County election officials: We were stiffed by GOP
The state Republican Party says checks are on the way for recount costs. The Dayton campaign paid promptly.
"I'm annoyed about this," said Blue Earth County election director Patty O'Connor, who said she is owed $800 for the recount work. "I couldn't imagine I would get stiffed."
The Republican Party, which ran Emmer's recount fight, says it plans to pay all its bills. "Some have been paid, some haven't, but everyone's going to be paid," said party spokesman Mark Drake.
Although the state GOP has recently had financial troubles, including being heavily outspent by the DFL in the governor's race, Drake said that "is not related at all," later adding in an e-mail, "We are cutting checks."
Counties reporting non-payment by the Emmer campaign include Cass, Nicollet, Kandiyohi, Renville, LeSueur, Nobles, Stevens, Jackson and Redwood. Amounts owed range from $700 to more that $2,800, according to the Association of Minnesota Counties. There are no instances of the Dayton campaign not having paid.
In Nicollet County, auditor Bridgette Kennedy said staff members spent more than 100 hours gathering data after Emmer's campaign put in near daily requests. Among the data requested were all voter registration applications, rosters and information about absentee ballots.
Estimating the total cost at $3,000, Kennedy asked both campaigns for downpayments of $1,000 a piece.
"The Dayton people paid within a couple days, but we never heard anything from the Emmer campaign," she said. "They finally sent a letter after the recount saying to send an invoice to the party."
Kennedy said the experience "was taxing the staff here to the max," and called it a "waste of taxpayer money."
No problems have occurred in the state's largest counties -- Hennepin, Ramsey and St. Louis -- because officials there required payment before they would hand over election data.
"We already got one check from the GOP and we're fully expecting they're going to pay the rest," said Joe Mansky, Ramsey County's elections director. The campaigns of Emmer and Gov.-elect Mark Dayton each incurred about $1,700 in recount-related costs in the county.
After conferring with the Blue Earth County attorney's office, O'Connor said that last week she sent a letter demanding payment and threatening a lawsuit.
"I heard nothing until I sent that," she said. "We did the work they asked us to. They were banging on us -- urgent, urgent, urgent. Then it was ignore, ignore, ignore."
O'Conner said the next time she faces a recount, "if I don't have the money first, nothing starts in this office."
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