Campaign practices violation complaint filed

Updated: The administrative law judge has found the Maplewood Voters Coalition complaint has made a prima facie case and ordered a probable cause hearing for Tuesday 9/11 at 1:00 PM. From the order:

The phrase “Maplewood Fire” on both the lawn signs and the candidate profile is ambiguous. The issue is whether, by claiming that “Maplewood Fire” endorses Ms. Cave, the Respondents knowingly falsely implied that Ms. Cave has the endorsement of the Maplewood Fire Department.

The Administrative Law Judge concludes that the complaint does allege sufficient facts to support finding prima facie violations of Minn. Stat. § 211B.02 as against both Respondents. If the evidence at a hearing were to establish that the Respondents knowingly made the claim that “Maplewood Fire” endorses Ms. Cave in order to imply that the Maplewood Fire Department endorses her candidacy, and the Fire Department did not do so, that would be a violation of Minn. Stat. § 211B.02. This matter will proceed to a probable cause hearing where the Administrative Law Judge will determine whether the facts available establish a reasonable belief that the Respondents have committed a violation requiring them to go to hearing on the merits.

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Last night when I got home, there was a call from a man in the neighborhood. He had just gotten a letter from David Bartol with a lot of derogatory comments about Will Rossbach and John Nephew. This neighbor walked over to my house and we chatted for almost two hours. One of his concerns was that all the firefighters and police had endorsed Rebecca Cave. He was very upset that Rebecca would mislead the residents by having her husband's organization endorse her and give the appearance that it is our Maplewood Fire Department that have endorsed her.

Because of many conversations like that, the Maplewood Voters Coalition has filed a formal complaint with the State of Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings regarding the signs posted by the "Maplewood Firefighters Association, Inc." which claim Rebecca Cave is endorsed by "Maplewood Police and Fire".

We do our work in support of open and honest government by supporting good candidates, and by saying "no" to practices like this. This is our first formal complaint. It probably isn't the last.

Bob Schmidt, Chair