People v. Dewald

705 N.W.2d 167 (2005)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D operated two political action committees (PACs) during the 2000 election campaign and recount. D was the chief of staff of both Friends for a Democratic White House (Friends) and Swing States for a GOP White House (Swing States). D also incorporated PAC Services, with the purpose of providing services to the PACs D, had formed. D solicited contributions through mailings. A contention at trial was that D's mailing lists were stolen from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosure statements of the 2000 presidential campaigns of both Al Gore and George W. Bush. These statements list the contributors to each campaign and appear on the FEC website, along with a warning that the lists are for informational purposes only and may not be used for commercial or solicitation purposes. D knowingly and intentionally misrepresented that one PAC supported Bush and the other Gore. The PACs collected about $700,000 in contributions. Three victims testified at trial. All testified that the solicitation letters they received implied an affiliation with either the Bush campaign or the Gore campaign. They also testified that they donated to the PAC that solicited them because the letter led them to believe that their contributions would go to either the Bush campaign or the Gore campaign. They also testified that they would not have given money to the PAC if they had known that the money was not going to either the Bush campaign or the Gore campaign. D did give money to Democratic and Republican causes, but checks they attempted to give to the Republican National Committee and the Gore campaign were returned because those entities refused to accept the donations. D was convicted and appealed.