Schreyer's complaint results in no indictment against Brad Finstad

By KEVIN SWEENEY

Journal Editor

ST. JAMES -- A Watonwan County grand jury returned a bill of no indictment this week against Republican candidate Brad Finstad, who is seeking election to House District 21B.

The hearing brings to an end the investigation of a complaint brought by Finstad's opponent in the 21B Republican primary, Cody Schreyer. Schreyer claimed that Finstad, who won the support of delegates at the 21B endorsing convention in July, had offered to get Schreyer a job and support him in future political campaigns in return for dropping his primary challenge.

Finstad denied making any such offer. He said he called Schreyer and the other IR candidates the day after the endorsing convention to seek their support. Finstad said that during that phone conversation, Schreyer said it had always been his dream to be in the Legislature.

Finstad said he offered Schreyer advice and encouragement, telling him the best way to get into the Legislature was to finish school and get a job where he could build his real life experience. He also encouraged him to wait for future election opportunities. Finstad said Schreyer apparently mistook this as a job offer.

Schreyer later phoned Finstad and recorded their conversation as he asked Finstad if he remembered when they had talked about "a job." When Finstad said "yes," Schreyer set up a meeting with Finstad at the home of Finstad's campaign chairman James Clark. At that meeting, Schreyer said he told Finstad and Clark that they had violated the state's campaign law, which prohibits offering candidates anything of value to get them to leave a race.

Schreyer later turned his tape and his complaint over to Watonwan County Attorney LaMar Piper.

Schreyer went public with his complaint when it became apparent Piper wasn't going to file any charges before the primary.

Piper said the grand jury's decision ends his investigation, and he anticipates no further charges or actions.

Finstad said he was happy with the decision.

"I always had faith in the legal system. It's nice to have this done with. We knew we had done nothing wrong, and it's nice to have the county attorney say so. We plan to keep moving ahead" with the campaign against DFL candidate Mark Wiger.

Schreyer was disappointed with the decision.

"I know that the violations occured. It's unfortunate that it came out this way. There's nothing I can do about it now," said Schreyer.

Asked about the impact on his future career in politics, Schreyer said, "It may be harder for me to get an endorsement from the local Republican Party, but I don't think it will have a large effect on my political career. Even if I'm not an elected official there are a lot of places I can go in politics."