Rybak Punished Over Campaign Funds

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak was ordered Friday to reimburse his mayoral campaign for $26,500 in expenses for what campaign finance regulators said were activities to further his 2010 bid for governor.

Rybak announced Thursday that he will be running for governor in 2010. Rybak filed the paper in the first step in the process of setting up the Rybak for Governor Campaign.

The Minnesota campaign finance board said a survey Rybak commissioned this spring appeared aimed more at a gubernatorial bid than his re-election campaign. The ruling said portions of the survey "have little relevance to running for office in Minneapolis, but would be of great interest to a candidate designing a strategy for governor."

The ruling was in response to a Republican Party complaint, which accused Rybak of running for both offices at the same time and misusing mayoral campaign funds. Rybak was reelected to his third term as Minneapolis mayor Tuesday.

Among the questions were whether respondents had voted in 2006 -- the last time the governor's office was on the ballot -- and whether they intend to vote in 2010. City elections are in odd years. Some of the people surveyed lived outside of Minneapolis, according to the complaint.

The board also said he must document certain travel costs retroactively when he files a state campaign report in January. The costs are related to debates and other events Rybak attended outside Minneapolis, many involving other candidates for governor.

No fines were issued in Friday's punishment.

In a companion ruling, the board found that St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman qualified as a candidate for governor under state law but found no evidence that he raised or spent campaign funds on a statewide race. Coleman announced in October he would not run for governor.