Lori Sturdevant: Campaign board right to rap Rybak

By Lori Sturdevant

Last update: November 6, 2009 - 2:09 PM

Minneapolis Mayor R.T.Rybak made an honest gubernatorial candidate of himself on Thursday, filing the requisite candidacy paperwork with the state Campaign Finance Board. But that wasn't fast enough for the board, which rapped him Friday for charging his mayoral reelection campaign $26,500 for a poll that looked, walked and quacked like a gubernatorial campaign tool.

Bully for the board, whose thankless job it is to uphold and enforce campaign laws that politicians often find inconvenient. The campaign filing requirement that Rybak ran afoul is fundamentally about openness and transparency in government. Democracy does not work well without them. Rybak's interest in running for governor may have been an open secret for months. But he should have played it straight, and filed as a candidate for governor before this week.

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