MINNESOTA

Saturday, August 20th, 2005

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The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board monitors potential conflicts of interest for the 1,300 public officials for the state of Minnesota. It also enforces a ban on gifts from lobbyists to public officials. The Board's mission is to promote public confidence in state government decision-making through development, administration, and enforcement of disclosure and public financing programs which will ensure public access to and understanding of information filed with the Board. It provides a "Public Officials Quick Reference Guide" which covers topics from record keeping to prohibitions to a contact list to answer questions a public official might have. The board has training sessions for candidates and other political figures to help them meet state requirements.

Contact Information:
190 Centennial Office Building
658 Cedar Street
St. Paul, Minnesota 55155
Telephone: 651-296-5148 or 800-657-3889

COGEL Members:
Jeanne Olson
Executive Director
Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board
St. Paul, MN 55155
Telephone: (651) 296-1721
Email: [email protected]

Largest City:

Minneapolis
The Minneapolis Ethical Practices Board promotes high ethical standards and conduct, and fosters a healthy ethical culture throughout Minneapolis city government through investigating allegations of improper conduct of a department head, an elected official, or appointed officials.

Contact Information:
Telephone: (612)673-2554

Point of Interest:
The Ethics Task Force was created by the Mayor of Minneapolis to create a comprehensive Code of Ethics representative of commonly agreed-upon rules of ethical conduct.

Largest County:

Hennepin County
Hennepin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, named in honor of the 17th-century French explorer Father Louis Hennepin. As of 2000, the population was 1,116,200. Its county seat is Minneapolis.
The highest waterfall on the Mississippi River, the Saint Anthony Falls, discovered by Louis Hennepin, are in Hennepin County next to downtown Minneapolis, but in the 19th century, the falls were converted to a series of dams. Barges and boats now pass through locks to pass between the parts of the river above and below the dams.

Adjacent counties

Anoka County (northeast)
Ramsey County (east)
Dakota County (southeast)
Scott County (south)
Carver County (southwest)
Wright County (northwest)

Governance

Hennepin County Government Center located in the county seat of Minneapolis

Like all counties in Minnesota, Hennepin is governed by an elected and nonpartisan board of commissioners. In Minnesota, county commissions usually have five members, but Hennepin, Ramsey, and St Louis counties have seven members. Each commissioner represents a district of equal population. In Hennepin the county commission appoints the medical examiner, county auditor-treasurer and recorder. The sheriff is also elected on a nonpartisan ticket. The county government's headquarters are in downtown Minneapolis in the Hennepin County Government Center.

The county commission elects a chair who presides at meetings. Commissioners as of May 2006