Cam Gordon
BY CAM GORDON
The role of special interest money in Minneapolis is growing. A new — mostly rental property owner-funded — independent expenditure political committee (IEPC) is here.
They call themselves We Love Minneapolis (WLM) and, according to their first campaign finance report, they raised $132,890 and spent $115,833 in the first 3 months of 2025. They spent $54,833 of it on behalf of specific city council candidates.
WLM now joins Minneapolis for the Many and All of Minneapolis as the third local IECP campaigning for or against specific candidates in the city elections.
So far this year, of the three groups, WLM has raised and spent the most money, with All of Mpls close behind. In the first quarter of 2025, All of Mpls reported taking in $72,633 and spending $89,391. Minneapolis for the Many did not file a first quarter report, which is not required if they did not spend or became obliged to spend more than $200 to influence local elections between January 1 and March 31.
Much of their money comes from outside the city.
As of March 31, 22 entities — including several businesses and at least one other IEPC — contributed to WLM. Only 8 of them have Minneapolis addresses.
“The role of outside money on city politics is a major problem,” said David Schultz, a Hamline University professor. “It is a problem in terms of disclosure and also a problem in a sense that outside money does not necessarily reflect voter preferences within the city.”
“Unfortunately, especially after Citizens United, there is not much that can be done,” he added. “The Supreme Court has ruled that independent expenditures are not subject to any dollar limitations.”
Candidates for citywide seats, like the mayor, cannot take contributions above $1,000 from anyone in an election year. City council candidates cannot take them above $600.
WLM was the only one who reported spending to support individual candidates. They reported advertising expenses of $3,662.82, well over $600, for each of the 15 city council candidates they are supporting — Michael Baskins, Josh Bassais, Paula Chesley, Marques Jones, Shelley Madore, Lydia Millard, Brian Strahan, Becka Thompson, LaTrisha Vetaw, Linea Palmisano, Michael Rainville, Elizabeth Shaffer, Pearll Warren, Miles Wilson and Andrea Young. All of them were also listed as “recommended” candidates, along with Jacob Frey for mayor on the All of Mpls website.
“We Love Mpls is a lot of outside influence and money coming into Minneapolis in an attempt to buy elections, and they are targeting wards 10 and 7 the most, both of which have more renters than homeowners,” said Taylor Dahlin, who lives and votes in Minneapolis. She also volunteers for the Katie Cashman Ward 7 campaign and carefully reviews campaign finance reports.
The two largest donations to WLM, $30,000 and $24,000, came from The Hornig Companies and Citizens for Safer Cities respectively.
According to the Hornig’s website, the company owns and manages over 90 rental properties in Minneapolis, and most of them are in wards 7 and 10.
Citizens for Safer Cities (CSC) is an IEPC based in Brooklyn Park. Almost all of their funding last year came from corporations (LLCs) that owned and/or managed rental property, including one from Minneapolis, the Uptown Square Apartments, LLC. CSC spent money last year to support three republican party endorsed suburban candidates running for the state house of representatives, John Nagel, Kim Rich and Robert Marvin.
“My main concerns are the source of the funding being mostly landlords and real estate interests and also the involvement of Andrea Corbin.” Corbin, who owns a flower shop in uptown and serves on the Uptown Association Executive Team, is the chair of WLM. Zach Pettus is treasurer, and Andrew Minck is deputy treasurer.
“Voters should follow the money, especially if they’re a renter,” said Dahlin. “They should question why a group of landlords want them to vote out a progressive council, and if these landlords’ interests have any overlap with their own concerns as a human living in Minneapolis, not a business entity.” They should question why We Love Mpls is accepting money from an IE that worked to elect republicans.”
“These landlords and the people they rent to are not automatically going to have the same outlook on the city and concerns,” said Dahlin, “but the landlords are trying to manipulate renters into believing they’re on the same team.”
“My old landlord, RightMove Properties, who frequently violates laws like the one requiring security deposits be returned within a certain time frame, gave several thousand,” she added. “Hornig gave $30k to We Love Mpls, yet make it very hard for candidates to door-knock in their properties even though it’s the law. Yet now We Love Mpls doorknockers have had no troubles getting into buildings in ward 10. And multiple candidates filled out the We Love Mpls questionnaire and answered “No” when asked if we need more tenant protections.”
Dahlin is also concerned about coordination after seeing We Love Mpls leadership meeting with an All of Mpls leader and someone else tied to the Frey team recently. “Nothing about that meeting was illegal, but the cast of characters involved here with We Love Mpls, All of Mpls, and the Frey team is all very intertwined,” she said. “We Love Mpls and All of Mpls are clearly Frey IEs and I would not be surprised if coordination was going on.”
In March, the Star Tribune newspaper reported that the WLM group was “headed up by former Frey campaign manager Joe Radinovich and Andrea Corbin.”
MN state law defines an independent expenditure as “an expenditure expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate or local candidate, if the expenditure is made without the express or implied consent, authorization, or cooperation of, and not in concert with or at the request or suggestion of, any candidate or any candidate’s principal campaign committee or agent or any local candidate or local candidate’s agent.”
Implied consent and cooperation are hard to prove, but easy to imagine in today’s world of social media. Imagine, a group posts a statement, a candidate posts a comment about it, that is then posted on the group’s website and put on a flyer, which is then dropped at doors by hired canvassers. Is that implied consent?
Is it cooperation when a group sends out a candidate questionnaire, a candidate answers it, and then the group puts the questionnaire on their website, endorses them and advertises that endorsement on a flyer?
Whether the letter of law is being broken is something best left to the courts.
If you follow the money, like Dahlin has been doing, it looks like this year we have three special interests IEPCs. One is supporting business owners and investors. A second one representing the interest of big landlords, property managers and developers. The a third is more with labor and renters.
In the months ahead voters might want to consider listening less to these groups, and more to friends and neighbors they respect and, most importantly, to the candidates themselves.
It is up to the voters, and the press, to keep finding and sharing the facts if we are to make decisions that reflect our interests and values in November.
Learn more at: cfb.mn.gov/reports-and-data/viewers/campaign-finance/political-committee-fund/
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The Full List of WLM Funders: January through March, 2025:
CBP Properties, Mound, $4,000
Citizens for Safer Cities, Brooklyn Center, $24,000
Comwall, Ronald, Scottsdale, AZ, $10,000
Copenhagen-Hansen Family LLP, Mpls, $5,000
Cullen Homes Inc, Mpls $10,000
Dachis, Gary, Wayzata, $5,000
Duff, Andrew, Mpls, $250
Forschler, Richard, Mpls. $250
Hartley Properties, Mpls, $5,000
JOH East LLC, Edina, $5,000
Jensen, Mark, St Louis Park, $10,000
Minn, Steven, Mpls, $5,000
Olson, Jeffrey, Edina, $1,000
Olson, Michael, Edina, $1,000
Right Move, Mpls, $2,890
Smith, Patrick. Mpls, $5,000
The Hornig Companies Inc, Mpls, $30,000
Walter, David, Edina, $1,000
Walter, Julie, Edina, $750
Walter, Kara, Edina, $1,000
Walter, Matthew, Edina, $750
Wharton, Kimberly, Littleton, CO, $1,000
Yellow Tree Constructions Services LLC, Mpls, $5,000
