Politics & Government

DFL Files Ethics Complaint Against Lakeville Sen. Dave Thompson

Complaint questions whether Thompson's $70,000 salary for consulting work for the Republican Party while he was a candidate for the state Senate was ethical.

Minnesota's DFL party has filed an ethics complaint against State Sen. Dave Thompson (R-District 36) of Lakeville, who also represents the Dakota County portion of Northfield, claiming he may have been paid by the Republican Party of Minnesota to run for office.

According to a story in the Star Tribune, the crux of the complaint rests on a report made by Minnesota Public Radio last week that says Thompson, a lawyer and former radio talk show host, was paid $70,000 by the Republican Party since 2010 for "communications consulting." Meanwhile, Thompson was running for, and later elected to the State Senate.

"It raises questions as to whether the folks are being paid to run for office,'' DFL state chairman Ken Martin said when he announced the complaint.

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Martin said Thompson should have disclosed the income, which is required by law.

"I don't think political parties should be putting candidates for office on their payroll," Martin told MPR. "I don't know what the illegalities of that are but clearly I think there are some ethical questions that need to be answered there."

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Thompson responded to the complaint in a press release, saying the fees paid by the party were reported by the Republican Party of Minnesota, but that he didn't disclose the payments because "contractor income is not to be disclosed by candidates."

"Of course the fees paid to me were fully disclosed by the Party as required by law, and therefore were public knowledge," Thompson's statement said.

He added that declaration form "specifically states, ‘do not include payments for services as an independent contractor, social security payments, unemployment compensation, workers’ compensation, pension benefits, income from rental property, or insurance benefits.'"

Meanwhile, Martin said Thompson should clarify what work he did for the Republican Party, to make it clear the party was not paying him to be a candidate.

Patch will have more on this story as developments warrant.


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