Trust but verify
The MNGOP has released a statement regarding the charges or issues raised by the memo released by the Strib. Now it raises more concerns for me, but to be fair, I will post it here so the information gets out. A major point in the message is that the Strib left out important information, so here it is.

Monday, Jun 4, 2007
Dear Republican,
As Congressional District Chairs and members of the State Executive Committee, we were greatly disappointed by yesterday’s article which appeared in the Star Tribune. In tone, substance and through the omission of key facts, the article failed readers in several important ways.
Most notably, the article left out many important facts and did not accurately portray the circumstances involved in a series of internal complaints. The story focused on months-old complaints about issues that had either been long resolved or were completely unfounded.
Given our knowledge of these issues, we can assure you that the Republican Party of Minnesota has dealt with these matters swiftly and effectively and with great transparency.

While it’s hardly surprising that the liberal Star Tribune would omit important facts, it is unfair that activists be left with only half-truths and innuendo to fully evaluate the Republican Party of Minnesota’s operations. As members of the governing body of our Party, we would like to provide you with the full story.

We’ve attached a point-by-point summary refuting and explaining each charge leveled against our Party. Further, we’ve attached a memorandum from Dwight Tostensen, which he issued in March of 2007, expressing confidence in Chairman Carey’s leadership in handling his complaints.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us, or call the State Party Headquarters at 651-222-0022.
Sincerely,

[...]

(I will post the rest below the fold)

As I have said, I was told the concerns were dealt with. Despite my sorrow that they happened in the first place, it appeared to me that the damage was corrected and precautions would be taken so this would not happen again.

Problem solved?

In the email from the MNGOP Communications Department there are a couple things to take notice of.

1. The “Setting the Record Straight” message is not signed by the 5 new members of the Executive Committee. As I understand it, some have only learned of these issues in the last week due to the Strib coverage and calls from reporters. But the message does claim to be from the Executive Committee, yes some did sign, but not all, especially those elected to oversee the next two years.

   I’m sure that it was thrown together on short notice, but it is worth noting, as the Executive Committee is who has the power to do the audit Carey promised would be done. I don’t see any sign of the promised audit having taken place to find any and or all instances of errors or what have you. Proof of that would be the audit results and definitive statements from the Ex Comm stating so. Has it even happened yet?

2. The message says that other internal documents were in the possession of the Strib. What other documents and or security breeches have their been? Now again, all I had was the memo, so just how big of a breech are we talking about? How many people are we talking about here who are or could be suspected of leaking information. Was this a computer crime from external persons, or one where documents were taken out of the office by employees? As I have said, I was not the only one who had or knew of the Tosteson memo, and I knew absolutely nothing of the immigration/bribe email.
3. Why was Mr. Tostensen once again belittled by the Party leaders? How can this be a sign that there is no sense of a hostile work place when party leaders continue to harp on the performance of individuals in one venue, but take credit for work that those people had intimate involvement with in another? Sheesh, it seems like the kind of stuff Donald Trump would do. Good job, now you’re fired. (sorry, couldn’t resist the Donald reference.)

Alleged Political Retaliation Against Dwight Tostensen In The Form Of Pay Decreases And Eventual Termination:
The compensation packages for the finance department were re-designed as part of the regular budgeting process in November and December of 2006 by the Budget Committee, State Executive Committee and State Central Committee. Most significantly, the State Central Committee extensively debated and voted down a commission line item in the 2007 budget. The decision was made to remove the commission and instead pay a simple salary to the finance team. All members of the RPM team are expected to perform at a high level, regardless of additional compensation. Market compensation ranges for finance directors nationwide were far below the pay structure previously offered.
In early 2007, Party leadership determined that national fundraising experience and broad major donor background was critical for the Party to succeed in the 2008 cycle. Dwight’s experience did not fit the Party’s needs going forward. Furthermore, the Party was able to find an employee with the necessary skill sets, more experience, and a salary closer to the standard for finance directors across the country.

Carey took Dwight to task at the December state Central budget meeting in Blaine, and faced strong opposition to his (Carey’s) decision to cut the bonus pay structure. And at that time, there was not any indication that Dwight was to be terminated for the lack of ‘experience’.

He was the chief fundraiser, and if memory serves, Ron Carey has taken credit for how much money he raised during the 2006 cycle. Something like “unprecedented amounts since McCain/Feingold went into law” has been used in his reelection campaign. I take that to mean the finance department had done well, but having the entire department cleared out and belittled so publicly is baffling to me.

I know that this message does address most of the issues. I can see that there was effort to get to the bottom of the memo, but I am very concerned that the new Executive Committee seems to be coming to the dance late.

I would expect that Chairman Carey would call an emergency Executive Committee meeting ASAP (like before Saturday) to address the concerns raised. I am also a little concerned that this message was sent out with out all the Ex Comm members approving it.

Having the Congressional District Chairs approve it is not the same as Ex Comm members. Those people were elected by the CDs to be on that Committee and to deal with such matters of the party. CD Chairs are nice, BUT….. it is not the same.

And I would not be myself if I did not note that the email seems to go out of its way to single out Chairman Carey as having dealt with this, and leaves out both Deputy Chair Eric Hoplin and Secretary/Treasurer Tony Sutton, despite approving this message. Shouldn’t these type of financial and operational issues fall under the treasurer’s realm too?

And wouldn’t someone (Carey) who was Treasurer for the party for 8 years have been able to prevent such discretions or nip them in the bud early on?

Trust

I fully trust that the party has done the right thing, corrected the wrongs, and will or has pay any fines levied if applicable. I also trust that this stuff will no longer happen as we are supposed to be the party of ethics and justice. People will never trust our candidates if they can’t even trust the party.

But!

Verify

I would sure love to see the new Executive Committee verify that.

Oh, and why do I raise the Ex Comm point? There were two of these email messages sent out with in minutes. The second one contained the **** note about the Ex Comm members, and there was a tag line added to the subject line. – Please Note Asterisk – I think they too knew it meant something to note the Ex Comm member’s absence from the list of who approved the message.

[...]
Sincerely,
Brian Sullivan*, RNC Committeeman
Evie Axdahl*, RNC Committeewoman
Tony Sutton*, Secretary/Treasurer
Eric Hoplin*, Deputy Chair
Duane Quam, 1st CD Chair
Chaz Johnson*, 2nd CD Chair
Margaret Cavanaugh*, 3rd CD Co-Chair
Jerry Paar, 3rd CD Co-Chair
Rory Koch, 4th CD Chair
Chris Jacobson*, 4th CD State Vice Chair
Carleton Crawford*, 5th CD Chair
Mark Swanson, 6th CD Chair
Erik Haapala, 7th CD Chair
Ted Lovdahl, 8th CD Chair
*Denotes member of the State Executive Committee in February 2007
________________________
Concerns About The Source Of The Documents:
When Chairman Carey and staff sat down with the reporters, the reporters had copies of internal Party documents beyond the memo distributed to Executive Committee members. They had copies of internal accounting and personnel files only available to a very select group of Party employees. The Party takes this very seriously. If anyone has any information that will help the Party investigate the source of this matter, please share it with the Party staff. The Party is pursuing any and all appropriate legal action to address this very serious violation.
Alleged Political Retaliation Against Dwight Tostensen In The Form Of Pay Decreases And Eventual Termination:
The compensation packages for the finance department were re-designed as part of the regular budgeting process in November and December of 2006 by the Budget Committee, State Executive Committee and State Central Committee. Most significantly, the State Central Committee extensively debated and voted down a commission line item in the 2007 budget. The decision was made to remove the commission and instead pay a simple salary to the finance team. All members of the RPM team are expected to perform at a high level, regardless of additional compensation. Market compensation ranges for finance directors nationwide were far below the pay structure previously offered.
In early 2007, Party leadership determined that national fundraising experience and broad major donor background was critical for the Party to succeed in the 2008 cycle. Dwight’s experience did not fit the Party’s needs going forward. Furthermore, the Party was able to find an employee with the necessary skill sets, more experience, and a salary closer to the standard for finance directors across the country.
As far as Dwight’s commission, and the alleged delay in payments, Dwight agreed in writing to defer compensation in exchange for interest paid on the payments as the Party worked to resolve last-minute election expenses.
Further, Dwight followed his February memo with a subsequent memo expressing confidence that his concerns were taken seriously and were being addressed.
Alleged Hostile Treatment:
In any organization of this Party’s size, there are personality conflicts, and employees who do not get along. While not all employees were friends, all employees were expected to act in a professional manner. During the homestretch of the election, tempers were sometimes short, but the Chairman and other Party leaders were constantly working to maintain a positive work environment conducive to a successful outcome.
Dwight also claims that he was discouraged from airing his complaints, but as Dwight himself has written, much the opposite was true. Dwight asked for permission to share his concerns with Party counsel, and it was granted. Party counsel began evaluating his charges and provided a legal opinion guiding Party leadership to where action may be required.
Payments To The Employee IRA Funds:
Upon being notified of these concerns in the summer of 2006, Chairman Carey immediately required that all payments be made in a timely fashion. In fact, Dwight even complimented Chairman Carey’s swift action in addressing these concerns in the summer of 2006 ? 7 months prior to writing a memo to State Executive Committee members complaining of the issue.
FEC Compliance:
We file monthly reports with the Federal Elections Commission and during election years, we also file pre and post primary election and pre and post general election reports. During these filings, the FEC tightly monitors and audits our reports. While they regularly ask for minor clerical corrections, as with all political committee filings, we strive for full compliance and have no reason to believe our filings are improper. The FEC has not notified us of any outstanding issues. We are in constant contact with our FEC compliance officer, and there is a very open line of communication. Our Party staff is incredibly diligent in working together with the FEC staff to ensure full compliance.
Expense And Vendor Payments:
Our Party strives to maintain good relations with vendors and treat our employees in a respectful manner by paying them in a timely fashion. Since we are a 150-year-old organization, our vendors can be assured of payment, and we work with our vendors to develop payment plans for any large expense or during times of tight cash flow. Since Ron has become Chairman, no vendor has taken any legal recourse to force payment. Under Chairman Carey?s leadership, the Party has instituted a formal policy of paying staff expenses in a timely manner.
Allegations Of Tax Evasion And Worker’ Compensation Fraud:
In 2005, prior to Chairman Carey’s election, the Party underwent a regular Department of Revenue audit. In the course of the audit, the Party revised its procedures for paying sales and use taxes on purchases from out of state vendors, many of which did not wish to have responsibility for collecting these taxes. The Department of Revenue closed the matter without penalty prior to Chairman Carey’s election, and the Party has operated with a new policy of ensuring full tax compliance. This charge and its resolution were over two years old when the complaints were made to Party leadership.
In our Workers’ Compensation insurance program, the Party undergoes yearly audits to ensure full compliance with our policy and the law. After concerns were raised about whether the Party was underpaying these policies amounting to fraud, Chairman Carey requested the Workers’ Comp auditors perform their audit early. During this audit, it was discovered the Party was likely over-paying its Workers’ Compensation insurance.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 9:02 am and is filed under MNGOP Reform, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.