Campaign Finance Board says political funds can give to recount

Posted at 2:40 PM on November 24, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, MN Legislature, Recount 2010

The Minnesota Campaign Finance Board approved a request today that would allow Minnesota political funds to give unlimited amounts of money to the recount teams for Democrat Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer. But the board ruled that the committees have to disclose those donations to the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board.

The Board held an emergency meeting today after Dayton's attorney requested an opinion on whether Dayton's recount committee can accept funds from political committees. The board's ruling also allows Dayton and Emmer to donate any funds from their campaign committees to their recount committees.

The ruling means the public will now have an idea if political committees are giving to the recount committees.

An earlier board ruling said Dayton and Emmer can set up recount committees outside of the jurisdiction of the Campaign Finance Board. That means the candidates can raise unlimited funds for the recount and won't have to disclose where the money comes from.

Dayton currently leads Emmer by 8770 votes. The recount starts on Monday.

Dayton has set up a 527 political fund for the recount and said he will disclose his donations. Emmer's team hasn't said how they'll accept funds to pay for the recount but it appears he's working with the Republican Party of Minnesota. Emmer has said he'll follow the law, which means he doesn't have to disclose anything.

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