Cliff Buchan
News EditorCriminal charges alleging election campaign violations against District 52B Rep. Rebecca Otto, DFL-May Township, and her husband, Shawn Lawrence Otto, have been thrown out.
Washington County 10th Judicial District Court Judge Stephen Muehlberg on Dec. 12 dismissed the charges against Rep. Otto and her husband. The charges were based on a complaint filed by House of Representatives Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon.
In an interview on Monday, Rep. Sviggum said the ruling did not surprise him.
The court in the Muehlberg ruling last Friday said that the mandatory prosecution section of the Fair Campaign Practices Act violates the constitutional separation of powers doctrine and is therefore void.
The court further ruled that the grand jury was not properly instructed on the First Amendment standards and may have indicted simply on the basis of a mistake having been made as opposed to acting with actual malice, said John Lundquist, attorney for Rep. Otto in a press release issued last week.
ìSignificantly, the court found that testimony by the Speaker may have misled the grand jury,î Lundquist said. ìFor these and other reasons, the court ordered the indictment dismissed.î
The election complaint was filed following Rep. Ottoís victory in a special election early in the year.
The appointment of incumbent Rep. Mark Holsten as a deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources forced the special election.
The election complaint revolved around campaign literature from Rep. Otto that questioned where her opponentís children attended school.
During the campaign, Shawn Otto served as campaign manager for his wife.
Rep. Otto was serving on the ISD 831 School Board in Forest Lake at the time of her special election victory. She was defeated by Holsten in the 2002 general election.
Rep. Otto was in Washington, D.C. attending an environmental legislative conference last week and was not available for comment.
In his statement, Lundquist said that because Rep. Otto is innocent and has total confidence in the system, she believed from the beginning she would be exonerated.
ìShe looks forward to devoting her energies to the upcoming legislative session,î Lundquist said.
Sviggum speaks
In an interview, Speaker of the House Sviggum said he was disappointed the matter did not proceed but wasnít surprised.
ìCounty attorneys donít like (to take) campaign practices violations,î he said. ìItís not a priority.î
Sviggum said he thought it was ironic that the complaint process was coming under attack when it involved ìlies or misinformationî by the Otto committee.
He said the accusation presented in Otto campaign literature that Ottoís opponent in the special election did not send his children to public schools was an ìoutright lieî and clearly a ìnegative attack.î
Sviggum said the complaint was filed in Washington County because he believes the public deserves to receive accurate, factual and fair information in the campaign pieces delivered to their doors and what they hear on radio and TV and what they read in the newspapers.
ìThe indictment (by the grand jury) speaks volumes,î Sviggum said.
The Speaker said he was incredulous that he was being made out as the ìbad guyî by the Otto camp.
ìIt was their negative piece and their lies that made the subject what it was,î he said.
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