Feds slap Minnesota GOP with fines for multiple campaign finance violations

The bipartisan Federal Election Commission has fined the Republican Party of Minnesota $53,000 for a variety of federal campaign finance violations, according to documents released Thursday night.

The violations include various financial disclosure errors and record keeping snafus during the 2018 election cycle, records indicate.

A federal audit of the Republican Party of Minnesota in part prompted the civil fine, which the Republican Party of Minnesota formally agreed to pay last month.

Republican Party of Minnesota attorneys Michael Toner and Brandis Zehr said that the party committee "has taken a number of proactive steps" to "address the findings of the audit, which are all minor reporting issues," according to a letter they sent the FEC last year.

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FEC commissioners voted 4-2 to penalize the Republican Party of Minnesota, with Republican Commissioner Allen Dickerson joining the commission's three Democrats — Chairwoman Dara Lindenbaum and commissioners Shana Broussard and Ellen Weintraub — in voting to issue a fine and other remedial measures. Republican commissioners Trey Trainor and Sean Cooksey dissented.

This is also not the first time the FEC has penalized the Republican Party of Minnesota: the party paid unrelated fines in 2011 and 2015, according to federal records.