ST. PAUL (AP) - For at least the last decade, Sen. Dick Day's wife has lined up town hall meetings, kept up on news clippings from his district and sent out congratulatory cards to constituents celebrating notable anniversaries and birthdays.
For her work, Janet Day has drawn a total of $58,800 in payment from Day's campaign funds. On Thursday, the Minnesota DFL Party raised objections to the practice and said the Senate Republican leader should reimburse donors and a state subsidy program.
"We are concerned about Dick Day funneling money back into his own household," said DFL Party spokesman David Ruth.
Day, of Owatonna, replied that Janet's checks were well-earned and within the law. They ranged from $400 to $600 a month over the years.
"It probably would amount to about four dollars an hour," he said, adding, "If I thought something was illegal I wouldn't put it in a campaign report for 10 years running."
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State campaign finance law allows funds to be used for wages and fees. It doesn't define who can get a check, but makes clear the money "may not be converted to personal use."
In a well-timed advisory opinion unrelated to the Day matter, the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board reiterated Thursday that a campaign committee can't give compensation to a candidate running for office.
Day is hardly alone in employing a relative who is paid through campaign funds.
Ryan Kelly managed father Randy Kelly's mayoral campaigns in St. Paul. And Attorney General Mike Hatch, a DFLer, hired his nephew, Joe Hatch, as a campaign "contractor," paying him more than $67,700 between 1999 and 2003. In his gubernatorial campaign this year, Hatch's niece Kari Erickson is on the payroll.
Ruth declined to comment on the Hatch or Kelly examples.
To Erickson, it's a non-issue. "No one has ever brought it up to me before," she said.
