When Hacks Unite

Mike Hatch, Ron Eibensteiner and the American Bankers and Insurance case are back in the news:

The Minnesota Supreme Court revealed Thursday it won't hear an appeal from Republican Party chairman Ron Eibensteiner, who is fighting gross misdemeanor charges in a campaign contribution case stemming from the 2002 governor's election.

It appears that Eibensteiner's case is bound for trial unless he can reach an agreement before then. He was indicted in Mower County in October 2003 over his role in a Florida insurance company's illegal contribution intended to help Tim Pawlenty's campaign.

Mower County Judge Fred W. Wellmann dismissed the case last April, but it was reinstated in December by the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court's denial of the appeal was made Tuesday but not posted on the court's Web site until Thursday.

Eibensteiner has denied wrongdoing and questioned whether politics led to the charges. He wasn't immediately available for comment and his attorney didn't return a phone message.

To the best of my knowledge, I covered this case in greater depth than any single news outlet, back in the summer of '03. I've changed domains since then, and the files will take some reconstruction.

Suffice to say, you're not getting the whole story from the Twin Cities media, to say nothing of the leftyblogs.

I'll try to reconstruct all the HTML later today, and re-post all the files.

Posted by Mitch at March 21, 2005 06:57 AM | TrackBack