Is Chris Coleman using mayoral campaign funds for 2010 planning?

Posted at 8:35 AM on September 22, 2009 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman has been widely rumored to be considering a run for governor in 2010. He's also running for reelection as St. Paul's mayor this year.

Here's the rub...

Coleman's mayoral opponent, Eva Ng, is calling on Coleman to explain why his campaign committee is spending money on airline tickets, restaurants and hotels outside the city of St. Paul. She's citing Coleman's own campaign fundraising report.

Here's the list compiled from Ng's campaign:

Travel & Hotels

3/12/09 Midwest Airlines for $619.39

3/13/09 Orbitz.com for $107.88

7/23/09 Alexandria, MN Arrowwood Resort & Conference Center Deposit for $200.00

7/30/09 Rochester, MN Kahler Grand Hotel for $452.98

7/30/09 Northwest Airlines for $249.19

8/17/09 Alexandria, MN Arrowwood Resort & Conference Center Lodging Payment for $107.80

Meals & Restaurants

6/18/09 CD7 Dinner for $60.00

7/29/09 Rochester, MN Gilligan's Cove restaurant for $13.00

7/30/09 Rochester, MN Kahler Grand Grill for $86.89

8/3/09 Granite City Brewery for $35.82 (There are no Granite City Brewery locations in St. Paul: http://www.gcfb.net/locations.cfm)

Donations to Political Units Outside St. Paul

2/7/09 Senate District 32 DFL (includes Maple Grove, Osseo, Rogers) received $50.00

6/11/09 Rice County DFL received $200.00

I'm waiting for a response from the Coleman campaign and will post it when they comment.

Update: Coleman campaign manager John Stiles said Coleman spent campaign money to address The Young Democrats of America Convention, the Minnesota Building Trades Convention and the State Convention of the Minnesota Association of Justice. He said it's expected that Coleman traveled to major political events.

"He's one of the most prominent Democrats in Minnestoa and thesre are places that any prominent Democratic mayor of St. Paul would go," Stiles said.

Stiles said it's likely that Coleman discussed a probable run for governor in 2010 at the events but added that St. Paul voters are not bothered by a possible run for governor. He pointed to Coleman's overwhelming victory in last week's primary.

UPDATE: From the you can't make this up department. On the same day that she's criticizing Coleman for traveling outside of St. Paul, Eva Ng is holding a fundraiser in (drumroll) Inver Grove Heights. It's on the MNGOP website.

Comments (4)

Hilarious. A candidate raising money (and donating money) outside the geography he represents? Where was Eva Ng when Al Franken and Norm Coleman were running for Senate? Of course, those two never left the State of Minnesota. Yeah, Coleman might decide to run for Governor later but it is fairly common. I saw R.T. Rybak meeting with people Pazzaluna in Saint Paul once so should I put out a press release in case this was a campaign expenditure?

This is what's telling though: if this is the kind of thing Eva Ng is trying to nail Coleman for, it's a pretty good sign of how clean of a candidate Coleman is.

Posted by Aaron | September 22, 2009 9:16 AM

This is the way Republicans do things. They raise non-issues in a way that confuses the public, with the help of such news outlets as MPR with their confusing reporting (Laura Yuen's online story). They make it sound like Coleman's using the City's money for these things (Ng said something about "the people's money"). Just raising questions in this manner and putting Coleman's campaign on the defensive is a typical Republican game that often works.

Posted by Jamie | September 22, 2009 11:57 AM

Oh the outrage!

Is there a conflict of interest for Mr. Sutton when he earns money for his business with Republican events being held at his business? Or is that me and my freedom hating talk all over again?

Posted by Brian Falldin | September 22, 2009 2:20 PM

I wish "Prominent" Democrats would be outside of their district more often...they do less damage that way. Taxes have gone up almost 40% since Mr Coleman took office.He has proposed another 6% increase in property taxes. When they ask for millions of dollars of bonding $$$ from the state for water parks and polar bears but close down libraries, they do not have their priorities right. I have never seen a small town mayor with such a misguided idea of appropriate use of public funds but again I am arguing with idiots.

Posted by jenny graham | September 24, 2009 1:26 PM

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