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State Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, failed to explain nearly $7,000 in campaign expenditures in 2005, according to a campaign finance violation complaint filed Friday morning.
The document alleges the Preston Republican failed to explain $3,100 in out-of-district travel and $3,700 in postage expenses and asks the board to require Davids to either pay the amounts back to his campaign committee or submit itemized reports for each expense.
Lanesboro residents Peggy Hanson, Frank Wright, and Harlin Taylor said they filed the complaint with the state’s Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. Hanson, a Democrat, ran unsuccessfully against Davids in 2004, with Wright serving as campaign manager and Taylor as treasurer.
Davids called the complaint a “dirty campaign tactic” and said his finance records are clean.
“There are no problems that we’re aware of, and if there were, the finance board would have told us,” he said. “It’s unfortunate (the complainants) have to stoop to this level.”
The complaint doesn’t fault Davids outright but asks him to provide more detailed information on his spending.
“Complainants would not take this action if the violations were isolated, inadvertent, de minimis or technical in nature,” the complaint says. “… The lack of required detail in the Davids Committee reports make it impossible to determine whether funds are being either properly categorized or properly spent.”
In most cases in his 2005 report, Davids simply listed postage and travel expenses for trips outside his district as either “constituent services out-of-district mileage” or “constituent services postage.” The complaint asks him to provide detailed information for each item.
Because Davids classified the expenses in question as constituent services, they are considered non-campaign disbursements and do not count against the spending limit the state sets for candidates in election years.
The complaint argues that his practices have created an unfair advantage for the incumbent, who is seeking an eighth term this year. Davids is running against DFL challenger Ken Tschumper, a fourth-generation dairy farmer from La Crescent.
The campaign finance board does not comment on or confirm the existence of complaints unless substantiated, and is required to treat each complaint with equal gravity. The office will contact Davids for a response, investigate the complaint, and hold a final hearing.
Read Saturday’s print edition of the Winona Daily News for more on this story.
Reporter Brian Voerding can be reached at (507) 453-3514 or at
brian.voerding@winonadailynews.com.
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