Huckleberries Online

Sen. Jorgenson Admits ‘Boo-Boo’

Posted by DFO

Nov. 3, 2009 2:39 p.m. • 12 comments

Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, says he didn’t mean to violate campaign finance laws when he placed an ad for Coeur d’Alene City Council challenger Jim Brannon, and he’s working with Coeur d’Alene City Clerk Susan Weathers to clear the matter up. “I was just on the phone with Susan,” Jorgenson told Eye on Boise in a conversation at a Boise coffee shop. The North Idaho senator is in town working on business related to the Idaho Indian Affairs Council, which he chairs. Jorgenson spent $1,090.80 to run a flier in the Coeur d’Alene Press touting Brannon and including a list of Brannon’s supporters. But the limit for campaign contributions is $1,000, and he filed no independent expenditure report and no 48-hour report of a last-minute campaign expenditure over $1,000, as required/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: Can Kathy Sims and Tom Macy learn a lesson from the way the state Sen. Mike Jorgenson handled his campaign finance snafu?

12 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Sisyphus on November 03 at 3:07 p.m.
Its up. It reeks of partisanship.

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/2009/nov/03/jorgenson-i-made-boo-boo/
OrangeTV on November 03 at 3:12 p.m.
Hm. I appreciate his owning of the situation and his directness and honesty. The other Brannon supporters could certainly learn a lesson in humility and grace from Senator Jorgenson.
nic on November 03 at 3:16 p.m.
That would be assuming Kathy Sims and Tom Macy learned anything from their own snafu.
Don_Sausser on November 03 at 3:16 p.m.
Now Sis, how could you possibly recognize partisanship ? :-}
nic on November 03 at 3:21 p.m.
Don, here’s how.

“I was asked, ‘Why aren’t you coming out and supporting a good Republican?”
“Really my issue isn’t with him being a Democrat”
“high-ranking official in the North Idaho Republican Party was advocating that Republicans back Brannon over Kennedy.”
nic on November 03 at 3:24 p.m.
I appriciate Jorgenson’s admition of error, but the “I didn’t know the law” excuse is getting old.

“The fact that I’m not cognizant of the city local laws I don’t think is commentary on my knowledge about the state level,”

puhlease. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t the campaign finince laws the same state wide. Even if they do vary from city to city, HE LIVES HERE. I could understand that excuse if he was supporting a candidate from Spokane or Ontario… but here?
scootermom on November 03 at 3:25 p.m.
Why do lawmakers not know the law?

If ignorance of the law is no excuse, what’s Jorgensen’s excuse?
Soaf on November 03 at 3:28 p.m.
So in other words he was “Double Dog Dared” to do it?

Pretty pathetic reason imo.

But I will give him props for owning up to it.
Me on November 03 at 3:33 p.m.
Funny stuff here today about if people should follow the law - interesting.
Sisyphus on November 03 at 3:39 p.m.
LOL Don. Are you the high ranking north Idaho Republican?

Mike pleading ignorance is merely an excuse for his forgiving constituents. The wonks know better.
bpoole on November 03 at 4:09 p.m.
Figures he would say it was an accident, no one knows the laws, yet they run for elected positions without the knowledge of such laws, these laws are essential in running for office.
Phaedrus on November 03 at 5:05 p.m.
So if I made a boo-boo,

It makes it sooooo much less serious when you call it a boo-boo instead of a misdemeanor,.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.