By Karl Bremer © Copyright 2010
A suspicious $500 campaign contribution to former Republican Minnesota House Minority Leader Marty Seifert’s gubernatorial campaign last year is being investigated by the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board (CFB). The donation is linked to the U.S. Navy Veterans Association (USNVA), an organization that raised over $1.56 million in Minnesota over six years before mysteriously dissolving in May. The group is now under investigation for fraud by the IRS, Veterans Administration and several state authorities.
The CFB Board agreed to initiate an investigation after a complaint drawing attention to the possibly fraudulent contribution was filed by this writer with CFB Executive Director Gary Goldsmith.
As exclusively reported at Dump Bachmann, Seifert received a $500 donation from Bobby Thompson —the highest allowed by law in a non-election year. The contribution was made to his Seifert for Governor Committee on July 10, 2009. Thompson listed the USNVA as his employer and his address was the same UPS drop box used by the Minnesota Chapter of the USNVA: 1043 Grand Ave. #555, St. Paul, MN 55105.
On the same date, the Seifert campaign received another $500 donation from 1043 Grand Ave. #555 in St. Paul, this one from “Maria D’Annuzio,” who also listed the USNVA as her employer.
In an exhaustive examination of the USNVA Minnesota Chapter’s records filed with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, the name Maria D’Annuzio, or anything remotely similar, has never been found associated with the group as an employee, volunteer, officer or any other capacity. Nor has it ever surfaced in the year-long investigation of the organization by the St. Petersburg Times, according to one source close to the investigation. A Google search of the name comes up empty, and nothing remotely related comes up in various name spelling variations.
Seifert Campaign Treasurer Diane Johnson of Cambridge promised to look into the matter, as well as a request for cancelled checks or other proof of payment for the donations, as soon as possible when notified about the possible fraudulent donation in July. However, Johnson did not respond to subsequent inquiries regarding the matter.
The USNVA ran largely under the radar in Minnesota until a Dump Bachmann investigation discovered that Thompson, the group’s founder and national commander, had donated $10,000 to Rep. Michele Bachmann at an April 7 Minneapolis fundraiser featuring former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin.
Thompson disappeared soon after the St. Petersburg Times began its lengthy investigation into him and his organization. He’s been missing ever since and is wanted in several states for questioning about the USNVA’s activities and finances. The Bachmann fundraiser is the last known location Thompson has been reported to have been at.
Bobby Thompson has contributed heavily to other Minnesota Republicans and GOP party units. Besides his $10,000 donation to Bachmann and the $500 Seifert donation attributed to him on campaign finance reports, Thompson has donated:
$21,500 to Republican Norm Coleman’s Senate re-election campaign from 2006-2008
$7,000 to the Minnesota House Republican Campaign Committee in 2008-2009
$10,400 to the Republican Party of Minnesota from 2008-2010
$500 to Republican David J. Carlson’s Citizens for David Carlson committee in House District 67B in 2008.
Bowing to pressure from DumpBachmann, Bachmann and the state GOP announced last week that they were giving away the $10,000 April 7 donation from Thompson—just two days before federal agents swooped down on the home of Thompson’s suspected former associates in Florida and seized computer records and files.
It’s not known whether federal or state authorities have contacted the Bachmann campaign, the Republican Party of Minnesota or Norm Coleman about the tens of thousands of dollars they received from Bobby Thompson and the U.S. Navy Veterans Association. The Bachmann campaign, Norm Coleman’s office and the Minnesota GOP did not respond to inquiries about the matter.
The Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board will make a public finding within 30 days of the complaint’s filing as to whether there is probable cause to believe a violation has occurred with regard to the $500 contribution from “Maria D’Annuzio” to Marty Seifert’s campaign.
Minnesota statutes state that “An individual or association that attempts to circumvent this chapter by redirecting a contribution through, or making a contribution on behalf of, another individual or association is guilty of a gross misdemeanor and subject to a civil penalty imposed by the board of up to $3,000.”
Karl Bremer is a freelance writer in Stillwater, MN. He can be reached at saintcroix [at] aol.com.
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