Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie did not misuse state resources or violate any laws when he provided his campaign contact information from a civic engagement forum his office was sponsoring, the Minnesota Legislative Auditor said in a report released Tuesday.
But the report criticized Ritchie for failing at first to be forthcoming with the Legislative Auditor's investigation of the complaint, filed by two long-time Republican activists
Ritchie, the state's chief elections official, had been accused of mining the contact list of the civic engagement program to solicit political contributions.
In a report release today, Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles said the events were appropriate activities of the office and the contact list was public information.
"We found no evidence that that the Secretary of State's civic education initiative was designed to achieve a private or partisan benefit," the report said.
But Ritchie's initially contradictory responses to Nobles' inquiries required the unusual step of requiring Ritchie and other members of his office to be interviewed under oath.
"Mr. Ritchie never provided us with a convincing explanation as to why he waited eleven days after the formal written response was delivered (and eight days after the deadline to the OLA) to acknowledge that he personally provided the civic education information to his campaign," the report said.
Except for failing to provide a complete and timely response to the office's request, Nobles said Ritchie and his staff cooperated fully with the investigation.
