In a recent email from Mark Ritchie's campaign, a plea was made to contribute to Chris Coleman's mayoral campaign:
A candidate or the treasurer of a candidate's principal campaign committee must not make a contribution from the principal campaign committee to a candidate for political subdivision office in any state.
"It's not negative politics to demand Chris Coleman and his supporters follow the spirit and intent of
Coleman has a Long Record of Not Complying with Campaign Finance Disclosure laws
Based on comments from Chris Coleman's campaign, the Campaign for
Chris Coleman was endorsed by the St. Paul DFL on April 30, 2005. Since once receiving their endorsement, Coleman's campaign began coordinating campaign expenditures such as lawn-signs with the St. Paul DFL. Because the St. Paul DFL did not file the legally required Pre-Primary Report due on September 2, 2005, it is impossible to determine if the St. Paul DFL has exceeded the contribution limit to Coleman's campaign.
"Chris Coleman's campaign's flippant response to requests that they disclose the amount of contributions they have received from the St. Paul DFL shows an unbelievable amount of contempt for campaign finance disclosure laws," said Campaign for
"The St. Paul DFL must have learned how to evade filing campaign finance disclosure forms from Chris Coleman, who has a long-history of not filing his campaign’s reports in a timely manner," said Brodkorb. "After reviewing Chris Coleman's past city council and Coleman's 2000 congressional campaign forms, it's clear Coleman has never had an interest in disclosing to the public how his campaigns are financed," added Brodkorb.
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St. Paul DFL Hasn't Filed Campaign Reports In Seven Years; "Recall Randy" In Over One Year
St. Paul - After learning that the St. Paul DFL Party has not properly filed campaign finance reports with Ramsey County for more than seven years and that the St. Paul DFL is paying for and producing lawn signs that are potentially illegally coordinated with mayoral candidate Chris Coleman's campaign, the Campaign for St. Paul's Future today demanded an investigation by local authorities and asked the Coleman campaign to disclose and return all contributions received from the St. Paul DFL.
According to public information available at
"
Chris Coleman was endorsed by the St. Paul DFL on April 30, 2005. Since receiving their endorsement, Coleman's campaign has been coordinating campaign expenditures such as lawn-signs with the St. Paul DFL. Because the St. Paul DFL did not file the legally required Pre-Primary Report due on September 2, 2005, it is impossible to determine if the St. Paul DFL has exceeded the contribution limit to Coleman's campaign.
Also, Committee 2 Recall Randy.org has not filed the legally required campaign finance disclosure reports in over one year according to public information provided by the
In fact, the organizers of Committee 2 Recall Randy.org have purchased 1000 "Republican Randy" lawn-signs: "The Duddingstons said that they've given out about 200 of their 1,000 'Republican Randy' signs and that they're getting inquiries about obtaining large quantities of the signs and hinted they're happy to get more." (Source: City Hall Scoop; "Recalling Recall Randy"; August 18, 2005; accessed at www.cityhallscoop.com on September 20, 2005)
Chris Coleman attended a fundraiser at the home of David Duddingston on August 25, 2005 (Source: City Hall Scoop; "Chris Coleman speech: 'This is greatest city in the world'"; August 30, 2005; accessed at www.cityhallscoop.com on September 20, 2005). David's brother Daniel Duddingston is chair of the Committee 2 Recall Randy.org.
"The Committee to Recall Randy.org should spend less time reminding people about 'Republican Randy' and spend more time remembering to file the legally required campaign finance disclosure forms," said Brodkorb.
“In all fairness, maybe Chris doesn't know the background of the groups he's been taking money from and coordinating with, but we are hopeful that he will condemn their illegal campaign behavior and bring this race back to higher ethical ground,” added Brodkorb.
The Campaign for
"Just because there is a statue of Chris Coleman's father inside the State Capitol, doesn't mean he or his campaign allies can operate with a total disregard for St. Paul’s campaign finance and election laws," said Brodkorb. "If candidate Chris Coleman thinks he can ignore the law now, imagine how Mayor Chris Coleman will govern
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St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly took a major hit in last week's primary election. The common wisdom says it was the price he paid for endorsing George Bush in 2004.
What could the guy have been thinking? Kelly knew his decision would damage him politically. And he knew he had little chance of swaying St. Paul voters to Bush. Heavily Democratic Ramsey County hasn't voted for a Republican for president since Calvin Coolidge in 1924.
At the time, Kelly gave two reasons. First, he believed that America was at a critical point in the war on terror, and that George Bush would see it through to completion. In addition, Kelly said he was fed up with "negative politics" -- Democrats' hatred of Bush, Republicans' hatred of Clinton and the bitter, paralyzing politics of vitriol.
At the national level, said Kelly in a guest column, "I am sure that continuity of government will produce better results than an anger-motivated transition of power."
Political observers looked everywhere for a hidden motivation, a backroom deal. But they came up empty. Could it be that Kelly was sincere in invoking sentiments he attributed to John Kennedy: "When there is a conflict between what is best for my party and my country, my first obligation is to conscience"? Was Kelly's decision that rare thing: an act of principle, a profile in political courage?
Today, we tend to see politicians as a cynical breed. We think of most as taking few risks, and all too frequently basing decisions on daily tracking polls.
But there are elected officials who believe that leadership requires more. It's said that a close adviser to Ronald Reagan once recommended that he abandon his opposition to legalized abortion because a majority of Americans supported abortion rights to some extent. Reagan responded that a majority of the people may disagree with him but 100 percent of the people want a president who will say what he thinks.
Randy Kelly has been speaking his mind for years, and his problems with St. Paul's DFL leadership started well before he endorsed Bush. Increasingly, special-interest groups dominate both the Democratic and Republican parties. In the St. Paul DFL, heavy hitters include public employees, teachers and abortion-rights supporters. These groups impose litmus tests: Candidates must support abortion rights and be dovish on foreign policy. Randy Kelly -- abortion opponent, strong on defense, and fairly fiscally conservative -- is out of step.
Democrats tolerated far more diversity until recent years. For example, prominent senators such as Henry (Scoop) Jackson and Sam Nunn advocated a vigorous American foreign policy without serious political damage. Minnesota had prominent public officials such as A.M. (Sandy) Keith, a former state senator, lieutenant governor and chief justice of the state Supreme Court. Keith was a fiscal conservative and strong on defense without paying a significant political price.
Among Democratic leaders, such tolerance is evaporating. Most famously, in 1992, the party banned Pennsylvania governor Bob Casey from speaking at its national convention because of his opposition to abortion. Intolerance on a range of issues led Norm Coleman to leave the DFL in the '90s.
Like the Democrats, the Republican party has become increasingly ideological. Yet it tolerates mavericks such as John McCain, and liberals such as Sens. Arlen Specter and Lincoln Chafee. Democrats have no parallel to Rudy Giuliani, a man who crosses his party lines on abortion and other social issues, but retains enormous stature and popularity.
By rejecting Kelly -- a successful sitting mayor with a vibrant vision for St. Paul -- the DFL is sending a message to voters: This party has no room for those who don't hew to a narrow, ideological party line. Party officials have descended to pettiness to enforce conformity. Last month, according to news reports, they voted to exclude Kelly from a customary invitation to serve ice cream at the party's State Fair booth.
Obviously, the DFL's narrow-mindedness poses a problem for Randy Kelly. Yet in 2001, he won the mayor's seat without the party's endorsement. In last week's primary, Kelly struck out with DFL stalwarts. But he will work hard to reach a cross-section of voters in the general election.
By rejecting Kelly, the DFL is shooting itself in the foot. American political parties have grown significantly weaker in recent years. Their base among voters has contracted as they have become more ideological. Since the 1970s, the turnout at both Minnesota's Democratic and Republican precinct caucuses has declined dramatically. Today more than one-third of national voters call themselves independents and tell pollsters that neither party reflects their views exactly.
Not all St. Paul voters agree with Randy Kelly about George Bush and national security policy. But 100 percent of them should be glad they have a mayor who acts on his convictions with courage.
During St. Paul mayoral candidate Chris Coleman's primary victory party Tuesday night, his wife pulled their eighth-grade daughter aside to say: It's great to be happy about your dad's triumph, but prepare yourself because "people can say mean things, especially if they're desperate in a campaign."
Coleman's wife, Connie, and daughter, Molly, aren't the only ones in St. Paul bracing for a gloves-off, seven-week duel leading to the Nov. 8 general election. Mayor Randy Kelly finished a distant second to barely survive the primary and is now scrambling to save his job.
He already has paid nearly $40,000 to a Republican media consulting firm from Dallas with ties to Karl Rove, President Bush's key campaign strategist. Scott Howell & Co. produced commercials for Bush, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and other well-known Republicans.
Howell used to serve as Rove's political director.
That is only one sign that Republicans are aligning themselves with Kelly, a lifelong DFLer who broke from his party to endorse Bush in 2004. A political action committee called Campaign for St. Paul's Future was launched last month by Joe Weber, a well-known Republican activist in Minnesota and brother of former Republican U.S. Rep. Vin Weber.
The group has hired Michael Brodkorb, a former state Republican spokesman, and paid him $4,000 so far to do issues research, according to campaign documents filed this month. The group's first $5,000 donation came from a Kelly backer Bruce A. Larson, who contributed $500 to the mayor in January.
Coleman said Wednesday that Brodkorb and Weber are Kelly's Republican "surrogates and they're clearly gearing up to run a negative campaign" even though the mayor has pledged to stay positive.
Kelly disavowed any connection with the group Wednesday and pointed to a fair campaign pledge he signed but Coleman didn't. He said candidates can't control what outside parties send out, adding that he had seen negative campaign material sent by the state DFL and other groups on Coleman's behalf.
"If Chris is concerned about this being a dirty campaign, he ought to sign the clean campaign pledge," Kelly said. "I have never run a negative campaign."
Brodkorb said the Campaign for St. Paul's Future is a "separate entity" from the Kelly campaign and aims to educate voters on Coleman's record as a former City Council member. He said they hope to generate enough money to pay for ads during the campaign.
And money is one factor Kelly has going for him despite his lopsided loss in Tuesday's primary. According to the latest campaign finance reports filed this month, the current balance in Kelly's campaign account is 16 times more than what Coleman has on hand -- $400,000 to $25,000.
However, that edge in dollars didn't keep Kelly from becoming the first sitting St. Paul mayor in 33 years to lose a primary. Unlike Mayor Charlie McCarty's fourth-place ouster in 1972, Kelly came in second and can retain his office if he wins in November. Kelly did it four years ago, losing the primary to City Council Member Jay Benanav before narrowly edging him out in November.
"I came in second in the 2001 primary and won the general election," Kelly said. "The fact is that my campaign has not been geared toward the primary. We are focusing on a November election where we are going to reach out to a broader group much different than the partisans who come out and vote in primaries."
Erich Mische, a key adviser to Norm Coleman and Kelly, said Tuesday's low turnout shows that Chris Coleman isn't getting his message out. DFL activists angry about Kelly's Bush endorsement voted, but they won't be enough to carry a general election, Mische said.
"Everybody was saying the voters were going to punish this mayor, so why did 35 percent fewer come out than four years ago to supposedly punish him?" Mische said.
Added Kelly: "If his message was resonating, we would have seen 50,00 or 60,000 voting, not the worst showing in recent years."
Former Police Chief William Finney -- who once worked for Kelly but never hid his disdain for the mayor -- is among those expecting things to turn nasty over the next seven weeks. A Coleman supporter, Finney said Wednesday: "Power is, for some people, a powerful narcotic and it's difficult for them to give it up even when the voters and citizens reject their style of politics. He's not a nice man, and if Randy were to get involved in mud-slinging and dirty tricks, it would not be unexpected."
Kelly shrugged off the shot.
"I used to be a boxer," he said. "I like going one-on-one. I always like being underestimated."
St. Paul's East Side voters bedeviled Kelly
Turnout plunged in mayor's home turf
By Tim Nelson
Pioneer Press
St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly's poor showing in this year's primary election may have been a surprise to some people in St. Paul.
But not on the East Side.
Voters in the mayor's home turf, particularly along East Seventh Street, stayed home Tuesday, part of the reason he came in a distant second to his DFL-endorsed challenger, former City Council Member Chris Coleman.
Turnout east of Edgerton Street was barely half of what it was for the 2001 primary, when Kelly finished second to Council Member Jay Benanav but 2,199 votes ahead in the 6th and 7th wards.
On Tuesday, Kelly won only two precincts in the 6th Ward. He came up 604 votes short on the East Side, even losing his home precinct — a rarity for a sitting mayor, particularly one who was touting himself as "St. Paul's First East Side Mayor" at a June fundraiser.
Kelly's campaign, however, said Coleman ought to be worried about turnout: Primaries tend to be partisan showings, and Tuesday's turnout slipped by nearly a third from 2001.
"Where was everybody?' asked Kelly spokesman Vince Muzik on Wednesday. "(Chris Coleman's) message of exclusion and partisanship isn't working, even among his own people."
Kelly has been emphasizing his broad-based support, including Democrats, Republicans and independents.
Muzik said that Kelly is confident independent-minded voters will turn out at the polls in November. Others suspected that supporters assumed that Kelly enjoyed the benefit of incumbency and would survive without their vote.
"I think the telling thing here is that his folks were the ones that didn't show up," said Coleman, who received 13,041 votes — 6,301 more than Kelly.
"I also think the message is resonating that I will listen to the people of St. Paul. They don't want (Kelly's) divisive and non-inclusive style."
DFL activists said they also think that Kelly's continued association with high-profile Republicans, such as President Bush and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, is hurting his native-son image among working-class St. Paulites.
"East Siders are sitting on their hands," said Eric Mitchell, who lives near Lake Phalen and is a DFL Party fundraiser. "I don't know that they've embraced Chris Coleman, but Randy is turning off people who have been Democrats since Truman was president."
Coleman received 52 percent of the vote Tuesday compared with Kelly's 27 percent and 19 percent for Green Party activist Elizabeth Dickinson, the third-party candidate in the race.
Still, the Coleman campaign expects the race to tighten. Kelly reported a 16-to-1 advantage in cash on hand Sept. 2, with more than $400,000. Dickinson said in a statement Wednesday that she "does not foresee publicly endorsing" either of her rivals.
Kelly's supporters showed no signs of giving up, either.
North End entrepreneur Bruce Larson has funded a "Campaign for St. Paul's Future," an independent organization that, according to spokesman Michael Brodkorb, will be "focusing on Chris Coleman's record as a City Council member and the positions he's taken as a mayoral candidate."
Brodkorb is a former communications and research director for the Republican Party of Minnesota.
Still, Sarah Janacek, a Kelly supporter and a well-known Republican operative, had a one-word reaction to the mayor's finish: "Wow."
"There's no way you can portray this as anything but a loss," she said, though she said it wasn't beyond salvaging.
She said she thinks Republicans, about a quarter of the city's typical presidential vote, didn't feel any compulsion to vote Tuesday. Janacek said she believes they eventually will welcome the chance to vote for a supporter of the beleaguered president, who has hit an all-time low in popularity following the continuing difficulties in Iraq and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Kelly endorsed Bush's re-election last August.
Janacek also said Kelly would likely need a no-holds-barred get-out-the-vote effort and that Tuesday's results might actually help that.
"This might be the best thing that ever happened," she said. "It may really motivate his supporters."