Project Lakes and Plains

As we are in another campaign finance reporting season, all eyes are on who donates to whom in the world of candidates, political parties and political action committees.

Oddly enough, relatively little attention is paid to who is receiving the vast sums sloshing about this election season.  Frequently, these industry vendors provide key links between candidates, parties, and the independent expenditure groups that support the other two.

On the Democrat side of the ledger, one group doing well is Project Lakes and Plains.  Headed by Denise Cardinal—founder of Alliance for a Better Minnesota and, more recently, her own political consulting firm, Cardinal Insight—Project Lakes and Plains has brought in more than $1.3 million in the past few years:

Client	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010
Alliance for a Better Minn.	74,250	22,500	255,000		124,000
MN DFL Party	5,000		81,000	59,500	163,000
House DFL Caucus	79,850		212,570
Senate DFL Caucus			121,930
DLCC for Minnesota	104,850
WIN Minnesota Federal PAC	14,900	9,000
Al Franken for Senate		9,000
Total	$ 1,336,350

Records on file at the state’s Campaign Finance Board and the Federal Election Commission indicate that Project Lakes and Plains provides a range of polling and consulting services to statewide Democrat Party efforts.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has described Project Lakes and Plains as a “taxable nonprofit,” whatever that means.  Minnesota Public Radio has described Project Lakes and Plains as “Cardinal’s firm.”

According to records on file at the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office, Project Lakes and Plains is organized as a nonprofit corporation, begun in early 2010.  Cardinal is currently listed as the group’s president.

In fact, Cardinal’s efforts were important enough to the fortunes of the state Democrat Party, that they wrote Project Lakes and Plains into the Party’s 2012 Strategic Blueprint (page 29).

The Ties That Bind.  As this election season grinds on, we will continue to highlight the relationships between the players and the people behind the scenes.