Last week, the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board released its findings on a complaint filed against the National Organization for Marriage and Minnesota for Marriage. At issue was a $15,000 donation that was reported by Minnesota for Marriage but not reported by NOM. The campaign finance board said that both groups fixed the issue and no fines were levied.

According to the board’s decision (PDF): “This complaint alleges that Minnesota for Marriage (MFM) reported receiving a contribution from the NOM Fund on its 56-day pre-primary report of receipts and expenditures while the NOM Fund did not report giving a contribution to MFM on its report. The complaint asserts that the NOM Fund’s omission was intentional and that the NOM Fund therefore should be penalized for filing a false report with the Board.

…

In the present case, MFM incorrectly reported that the NOM Fund was the source of the $15,000 contribution when NOM actually had made this contribution. There is no evidence showing that this mistake was intentional. Consequently, the record here supports a finding that MFM inadvertently violated the campaign finance reporting requirements by misidentifying the source of a contribution.

…

Here, NOM created a webpage that solicited donations for MFM and sent email solicitations seeking donations for MFM. MFM, however, failed to report these in-kind contributions on its 56-day pre-primary report. Again, there is no evidence showing that this omission was intentional. Consequently, the record here supports a finding that MFM inadvertently filed an incomplete report of the committee’s financial activities.

The record also shows, however, that after being notified of the omission by the Board, MFM promptly amended its report to include the in-kind contributions provided through the date of the – 3 – most recent report. MFM properly used the actual cost of the webpage and email solicitations to value these contributions because, in this case, that cost is reflective of the fair market value of the donations. MFM also included the underlying disclosure submitted by NOM with its amendment. Consequently, MFM has remedied this reporting violation.

…

1. There is probable cause to find that Minnesota for Marriage inadvertently misidentified the source of a $15,000 contribution on its 56-day pre-primary report.
2. There is probable cause to find that Minnesota for Marriage inadvertently omitted $6,944.78 of in-kind contributions from the National Organization for Marriage on its 56-day pre-primary report.
3. Minnesota for Marriage has remedied both reporting violations by submitting amended reports identifying the National Organization for Marriage as the true source of the $15,000 contribution and as the source of the $6,944.78 of in-kind contributions. The required underlying disclosure was submitted with the amended report.