs promoting Hatch. The party chapter and its treasurer, Allen Simonson, didn't properly account or document the sign purchase. The campaign board declined to refer the case for criminal prosecution. Regulators were asked to look into the matter because the timing, scope and design of the sign purchase were peculiar. Also, several Twin Cities donors wrote big checks to the local party in 2003. The board says it couldn't prove that Hatch was intimately involved in the sign decisions or that money was illegally earmarked.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-04-11-07 1523EDT

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