Mike Jugovich violated state fair campaign practices during his bid for the St. Louis County Board earlier this year, but his election victory in November will stand.
That’s the conclusion of a three-judge panel in the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings.
Jugovich, of Chisholm, won a close race over Melissa Scaia of Hibbing for the District 7 county seat that covers Chisholm, Hibbing and the southwestern corner of the county.
Jugovich was ordered by the administrative law judges to pay a civil penalty of $600 for the violation which a judge called “an ill-considered action” that likely had an impact on the election.
The judges stopped short, however, of saying the violation was enough to warrant any consideration of voiding the election result.
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Jugovich, who just resigned as Chisholm mayor to take the county position, will take his post on the County Board on Tuesday in Duluth at the board’s first meeting of the year.
The complaint was filed Nov. 3, just before the Nov. 8 election, by Scaia’s campaign after Jugovich had claimed in campaign literature that he was endorsed by Hibbing Mayor Rick Cannata.
In fact, Cannata said he had never given Jugovich written permission to use his name as required by state law.
Jugovich claimed it was a miscommunication and that the violation was unintentional.
Administrative Law Judge Laurasue Schlatter on Nov. 15 ruled that Jugovich had violated state law and referred the case to the three-judge panel to decide what the penalty should be.
In the panel’s seven-page order, filed Dec. 8, the judges explain that Jugovich did not dispute that he violated the statute by disseminating written campaign material that listed Cannata’s endorsement without first obtaining Cannata’s written permission to do so.
Jugovich argued that the effect of this violation was limited because the flyer was distributed for a short amount of time and he corrected the problem immediately after being notified.
But the judges characterize Jugovich’s reply to Scaia’s campaign as “misleading’’ and said he failed to take proper steps to correct the violation after being notified, and his actions against Scaia as “evasive and unresponsive.”
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They concluded that “Cannata’s endorsement on the flyers had some impact on voters,” adding that “a properly informed electorate requires that candidates actively correct inaccuracies in their campaign materials.”
“Respondent did not inform Ms. Scaia that he had thrown away the flyers, and he was unresponsive to Ms. Scaia’s later communications,” reads the memorandum. “Respondent did not make a public statement retracting the unauthorized endorsement.”
Judges noted that Jugovich, while door knocking, informed a citizen of the unauthorized endorsement and informed her of the retraction, but also asserted that Cannata personally endorsed him.
“While not a violation of (state statute), this action demonstrates respondent’s lack of good faith,” they wrote.
Judges also address the impact of the unauthorized endorsement, especially given that Hibbing is the largest city located within the district.
“Additionally, the fact that the other endorsements all came from mayors of cities in other commissioner districts or other counties magnifies the effect of listing the endorsement of the Hibbing mayor,” it reads.
The applicable state law states that “a person or candidate may not knowingly make, directly or indirectly, a false claim stating or implying that a candidate or ballot question has the support or endorsement of a major political party or party unit or of an organization. A person or candidate may not state in written campaign material that the candidate or ballot question has the support or endorsement of an individual without first getting written permission from the individual to do so.”
