Alice Pickering
Wyoming Area Reporter

There is no decision yet in an election legal dispute between Wyoming City Council member Gary Menne and former Council member Ted Phillips.

Menne filed a suit against Phillips about comments on campaign flyers distributed before the last general election. The complaint was filed with the state Office of Administrative Hearings on Nov. 20, 2006.

At a hearing on Jan. 26, testimony of four witnesses was heard, but officials in the Office of Administrative Hearings have yet to make a decision. It may take up to 90 days to reach the decision.

Minnesota statutes say that "a person may not directly or indirectly use or threaten force, coercion, violence, restraint, damage, harm, loss, including loss of employment or economic reprisal, undue influence of temporal or spiritual injury against an individual to compel the individual to vote for or against a candidate or ballot question."

Based on the state laws, Menne accused Phillips of false claim of support, improper disclaimer, false campaign material and undue influence on voters.

Administrative Law Judge Eric L. Lipman dismissed all the claims except "undue influence on voters." The decision was made on Nov. 27, 2006 and the January hearing was put in place.

Phillips filed for summary disposition on Jan. 18, 2007, arguing that the "undue influence claim" fails because Menne cannot "prove" that he (Phillips) made threats with malice.

The Phillips claim is that there are no facts to support his charge.

The Phillips petition for summary disposition was denied by the OAH. According to the denial of summary judgment, "The only surviving claim in this matter is whether the flyers distributed by Mr. Phillips included a threat of harm, reprisal, or undue influence made to compel voters to vote for him or against Mr. Menne."

Threatening speech in political campaigns, even in those cases in which the menacing speaker privately doubts that he later will carry through on his threats, can result in punishment.

The OAH concluded that there are genuine issues of material fact as to the meaning and effect of the statement "if you don't remove the sign -- that will not go unnoticed in the future," which had to be investigated at the hearing.

For those reasons Phillips' request for a quick hearing was denied.

Phillips provided the information about the latest hearing.

Attempts to contact Menne for comment this week were unsuccessful.

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