HRCC Piece Violated State Law, Judges rule

October 29, 2004

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MINNEAPOLIS - A three judge panel here today found the House Republican Campaign Committee to have violated Minnesota's campaign ethics law for deliberately distributing false campaign literature against Rebecca Otto with the intent to mislead voters and to injure or defeat Rebecca Otto.

This wasn’t a simple campaign mistake. The literature was false, and they knew it was false. The judges noted “the violation was deliberate and intentional...and HRCC makes no apology for it.” Because of this they assessed a $4,000 fine, near the $5,000 maximum.

And the quotes used by the HRCC were grossly altered.  In finding probable cause of the HRCC violation earlier this week, Judge Kathleen Sheehy said the real quotes of Shawn Otto, who was reporting on interviews with voters, simply "described the negative perceptions a typical suburban voter might have of [both] the DFL and Republican parties."   Some of those quotes were taken out of context, altered to give them new meanings, and then attributed to Rebecca Otto.

Bill Salisbury, senior Capitol reporter for the Pioneer Press, described Steve Sviggum’s last attack against Rep. Otto as “one of the oldest dirty tricks in Minnesota Politics.” Here’s another one for the collection. Fortunately, this one was resolved a little quicker, thanks to Minnesota’s new campaign ethics law, which replaces the old law that was found unconstitutional due in part to Speaker Sviggum’s conduct last go-around.

Despite enduring a "hailstorm" of unethical negative attack literature from both the HRCC and her opponent, Rep Otto says she will not respond with attack pieces of her own.  "I'm proud to have run a positive, civil, and dignified campaign that sticks to the issues and respects the voters.  I believe in balance and reason and One Minnesota.  My work and my endorsements speak for themselves and I am happy to come back if area residents want me to.  It's in their hands."