Last week, a complaint made by the Minnesota DFL alleging Minnesota-based Action 4 Liberty violated PAC registration requirements was dismissed by the Campaign Finance Board.
The March 29 complaint against Action 4 Liberty claims that the group “failed to register as a political committee” and violated “disclaimer requirements of the Minnesota Fair Campaign Practices Act.”
“The bottom line is that Action 4 Liberty must either disclose all of its campaign activities
through the registered committee or register a new committee for purposes of disclosing these activities,” the complaint says.
However, the Campaign Finance Board (CFB) found no probable cause for any of the alleged violations, dismissing the complaint in its entirety.
“What we were doing is contacting constituents to tell them how their legislator is voting on Walz’s Emergency Powers,” Action 4 Liberty said in a press release after the complaints were dismissed.
“Democrats did this to scare us away,” the group added, saying that “baseless, false claims are what the Democrats know.”
In March, the DFL also filed a complaint against Rep. Erik Mortensen, R-Shakopee, claiming that Mortensen had “illegal exercise of control over [North Star Liberty Alliance (NSLA)]” and that NSLA failed to register with the Campaign Finance Board.
The DFL called NSLA an “overtly-partisan organization” and said that Mortensen “pulls the strings of the Alliance.” Minnesota DFL Chair Ken Martin called this “the latest example of the pattern of dishonest, unethical, and sleazy behavior [Mortensen has] been engaged in.”
Mortensen was accused by the DFL of two campaign finance law violations, both of which were dismissed “without probable cause” by the CFB on July 29.
In response to the DFL’s complaint, Mortensen initially alleged on his campaign Facebook page that “it was actually [Kurt] Daudt that put that meritless complaint together, and he gave it to the DFL to file it.”
Mortensen and Action 4 Liberty teamed up this last legislative session to create the “Never Again” bill, which would repeal the governor’s ability to declare a peacetime emergency. The complaints against them were filed on the same day by the DFL’s attorneys.
Megan Olson
Megan Olson is a 2020 graduate of the University of Minnesota with degrees in political science and history. She works in public affairs in addition to serving on the Legislative Advisory Council for School District 196. She is also on the school board for FIT academy, a charter school in Apple Valley.
