Politics & Government

Maguire "Dumbfounded" By Ruling; Still No Word on Primary

The review commission released its findings regarding Mayor Mike Maguire's endorsement challenge on Friday.

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Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire didn't build a strong enough case in his challenge to the Senate District 51 DFL Endorsement Convention results, according to a DFL commission ruling released late last week.

Maguire failed to provide enough "clear and convincing" evidence that voting errors affecting the outcome of the March 24 convention, the Minnesota DFL State Constitution and Bylaws Commission ruled. Nor did Maguire take advantage of several opportunities during and after the convention to address his concerns, the commission ruled.

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Maguire, one of two Democratic candidates for Republican Ted Daley's Senate seat, which covers Eagan and part of Burnsville, campaigned against Eagan resident and former Senator Jim Carlson for the DFL's endorsement earlier this year.

of the endorsement convention on March 24. But to the endorsement on April 18 after the discovery of a series of convention voting errors in Carlson's favor.

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The DFL's constitution commission is responsible for reviewing and adjudicating challenges when they occur. The group announced last week that it had rejected Maguire's challenge and would uphold the DFL's endorsement of Carlson. But the details regarding that rejection weren't available until Friday, when the commission released its findings of fact.

Although the commission acknowledged that votings errors did occur at the convention, the group found no evidence that those errors shifted the "momentum" of the convention in Carlson's favor, like Maguire claimed in his challenge.

Maguire had multiple opportunities to address his concerns over the errors, the commission found, but did not take advantage of any of those potential remedies before filing his challenge. Those opportunities included:

  • Insisting on a review of the third round of ballots prior to the results announcement at the convention;
  • Enlisting a delegate to make a motion to recount the third round ballots after the results announcement;
  • Requesting to recount additional ballots when asked at a ballot review on April 9.

Maguire said on Monday he was disappointed with the commission's ruling and was "dumbfounded" that the group didn't offer any remedy for the voting errors at the convention.

"I think [the commission] essentially sidestepped the issue of the voting irregularities and virtually ignored them," Maguire said.

But Maguire hasn't yet made a decision whether to run in a primary against Carlson, although he said he's received plenty of encouragement to do so from his supporters. Filing for local elections begins on Tuesday, May 22, and runs through June 5.

"These aren't easy decisions," Maguire said earlier last week. "You put your family through a lot with these kinds of things."


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