Last Wednesday, November 30th, was the evidentiary hearing for my campaign complaint complaint against Bob Cardinal and Highland Sanitation, alleging an illegal corporate campaign contribution. Today I received the court's decision in the mail. I've scanned the judges ruling and
uploaded it as a PDF.
The three-judge panel concluded that Highland did violate the law (211B.15 subd. 2) by making a prohibited corporate campaign contribution to Mr. Cardinal, and that Mr. Cardinal violated the law (211B.15 subd. 13 and 211B.13 subd. 2) by knowingly soliciting a prohibited corporate campaign contribution.
At the hearing I requested that the judges be lenient towards Highland, because it seemed clear to me that they had been unaware of the law and had stopped as soon as they were informed, by way of my campaign complaint, that what they were doing was illegal. In contrast, I suggested that Mr. Cardinal should be penalized more harshly, as an experienced candidate who had been given the rules and had an obligation to understand the election laws applying to his many campaigns for city office. I am pleased that the judges appear to have agreed, in imposing a nominal $100 penalty on Highland but five times as large a fine on Mr. Cardinal for his "negligent and ill-advised" actions.
Labels: Bob Cardinal, campaign 2011, council politics
