A local county commissioner candidate is asking voters to consider how they want their elections to be run.
Sean McMahon is running in the Le Sueur County Commissioner District 5 race, and is raising the alarm on recent billboards that have popped up in the area surrounding that race.
“There’s three of them, that I understand. There are two on Highway 99 and the other is in Cleveland,” McMahon said. “(They) promote election of three particular individuals in three separate county commissioner races that are up for primary on Aug. 11.”
The billboards are from a political organization known as We Are The Taxpayer. According to their website, they describe themselves as, “a simple effort to reach out, connect with, and inform people on issues that involve the many ways we are being taxed (pilfered).”
On them, they encourage voters to “Elect NEW Commissioners,” while seemingly endorsing the campaigns of Joe Schloesser (District 2), Travis Bowman (District 4) and Kenneth Warning (District 5).
However, McMahon argues the PAC is something a little shadier than a simple organization.
“It became clear that one particular individual created an assumed name for We Are The Taxpayer and then registered that assumed name as an independent expenditure political committee,” McMahon said.
That person is Marie Meyer. According to data publicly available, Meyer is listed as both the chair and treasurer of We Are The Taxpayer, who have no other volunteers, staff or employees listed. Meyer is also the sole contributor of the $24,100 that has been contributed to the fund, which has used that money to pay out $15,440 for the billboards.
The Free Press reached out to Meyer for comment, and did not hear back.
Campaign finance law is clear. According the state statute 211A, “A candidate or committee may not accept aggregate contributions made or delivered by an individual or an association, a political committee, political fund, or political party unit in excess of $600 in an election year for the office sought.”
However, it’s less clear when it comes to whether or not these billboards qualify as “contributions.” Committees of Schloesser, Bowman and Warning are all listed as an “affected committee” on We Are The Taxpayers’ expenditure reports; the actual vendors are the businesses used to rent the billboards.
The Free Press reached out to the Le Sueur County Elections Office and the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board for clarification on this matter, with neither willing to provide an answer. According to state law, a contribution is defined as, “anything of monetary value that is given or loaned to a candidate or committee for a political purpose,” and does not include, “a service provided without compensation by an individual.”
Whatever the ruling may be, McMahon says that the move doesn’t sit right with him.
“County commissioner races should be decided by the people of Le Sueur County, and should be done so with transparency in how those campaigns are financed,” he said.
The Free Press reached out to all the candidates the billboards seem to be supporting, with only Bowman responding via an email statement, which he asked to be given in its entirety:
“We The People (sic) is a separate entity that thinks my values align with there (sic) values. I am humbled that they think Travis Bowman, District 4, Joe Schloesser, District 2 (and) Kenneth Warning, District 5, will make a great transparent candidates (sic). I encourage anyone that believes that we would make a good candidates (sic) to put up there (sic) own billboard as long as they follow all the rules of the campaign law.”
McMahon did confirm he has filed an official complaint with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board. He says his concerns is not only about how this will impact the commissioners race in Le Sueur County, but how it may impact future races to come.
“What this does is it provides a roadmap to others,” McMahon said. “We’re talking a lot about data centers in our region and what is to stop a property developer, in four years, from coming in and running an independent expenditure campaign to influence the outcome of that election. It’s entirely possible the roadmap has been laid.”