'Goof' is costly for Kelliher and DFL

Imposing unusually hefty penalties, campaign finance regulators on Wednesday fined Minnesota House Speaker and DFL gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher $9,000 and her party $15,000 for sidestepping limits on campaign contributions.

Kelliher and the DFL party broke restrictions on contributions to candidates by routing donations from Kelliher supporters to a party voter research project that would benefit her exclusively, the regulators said.

While Kelliher and the party have characterized the incident as a mistake, the ruling by the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board said they had intentionally circumvented the law.

"Members of the DFL staff and the Kelliher Committee were aware of the contribution limits and disclosure obligations ... and put in place an option for donors that rendered ineffective those statutory provisions," the board wrote. "Avoidance of these provisions was the underlying purpose."

Kelliher and the DFL party said they would pay the fines, but continued to deny that they deliberately violated the law.

DFL party chief Brian Melendez called the arrangement an "inadvertent error," while a DFL lawyer earlier said the party accepted responsibility for a "goof."

"Our campaign accepts the board's findings," Kelliher said in a statement released Wednesday by her office. "I have made certain that our campaign has systems in place that make sure no mistake like this will happen again."

"Today's ruling vindicates our belief that Margaret Anderson Kelliher deliberately circumvented Minnesota's campaign finance laws to benefit her campaign for governor," it said in a statement.

"These sort of schemes demonstrate Kelliher does not have the judgment to lead."

Kelliher is not the first gubernatorial candidate in the sprawling 2010 race to run afoul of campaign finance laws.

Other candidates' violations

In July the board fined DFLer Matt Entenza $500 for accepting a contribution from a registered lobbyist during the legislative session. He also was fined $28,105 in 2006 for accepting excess contributions from special interests and large individual donors. That fine was later cut in half.

That same month, the board told St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman to disclose expenses related to exploring a bid for governor. The DFLer later dropped his exploration.

Kelliher's fine is hefty but pales in comparison with the $600,000 in penalties levied in 2002 against then-gubernatorial candidate Tim Pawlenty. It included a $100,000 fine and $500,000 in reduced campaign spending authority. The board found Pawlenty had illegally colluded with the state GOP on TV ads. The Republican party was fined $4,000 for that violation.

Gov. Pawlenty was tagged again in 2006 for $7,150 after receiving excessive campaign contributions from nine people.

Other familiar names have had run-ins with the board. In 1998, gubernatorial candidates Norm Coleman and Mark Dayton were fined $1,500 and $500 respectively, for accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists at the wrong time.

The state DFL party incurred a campaign finance fine in 2005, when it was dinged $50 for accepting contributions from an unregistered committee.

The party, in turn, used that money to help Kelliher pay for access to its voter database. Other DFL candidates were required to pay for access out of their own campaign funds. Kelliher has since repaid the $13,000.