Sletten Complaints Dismissed
One of the candidates in this year's election has apparently decided to make baseless legal action a part of her campaign strategy. Last week, Elizabeth Sletten filed complaints with the Office of Administrative Hearings against Marv Koppen and me.
In Marv's case, she claimed that his 2010 election website was designed to mislead voters about endorsements THIS year that had not yet been made (despite the fact that the website obviously was aimed at the 2010 special election). In my case, she searched through the nearly six hundred entries I've written in this blog to find one from 2007 where I made reference to having the DFL endorsement. She then claimed that a four-year-old blog entry talking about getting out the vote for the September 2007 primary was intended to mislead voters into believing I was endorsed for my 2011 re-election campaign. (She filed the claim the day before last week's DFL endorsing convention.)
Not surprisingly, the administrative law judges who reviewed her claims dismissed them all. The judges' findings and orders aren't on the Office of Administrative Hearings web page yet, but I've scanned and uploaded the Dismissal Order from my case for anyone curious to read. The ALJ found that she failed to set forth a prima facie case.
After filing her complaint, I'm told that Sletten sent out a press release describing these legal actions as "The first of several False Claims of Support complaints," suggesting that she is on the prowl for additional bogus claims to pursue. We'll have to see how much taxpayer money she's determined to waste in making the Office of Administrative Hearings respond to these frivolous complaints, and whether she limits herself to incumbents or targets all her opponents.
In Marv's case, she claimed that his 2010 election website was designed to mislead voters about endorsements THIS year that had not yet been made (despite the fact that the website obviously was aimed at the 2010 special election). In my case, she searched through the nearly six hundred entries I've written in this blog to find one from 2007 where I made reference to having the DFL endorsement. She then claimed that a four-year-old blog entry talking about getting out the vote for the September 2007 primary was intended to mislead voters into believing I was endorsed for my 2011 re-election campaign. (She filed the claim the day before last week's DFL endorsing convention.)
Not surprisingly, the administrative law judges who reviewed her claims dismissed them all. The judges' findings and orders aren't on the Office of Administrative Hearings web page yet, but I've scanned and uploaded the Dismissal Order from my case for anyone curious to read. The ALJ found that she failed to set forth a prima facie case.
After filing her complaint, I'm told that Sletten sent out a press release describing these legal actions as "The first of several False Claims of Support complaints," suggesting that she is on the prowl for additional bogus claims to pursue. We'll have to see how much taxpayer money she's determined to waste in making the Office of Administrative Hearings respond to these frivolous complaints, and whether she limits herself to incumbents or targets all her opponents.
Labels: campaign 2011
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