[Mpls] According to Marie Hauser, Tom Nordyke did not give his permission for her to use his photo on her lit piece

[David Weinlick]

Elizabeth Wielinski wrote:

>  I do not know if this applies in Hennepin  County, but when a group 
> wanted to send out a flyer in a mailing that was being paid for by my 
> senate district last year we were told it would be legal if they paid 
> for whichever portion of the piece  ( i.e. 1/3 if they had one page 
> and we had two etc... ).  I know that the City DFL when sending out a 
> sample ballot has each campaign come up with their portion of the 
> total cost.  I'm not bringing this up to hurt any candidate as I am a 
> supporter of Tom Nordyke's, but if Tom and Mary Merrill Anderson are 
> named on this piece are they expected to each pick up a portion of the 
> cost?  And if yes, by law, should Ms. Hauser have let them know????

It certainly wouldn't make sense to require the non-cooperating campaign
to pay.  If it were, a well-endowed candidate could simply bankrupt his
or her opponent by sending out an expensive (and bad) literature piece
"on behalf of" the opponent.  However, campaign finance law is pretty
complex, and I know that there are many different rules and exceptions
about how different pieces are categorized, etc.

The DFL sample ballot has very specific restrictions that relate to its
particular use, as do other parties' sample ballots.  It's important to
keep in mind that parties also have very different rules to follow than
do candidates.  By their very nature, parties coordinate with different
campaigns, and must follow certain rules for doing so.  When candidates
coordinate outside the bounds of a party, they have to clearly outline
who paid for what, how the costs were divided, etc.

Note that none of these points actually manage to apply the Hauser piece
(and I'm not sure what would), because it was not a coordinated effort
of any kind--it was not connected to the DFL party whatsoever, nor
apparently was it connected to the candidates mentioned on the piece
(which seems rather strange).  I haven't heard yet if Dan Froehlich knew
about the piece, or gave permission to use his name.

I want to clarify that Mary Merrill Anderson and Tom Nordyke have
received the endorsement of the Minneapolis DFL, whereas Marie Hauser
and Dan Froehlich have not.  Hauser and Froehlich have identified as
DFLers, but they are not "DFL candidates" in the sense of being part of
the endorsed slate.  In fact, of the candidates who survived the
primary, only Annie Young does not identify as a DFLer.  Being a member
of the DFL and receiving the endorsement of the party to run for office
are two very different things.  You can see the entire list of DFL
endorsed candidates here: http://scc.net/~t-bonham/MPLS2005END.HTM

David Weinlick
Armatage