What Mayor Rybak wanted to know

By Rachel E. Stassen-Berger

The Minnesota campaign finance board ruled that Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak spent money on a gubernatorial campaign months before he filed the requisite paperwork do to so, according to a board decision made public today.

A May poll paid for by his mayoral campaign "provided support to a gubernatorial campaign by Mayor Rybak," the board said in deciding on a complaint from the Minnesota Republican Party.

Rybak's attorney, Sarah Duniway, told the campaign finance board that only in "late September" did Rybak decide he had enough support to run for governor and at that point he began "acting like a candidate." The poll, she told the board, "tested various messages about Mayor Rybak's performance as mayor, whether people expected to vote for him for re-election this November and how well they view him overall. As you will see from the attached survey questions, no questions were asked that assessed Mayor Rybak's potential as a gubernatorial candidate, nor did the poll ask any questions directly or indirectly related to the governor's race. To understand people's views of Mayor Rybak and whether they view him positively or negatively, the poll used the common practice of asking about perceptions of a variety of well-known Minnesotans."

What made the board think it was a poll for a statewide run? Well, the board said, it was in part because the poll included folks inside and outside of Minneapolis and in part it was because of the questions that were asked. The questions included a solicitation of opinions about four DFLers who were running for governor and included statements about what Rybak would do for state government throughout Minnesota and how he would reform government across Minnesota.

The board didn't buy that argument and decided the poll, indeed was to support a gubernatorial run.

Here's some of what Rybak wanted to know --

The pollster also asked about a series of statements about Rybak and asked how "favorable this statement makes you feel toward R.T. Rybak."

Some of statements?

"The grandson of Czech immigrants who settled in New Prague, Minnesota, R.T. Rybak worked after school to help his mother when she took over the family's neighborhood drug store after his father died. He often did his homework in the store in the evening while his mother closed the store, and it was in those years he learned the importance of family and responsibility. He earned a scholarship to attend the Breck School in Minneapolis and worked his way through college. As mayor, Rybak has been guided by hard work and commitment to family that have shaped everything he has done to make Minneapolis a good place to live, work and raise a family."

"When he took office in 2002, the city was facing a multi-million dollar budget deficit and huge debt. Rybak demanded accountability from city offices, eliminating wasteful spending in every government department and cutting tough deals with public employee unions. He has balanced the city's budget every year he's been mayor and eliminated $90 million of the city's debt. Rybak will work to bring the same fiscal discipline to local and state government throughout Minnesota to make sure every tax dollar is spent responsibly."

"As mayor of Minneapolis, Rybak created Minneapolis Promise, a program that helped put privately funded career centers in every public high school in the city, as well as helped create a summer jobs program that has employed nearly 7,000 young people in only five years. Rybak took the lead in bringing together private businesses and government to provide free tuition for students to attend a 2-year community college or vocational school as long as they work hard and earn good grades in high school."