Emmer notifies campaign board of possible violation

Posted at 4:06 PM on May 25, 2010 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor

Republican Tom Emmer's campaign for governor announced today that it has notified the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board that Emmer's legislative campaign made a 2008 donation that exceeded the legal limit. Emmer's Minnesota House campaign reported giving $250 to a group called You Can Run International. The group's front man, Bradlee Dean, has been criticized for making controversial statements about gays.

Emmer's connection with the group was first raised by the website Minnesota Independent when it wrote about You Can Run International's relationship with the GOP.

Emmer's campaign spokesman told the Minnesota Independent that Emmer never gave any money to the group. The spokesman, Chris Van Guilder, later confirmed to MPR News that Emmer gave $250 to You Can Run International. That's $150 more than the legal limit.

"We have also begun working with the campaign finance board to rectify the situation," Van Guilder said in an e-mail.

Update: Van Guilder now says the $250 wasn't a donation (or a "non-profit contribution" as listed on the campaign forms) but was "used to purchase tickets for volunteers of Tom's House Campaign to attend a dinner event." Van Guilder says that would mean it's not a violation.

He said they'll continue to work with the Campaign Finance Board over compliance.

Comments (4)

"Controversial statements about gays?" Come on, Tom, you can do better than that. Emmer donated to an organization that says executing gays is "moral." Here's the money quote from Bradlee Dean from the MnIndy story:

“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” Dean said on YCR’s May 15 radio show on AM 1280 the Patriot. “This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.”

The campaign finance violation isn't the story here. The real story is the GOP nominee for governor donating money to an organization whose leader believes--and publicly espouses-- that executing gays is moral. When can we expect to see MPR ask Tom Emmer whether he supports Bradlee Dean's concept of morality, and if he doesn't, why is he donating money to his cause?

Posted by Karl | May 25, 2010 6:06 PM

Seriously. Tom Scheck, so you're now aware the Emmer campaign is redirecting campaign contributions to an organization touting the high morality of executing homosexuals. Do Emmer's campaign contributors or the people of Minnesota deserve to know?

Posted by Jason | May 26, 2010 10:09 AM

So Tom Emmer bought $250 worth of tickets so his campaign volunteers could attend a dinner sponsored by an organization that publicly espouses that the execution of gays is moral. How is that different from a $250 donation to an organization that publicly espouses that the execution of gays is moral?

That's it for the update?

Posted by Karl | May 26, 2010 10:26 AM

Dean also claimed that the average gay person molests 117 people. I'm pretty disappointed in MPR right now. This deserves more attention than it's getting.

Posted by Josh Skaar | June 1, 2010 8:22 AM

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