Public Release Date: September 10, 1997 | No. 97-51 |
The Ethical Practices Board was established in 1974, as part of the Ethics in Government Act, under Minnesota Statute Chapter 10A. Effective July 1, 1997, the Ethical Practices Board was renamed the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. The Governor appoints the bipartisan six-member board to staggered four-year terms, with the advice and three-fifths consent of the Senate and House of Representatives. The board appointed the executive director, Jeanne Olson, who assumed the executive director position on July 1, 1995.
The Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board is the service and regulatory agency that develops and implements the administration and enforcement of state laws for disclosure of public and local officials' financial interest and potential conflicts of interest. It provides oversight and enforcement of state laws for the disclosure of lobbying disbursements to influence state legislative, administrative, and official actions of governmental units. In addition, a major function of the board is to administer the distribution of public subsidy to qualified state candidates and the state committee of a political party. The board receives support for its operational activities in the form of state appropriations.
Our audit scope included public subsidy grants to qualified state candidates and the state committees of political parties and payroll and per diem expenditures for the period from July 1, 1995, to June 30, 1997.
We concluded that the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board designed and implemented internal controls that provided reasonable assurance that public subsidy grants were properly allocated and disbursed to eligible candidates and state committees of political parties, and that expenditures were accurately reported in the state's accounting system. In addition, for the items tested, the board complied with material finance-related legal provisions for public subsidy grants.
We concluded that the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board designed and implemented internal controls that provided reasonable assurance that payroll and per diems were properly authorized and supported and were accurately reported in the state's accounting system In addition, for the items tested, the board complied with material finance-related legal provisions and applicable bargaining unit agreements.