Finance report offers more details about funding behind pro-business group involved in 2017 Minneapolis election

Posted February 14, 2018

“There was no money from the Koch brothers, no funding from Hubbard Broadcasting or Walmart. But a long-anticipated (yet still-late) report by the pro-business political committee Minnesota Jobs Coalition revealed that its role in the 2017 Minneapolis City Council election was substantial, and that it was financed by prominent business interests, including the Pohlad brothers, Ryan Companies, Sherman Associates, Swervo Management, the downtown building owners and managers and the Minnesota Multi-Housing Association.

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While the two different sets of reporting rules allowed some donors to escape pre-election scrutiny, it also allows opponents to fill the information void with speculation. In the run-up to November, TakeAction Minnesota, a progressive activist group, alleged that national corporations and conservative interests were trying to “buy” the Minneapolis City Council.”… Continue reading »

Pro-business Minnesota Jobs Coalition dumped $140,000 into Minneapolis campaign before city election

Posted February 2, 2018

The pro-business political committee Minnesota Jobs Coalition dumped $140,000 into a Minneapolis fund set up to elect a more business-friendly City Council, but it did so too late to be included in pre-election campaign finance reports.

The specter of the Minnesota Jobs Coalition — a statewide conservative pro-business PAC  — influencing city elections had been raised by activists in the months and weeks leading up to Election Day. But because the funding didn’t show up in pre-election campaign finance reports, the level of its involvement was left open to speculation.

Before the election, the founders of Minneapolis Works had invited donors to give either to the new committee or to Minnesota Jobs Coalition, yet no money from the Jobs Coalition showed up in campaign finance disclosures as of late October. It wasn’t until year-end reports were finally filed this week that the public was able to see that money from the Jobs Coalition did flow into Minneapolis Works, though only after the last reporting deadline of 2017 so as not to become a campaign issue.

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Local progressive organizations, led by TakeAction Minnesota, tried to raise concerns about outside business money coming into the Minneapolis election. Because the Jobs Coalition has in the past received money from national conservative funders the Koch Brothers, TakeAction alleged that they were trying to buy the City Council.… Continue reading »