CREW FILES FEC COMPLAINT AGAINST MINNESOTA REPUBLICAN PARTY

16 Jul 2007 // Washington, DC – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint today against the Republican Party of Minnesota and its former treasurer, Marina Taubenberger, alleging multiple egregious violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) and FEC regulations.

The complaint is based primarily upon a February 15, 2007 confidential memorandum from former Republican Party of Minnesota finance director Dwight Tostenson to the Party's Executive Committee. The complaint and the confidential memorandum allege that Ms. Taubenberger repeatedly violated FECA and FEC regulations by failing to disclose over $100,000 in debts and failing to report unreimbursed staff advances in order to prevent the public from knowing the true financial state of the Party prior to the 2006 general election. Ms. Taubenberger left her position with the Republican Party of Minnesota within a month after the Party received the confidential memorandum from Mr. Tostenson.

Because of the seriousness of the allegations, CREW has asked the FEC to conduct a full audit and field investigation of the Republican Party of Minnesota as part of its enforcement action.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said today, “CREW is filing this complaint in the hopes that the FEC will spearhead an investigation into the Minnesota Republican party’s questionable and possibly illegal activities. By hiding the state of the party’s finances, it seems that officials deliberately deceived Minnesota voters during the last election cycle.”

CREW’s FEC complaint and exhibits are available on CREW’s website.

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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions.

For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman Steiner at 202.408.5565/nseligman@citizensforethics.org.

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