PawletyUnlugged

Facts about Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty

¹“Pawlenty Accepts Board Ruling,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1A, October 12, 2002.

²Minnesota Statute 10A.01, subdivision 18 (definition of “independent expenditure”).

³“Pawlenty Accused Of Breaking Law With Ads,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 2B, September 28, 2002.

⁴“Witness Comes Forward In GOP TV Ad Complaint,” Associated Press, October 4, 2002; Findings in the Matter of a Complaint Regarding the Tim Pawlenty for Governor Campaign and the Republican Party of Minnesota, October 10, 2002, Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

⁵“Pawlenty Accused Of Breaking Law With Ads,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 2B, September 28, 2002; “Ad Campaign; Close Ties May Have Consultants In A Bind; Two In Pawlenty Ad Case Worked For Same Media Firm,” Star Tribune, 1B, October 8, 2002; Findings in the Matter of a Complaint Regarding the Tim Pawlenty for Governor Campaign and the Republican Party of Minnesota, October 10, 2002, Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

⁶Findings in the Matter of a Complaint Regarding the Tim Pawlenty for Governor Campaign and the Republican Party of Minnesota, October 10, 2002, Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

⁷Findings in the Matter of a Complaint Regarding the Tim Pawlenty for Governor Campaign and the Republican Party of Minnesota, October 10, 2002, Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

⁸Findings in the Matter of a Complaint Regarding the Tim Pawlenty for Governor Campaign and the Republican Party of Minnesota, October 10, 2002, Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

⁹“”Pawlenty Penalty is $600,000,” Star Tribune, A1, October 15, 2002; Findings in the Matter of a Complaint Regarding the Tim Pawlenty for Governor Campaign and the Republican Party of Minnesota, October 10, 2002, Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

¹⁰“Vote 2002:  Ruling Is A Blow To Pawlenty,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1A, October 11, 2002.

Campaign Finance

                A friend commented recently that he was not surprised to see Governor Tim Pawlenty cheat us out of the values and quality of life we cherish as Minnesotans.  He reminded me that the Governor cheated to get elected in 2002, receiving one of the largest fines in Minnesota history for illegally coordinating television ads with the state Republican Party in a blatant manipulation of Minnesota’s campaign integrity laws.  As Jesse Ventura said at the time about the incident:  “If they were willing to cheat at the campaign to win, then they’d be willing to cheat when they get in there.”¹

 

                Minnesota law allows political parties to make “independent expenditures” to benefit a candidate, but only if the expenditure is made without the express or implied consent, authorization, or cooperation of the candidate.²  This is because gubernatorial candidates who abide by voluntary campaign spending limits receive about $400,000 in public campaign subsidies from the taxpayers.  In exchange for this money, candidates are not supposed to circumvent the spending limits by simply having another entity do their bidding.

 

                During the 2002 campaign, Pawlenty flaunted these laws.  He personally taped “pop up” ads featuring his waist size and boyhood home.³  The camerawoman who taped the ads said that she was instructed by the Pawlenty campaign to frame the ads to save room for “pop up” graphics to create a “dating show” look.⁴  The Pawlenty campaign consultant then handed over the video and scripts to the Republican Party, which ran the Pawlenty-scripted ads with the incredible disclaimer: “Prepared and paid for by the Republican Party of Minnesota and not authorized by any candidate or committee.”⁵

 

The Governor, who was a high-buck attorney before being elected, claimed that the ads were arms-length because his consultant handed off the ads and script to the Republican party’s consultant.⁶  The two consultants, however, were associated with the same firm at the same Washington DC address, worked together on another Minnesota campaign, and the party’s consultant had volunteered on Pawlenty’s campaign earlier that year.⁷  Further, Pawlenty himself appeared in the ads, his own campaign had not run any ads on his behalf, despite setting a post-convention ad budget of $1 million, and the Pawlenty campaign gave the footage to the Republican Party the day after it was taped.⁸

 

                The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board leveled $600,000 in penalties against Pawlenty after finding that his campaign illegally colluded with the Republican Party to produce the ads.⁹  This is one of the largest campaign fines in Minnesota history!  The Republican who chaired the Campaign Finance Board commented: “This was extremely unusual in that all you had to do the first time you watched these ads and see a disclaimer you start to say: ‘My goodness, what’s going on here?  How can a candidate be talking to the camera and have someone else air the ads?’”¹⁰

 

                My friend reminded me that this episode reveals the Governor’s true colors:  he skirted the law until confronted with overwhelming evidence that his actions were illegal, then issued an “aw shucks” denial that he didn’t mean to break the law.  The public should remember this in 2006:  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.

Pawlenty drew one of the largest fines in Minnesota state history for illegal TV ads

 

A LEOPARD DOESN’T CHANGE ITS SPOTS