Ramsey County won't investigate GOP recount company

The Ramsey County attorney's office will not investigate a company created by GOP activists to pay gubernatorial recount costs.

May 25, 2012 at 11:46PM

The Ramsey County attorney's office will not investigate a company created by GOP activists to pay recount costs for unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi's office wrote in a letter to a group pushing for the investigation that his department "is not the appropriate office" to handle the request.

Common Cause Minnesota called for an investigation after the Star Tribune reported that over two years, the company, Count Them All Properly Inc., listed two CEOs on state documents who had never heard of the company. When the two heard they were listed as CEO, they asked to be removed from the corporate filing.

Republicans created the company as the Minnesota GOP faced mounting debt. Count Them All Properly now faces at least $500,000 in unpaid legal fees and has not mounted a significant fundraising campaign to pay the bills.

Common Cause has alleged the company was illegally set up to keep new debt off the Republican Party's financial ledger and is fraught with campaign finance infractions. The group also wants the GOP company investigated for forgery.

The county attorney's office lacks "jurisdiction to take any action with regard to alleged violations of the state's campaign finance and practice laws," wrote Assistant Ramsey County Attorney John Kelly.

Kelly encouraged Common Cause to contact law enforcement to see if they wanted to pursue an investigation.

Mary Igo, the company's CEO, said earlier that the company is legitimate and was never created as a way to stash debt. She said the debts will be repaid, but it might take longer than people want.

about the writer

about the writer

Baird Helgeson

Deputy editor

Baird Helgeson is deputy local editor at the Star Tribune. He helps supervise coverage of local news. Before becoming an editor, he was an award-winning reporter who covered state government and politics. He has worked for news organizations in Minnesota, Florida and North Dakota.

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