Incumbent Minneapolis School Board Member Rebecca Gagnon has hired her out-of-state college age daughter to be her paid campaign manager.
New campaign finance records shows Gagnon's campaign has already paid her daughter, Samantha, $1,120 and owes her another $3,000. Gagnon's daughter is a sophomore at Loyola University.
Gagnon has raised $10,902 dollars so far.
Gagnon is the only candidate who reported paying a campaign manager, and said she did not hire a professional manager because her daughter has "quite a bit of experience working with campaigns."
"She worked 30 to 40 hours a week last year on a mayoral campaign," Gagnon said. "She is incredibly smart and incredibly credible. She organized [the campaign] for the DLF convention, and I got 81 percent of the vote."
Gagnon said her daughter is also very in-tune with the issues facing the district.
"Some of the candidates do not know what is happening in our schools," she said. "She was actively involved in the district and she's a great asset."
Gagnon said she had to hire a campaign manager because she can't put her school board duties aside while running a campaign.
