What this blog needs is some Saint Paul content

So let's take a look at the charges recently flying back and forth from Republican endorsed Mayoral Candidate Eva Ng and the Chris Coleman campaign. Accusations have been pouring out of the Ng campaign and the Republican Party of Minnesota about Coleman's out-of-city experiences. Of course, having those charges highlighted the day Candidate Ng is holding a fundraiser in Inver Grove Heights might be considered poor timing in some circles.

But more to the point, let's take a look at what matters in these campaigns: Money. Donations. Funding the campaign war chest. More specifically, what part of it came from where.

I had a little down time this morning to take a look at the the Eva Ng campaign report (available here) to see if the candidate puts her money where her mouth is. In doing so, there does seem to be a little sleight-of-hand going on as to where her contributors actually reside. Particularly questionable is whether Stanley Hubbard actually lives at that address in Saint Paul, whether the White Bear Lake address of a Mr. Kohls qualifies as Saint Paul, and whether SCSU Scholar, all-around government hater and public payroll employee Janet Beihoffer actually resides in our fair city. Most precious, though is the listing of Sate Senator Mike Jungbauer (R-East Bethel) as a Saint Paul resident. Now I know some RPM wonk is going argue that City Code Chapter 7, Section 7.08 calls for "election conduct and procedure" to take place in accordance with state law, and Minnesota Rules Section 4501.0100 allows a person to list a business address, but I'd argue that "election procedures" aren't reporting procedures. But honestly, if you're a RPM flunky and have that level of expertise, don't you have better things to do?

But the purpose of this post is money, and I'm going to count the contributions of Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Kohls, Professor Beihoffer, and Senator Jungbauer as coming from outside the city because I'm not one to ignore the facts on such matters. From the pre-primary report, we learn that only 25% of Candidate Ng's contributions (beyond her own lending and contributions) came from within the City of Saint Paul. About 17% came from people living outside of the city, 5% came from political party units, and a whopping 53% came from the candidate herself. Interesting fact: the average amount of the out-of-city donation was just about twice the average amount of an in-city donation.

So next time Eva Ng or one of her attack dogs scream about Chris Coleman's friends outside of the City, take it with a grain of salt.

Please note that the report I was working from did NOT include the haul from that Inver Grove Heights fundraiser.

(Thanks to SJS for starting me along in this project)

Update: I guess the RPM has forgotten about all those Norm Coleman billboards located in Duluth and Brainerd back in 1997 when Norm was running for reelection as Saint Paul's mayor a few short months before he began his bid for governor. Seems to me the mayoral campaign paid for those.