Dayton taps ex-Commerce aide for campaign board
An attorney who recently retired from the Minnesota Department of Commerce was named Thursday by Gov. Mark Dayton to serve on the state's campaign finance regulatory board.
Dayton chose Robert Moilanen of Minnetonka to fill the vacancy created when the former Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board chairman, Christian Sande, was appointed to a judgeship.
Moilanen was chosen from about a dozen people who applied for the post. He has a background in Democratic politics, serving as an aide to then-Vice President Walter Mondale and the late Sen. Hubert Humphrey.
Moilanen has periodically written opinion pieces for MinnPost, including a cheeky column this summer about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. In 2010, he wrote a column about campaign finance rules, in which he criticized the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that opened the way to corporate giving in federal races.
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The six-member board serves as a referee in campaign finance disputes. It sometimes levies fines or orders other actions when candidates, political groups or others don't follow rules for collecting donations, spending their dollars or reporting their activity. The board and its staff also watch over and reports on lobbying activity.
Campaign finance board appointments always have come with more political sensitivity and scrutiny than most agencies. In fact, state law dictates a specific political makeup and that some members be former lawmakers.
Appointees are subject to confirmation by the Legislature. Last year, the Legislature failed to take final action on two appointments, so they were temporarily sidelined until Dayton reappointed both.
Moilanen recently retired as director of the securities division at the Department of Commerce, where he had been since 2011. He has a background in law, having served in private practice and in the state attorney general's office.