“In a desperate last minute attempt to the alter the race for state Party chairman, the ultra-liberal Star Tribune has launched yet another baseless, politically motivated attack on Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Ron Carey. Working hand in hand with Ron’s Republican political opponents, the Star Tribune has thrown a Hail Mary pass to try and smear our chairman once again.”

“Just days before these confidential, internal party documents appeared mysteriously under the door of the Star Tribune, a known Republican opponent of Ron’s was boasting that he was in possession of these confidential documents and anxious to get them public. ”

LL

Your sources can make baseless accusations all they want, but Mr. Wilkens was, as were all parties involved in the lawsuit bound by the mediated settlement that precluded comment on the story. If Mr. Wilkins were indeed the source he could have found himself a guest in one of the nations finest penal institutions.

Anyone shopping the story to Mr. Wilkins would have gotten an “I can’t talk about it” in response as the parties that I spoke to did when they were asked about the story.

LL

And no Michael, the people that I spoke to do not want to speak to anyone connected with the Carey campaign on this. Part of the reason that they came to me was because they knew that I had the integrity to not name names per their request.

As I said last night and again this morning, the actions of Chairman Carey’s supporters in the last 36 hours are indeed shameful. It also reflects QUITE POORLY on your candidate.

I think that is something that both sides need to be mindful of. Your actions reflect on your candidate. Will they reflect good or will they reflect ill? It’s YOUR CHOICE!

LL

And it’s not my story, it is reported in dozen of places.

And you are correct, it does appear that some are willing to do anything to win.
Including tearing down the party in the press.
And Joe’s latest press release continue the harm.

Yep, Michael Brodkorb.

I doubt he cares to see his BPOU dragged into this.

As for naming Mr. Wilkins, you might want to be careful. I hear he works for some one pretty darn important in the state, and teh Republican party.

Once again, Carey’s defenders are trying to defend him by smearing Republicans. They aren’t really defending Carey at all. Nope, tear the others down to make their guy look better. Yep, they borrowed a play book. The DFL’s. That is what they do.

Oh and Sam, I thought Carey said it was the Strib and Hatch that ran that story as an attack? Now you are blaming a well respected Republican.

Willing to do or say anything to win?

(no need to answer, it is clear as day.)

1) From the article: ‘”We’ve looked at all the issues that he raised, and where there was corrective action required, we took corrective action,” Carey said.’ Is this an accurate quote? If so, what action was taken, in regards to which issues? When was action taken?

2) From the article: “Carey said Friday that he has asked the committee for permission to commission an external audit.” When did Carey pose this request to the committee? Was it before or after the 15 Feb. memo? Before or after the 16 Jan. e-mail? Before or after it was known the reporters had knowledge of this ’story’?

3) Has the audit been approved? Conducted? What were the findings in relation to the allegations in the memo?

4) From the article: “Carey, who’s running for reelection this week as party chairman, blamed the leak of Tostenson’s memo on political enemies within the Republican Party who are out to get him on the eve of the Republican state central committee meeting.” Which political enemies are being pointed at here? Is there a fact and source available for this comment?

5) From the Sullivan/Axdahl letter: “In the meantime, we wanted to express our disgust with the Star Tribune for spreading such baseless allegations.” and “As with any Star Tribune story about conservative Republicans, the story is short on facts and the truth is missing in action.” The article states: “Party records show that money was withheld for employee retirement plans from September 2005 through May 2006, but Federal Election Commission (FEC) records reflect no deposits into the accounts during that period. In June 2006, the party made two makeup payments totaling $12,243 into the accounts.” I looked at http://www.fec.gov and the statement from the article appears to be correct. Why is this referred to as a baseless allegation, then?

6) From the article: ‘”There seemed to be some gray areas as to what was the requirement,” Carey said.’ What are the gray areas being referenced? A more detailed explanation would put this to rest.

7) From the article: ‘”We investigated what the requirements were and made sure we were immediately in full compliance with that,” he said.’ What are the requirements the GOP is required to follow?

From the article: “Carey said Tostenson has agreed the problems were resolved, and cited a March 13 letter from Tostenson to the executive committee.” How were the issues resolved?

9) From the article: ‘Carey said “We feel like we’re compliant with FEC regulations.” The FEC, he said, has “… brought nothing to our attention that we are out of compliance in this area.”‘ Would the FEC know if they were not in compliance regarding unreported overdue bills?

10) From the Sullivan/Axdahl letter: “We are certain Ron and the Party will provide a point by point response to these baseless charges in the near future.” When will such a response be released? Will people outside the Party hierarchy be told as well?

11) From the Sullivan/Axdahl letter: “The reality that the Star Tribune failed to report is that Ron quickly and effectively dealt with each legitimate issue brought to his attention, even though most of the alleged issues predated his becoming chairman or simply had no merit once investigated.” Which issues were dealt with and which had no merit? How were the issues dealt with? When were the issues dealt with?

12) From the Sullivan/Axdahl memo: “We cannot let the most liberal newspaper in America determine who our state Party chairman is.” I just wanted to say that I agree with this statement.

Sam - while I am not at liberty to name names, I can positively assure you that the Autism story did not generate from Repya’s BPOU. One of the officials who brought their concerns forward was from inside the 494/694 loop.

LL