GOP accuses IP candidate of taking illegal contribution

The Minnesota Republican party is accusing Independence Party gubernatorial candidate Tom Horner of receiving an illegal campaign contribution.

GOP officials filed a complaint Tuesday with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, claiming Horner colluded with pollster Bill Morris and his Minneapolis-based research company Decision Resources.

Michael Brodkorb, deputy chairman of the state GOP, says Horner needs to explain how his campaign obtained information from a statewide poll on the race for governor that had not yet been made public.

"It appears because of a business relationship and a personal relation that he has with Bill Morris, he's been provided with that poll information," Brodkorb said. "Decision Resources is a corporation and they just can't give out their poll information to campaigns for free. And we would deem that to be a corporate contributions, and it would need to be returned."

Horner's campaign manager says the poll information was obtained after its release to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He described the GOP complaint as a waste of time.