The Man Without A Party
By Mitch Berg
Saint Paul representative and attorney general candidate John Lesch has been given a $25,000 fine for irregularities in handling his campaign finances. One little smidgen of emphasis is added:
After working with Lesch, his treasurers — one of whom is the representative’s wife — and investigating the situation for more than three years, the campaign finance board fined the lawmaker $25,000 for the violations.
Incumbent Legislator John Lesch, DFL, has been 66B’s rep. at the capitol for ten years. Lesch is challenged this election season by Republican candidate Ben Blomgren.
The board found that Lesch generally transferred money from his campaign account to his personal account at times when there otherwise would have been “insufficient funds” without the campaign cash.“Rep. Lesch’s immediate need for resources in per personal accounts at or close to the time of the unexplained transfers further supports the Board’s conclusion hat the transfers were for personal use,” the campaign finance board’s report says.
The emphasized “DFL” reference? It wasn’t in the original story.
Imagine that.
August 2nd, 2017 at 7:24 am
Fun fact: at the time the money problems occurred, Attorney Lesch was employed as a Prosecutor in the County Attorney’s office. He left to open a private law firm last fall about the time he announced a run for Attorney General. Only now, he defends criminals.
I guess you could say he has a lot of relevant experience?
August 2nd, 2017 at 8:57 am
Corruption and DFL. the link is implied, so I bet editors were just saving on ink and bandwidth.
August 2nd, 2017 at 9:01 am
So, Lesch is a reprobate weasel AND a thief.
Run for Governor in the offing?
August 2nd, 2017 at 9:33 am
Isn’t he the yutz who likes to argue on social media, too? He’s a beauty.
August 3rd, 2017 at 10:00 am
You Republican harridans don’t understand. The money wasn’t marked “property of the re-election committee.” How could he possibly have known?