St. Cloud Councilman Fined for Campaign Violation After Parking Near Polling Place

(KNSI) – A St. Cloud City Councilman is in hot water after accidentally breaking a campaign law.

On Saturday, November 2nd, Scott Brodeen was out campaigning in the final stretch of the election cycle and had parked his truck, bearing his campaign signs, at Lake George while he went door-knocking with his wife. Early voting took place that day at the Lake George Complex, which Brodeen says he was unaware of.

By parking there, he violated the Fair Campaign Practices Act, which prohibits campaigning within 100 feet of a voting location. Around 1:30 that afternoon, City Clerk Seth Kaufman contacted Brodeen by phone, telling him his truck couldn’t be there and needed to be moved immediately. Brodeen didn’t hear the call, and his truck remained parked in the lot well past the 3:00 p.m. voting deadline. According to documents filed by the Office of Administrative Hearing, several voters complained about the truck and at one point, staff came out and tried to cover the signs with construction paper.

Brodeen met with the Stearns County Attorney’s Office in April and admitted to the mistake. The incident was referred to a three-judge panel from the OAH to determine a proper penalty. He was fined $600.

In a statement to KNSI News, Brodeen said, “I screwed up, plain and simple. I should have slowed down a little bit and then could have known there was voting that day and clearly wouldn’t have parked there, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I believe that people appreciate when someone owns up to mistakes, accepts responsibility and the consequences that go with it. I was new to campaigning and there is much I know now that I didn’t even consider before. I am sorry for any negative impact this could have caused for early voters that afternoon. This was not a decision made with malicious intent to try to gain an edge for a few hours on the last weekend day of early voting. It was a mistake, but one that I should have been able to avoid. I have learned, and something like this won’t happen again.”

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