Almanac: At the Capitol

The Legislative Auditor just released a report on Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and here's the summary:

• Secretary of State Mark Ritchie did not misuse state resources when he organized civic education events and collected contact information from the participants. The events were appropriate activities of the Secretary of State’s office, and the contact information fulfilled a public purpose.
• Secretary of State Mark Ritchie did not violate Minnesota law when he provided the contact information to his campaign since the information is "public data" under Minnesota law.
• Secretary of State Mark Ritchie did not fulfill his legal obligation to make a full and timely response to a request for information from the Legislative Auditor.

In response, Ritchie said that he agreed with the audit aside from the conclusion that he did not make a full and timely response to the auditor's request for information. In talking with Ritchie's PR person it sounds like the secretary of state will be giving interviews to the media later today after a long silence.

This from the DFL:

DFL PARTY HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE TO HAIL RITCHIE VINDICATION, DENOUNCE REPUBLICAN POLITICS OF DESTRUCTION AND DISTRACTION