Star Tribune
Hagedorn campaign money transferred to charity led by his widow, Jennifer Carnahan
WASHINGTON — Almost a year after U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn died following a battle with kidney cancer, around $125,000 of his campaign’s remaining money was quietly given to a charity bearing the Republican’s name.
And while there are only scant mentions online of James L Hagedorn Cancer Charities, filings show the late lawmaker’s widow, Jennifer Carnahan, is the president of the organization.
Carnahan is the former chair of the Minnesota Republican Party who was forced out nearly two years ago amid scandal. She ran for her late husband’s congressional seat and finished third in a special GOP primary last year. She is also in a legal dispute with some of Hagedorn’s family members, who sued her over money they put toward the late congressman’s medical expenses.
Carnahan declined an interview request and did not answer a list of detailed questions. In an email, she wrote that “the charity is still in the formation phase, so there is not much to share (at this point) other than this charity was created to honor my husband’s memory and help others fighting cancer.”
In a Facebook post Friday, Carnahan blasted the Star Tribune for asking questions about the charity, accusing it of writing a “false and hateful article.”
Documents submitted to the Internal Revenue Service, which has recognized the organization as a 501c3 public charity, show Carnahan is listed as president and treasurer.
Jennifer Larson, who has been involved in Minnesota GOP politics, is its vice president, and Carnahan’s mother, Cindra Carnahan, is its secretary. All three are listed on the cancer charity’s board of directors in recent state filings reviewed by the Star Tribune.
Federal campaign committees are allowed to make donations to charities. However, a campaign guide from the Federal Election Commission states “using campaign funds for personal use is prohibited.”
The FEC guide notes that donations to a charity “are not considered personal use expenses as long as neither the candidate nor any member of the candidate’s family receives compensation from the charitable organization before it has expended the entire amount donated.”
Financial data included in the IRS documents shows that in 2023, the charity projected to bring in $237,000 in gifts, grants and contributions along with $126,000 in “unusual grants.” For its planned expenses, the charity listed $119,000 for fundraising, $115,000 in “contributions, gifts, grants, and similar amounts paid out,” and $67,000 in “compensation of officers, directors, and trustees.”
The charity projected $429,300 in revenue for 2024, with no money coming from unusual grants; an estimated $157,000 in fundraising expenses, and $160,000 in the “contributions, gifts, grants, and similar amounts paid out” category. The form lists an estimate of $72,000 for “compensation of officers, directors, and trustees” that year.
Carnahan would not say whether the charity had raised any money outside of the campaign donation, nor whether the organization would be using the campaign funds to pay salaries or compensation.
A conflict of interest policy signed by Carnahan, her mother and Larson states that “a voting member of the governing board who receives compensation, directly or indirectly, from the Organization for services is precluded from voting on matters pertaining to that member’s compensation.”
An outline submitted to the IRS about the charity’s planned activities states that 70% of its time would be spent on fundraising. Other planned activities include supporting people and families facing cancer and donating to “established cancer non-profits/charities.” The document states those plans will be initially funded with the money donated by the late congressman’s campaign.
“It seems to be critical because it’s the seed money for the charity,” said Lloyd Mayer, a professor at Notre Dame Law School who focuses on nonprofit and election law.
In her Friday Facebook post, Carnahan said she hopes to give financial support to families fighting cancer.
“Outside of treatment and regular doctor’s visits, there are so many other unexpected costs that arise — ranging from hotel night stays to purchasing oxygen and much more; or in our case also renting an apartment in Scottsdale during the height of the snowbird season and me dwindling my savings account to keep my husband alive to fight another day,” Carnahan wrote.
Heidi Hagedorn Katz, a sister of the late congressman who is not among the family members suing Carnahan, said the Hagedorn family was not told about the new charity.
“I can state with confidence that Jim’s family was not informed of the creation of the James L. Hagedorn Cancer Charities organization and has no involvement in it,” Hagedorn Katz said in a text message.
Hagedorn’s mother, stepfather and one of his sisters sued Carnahan last year around a week before polls closed in a special primary for the late congressman’s seat. In December, a Faribault County district judge ordered Carnahan to reimburse the family members for the more than $20,000 they spent on Hagedorn’s medical expenses. Carnahan has appealed.
At the end of September 2022, Hagedorn’s campaign still had around $140,000 in cash on hand left, federal records show. It then donated $126,684 to James L. Hagedorn Cancer Charities in October. The donation was refunded back to the campaign about a month later. Then in January, the campaign sent around $125,000 to the charity.
The treasurer for Hagedorn’s campaign did not respond to an email with questions about the decision.
Star Tribune
Moorhead man arrested after driving into squad cars, police say
A Moorhead, Minn., man was arrested on Saturday while he fled the scene in his vehicle and rammed into squad cars, according to police.
At about 1 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to the 3200 block of 9th Street S. on a report of a domestic incident. Police said they spoke with a 19-year-old man at the scene and he was “uncooperative and argumentative,” according to a department news release.
The Minnesota Star Tribune does not typically name suspects until they are charged. The man allegedly fled in his vehicle and backed into a squad car. An officer pursued the man, who rammed into another squad car before leaving, police said.
He eventually returned to the scene where officers took him into custody. He was booked into the Clay County Correctional Facility a short time later.
The officer who pursued the suspect sought medical attention for pain after their vehicle was struck, police said. Two squad cars were damaged during the incident.
According to the county sheriff’s booking report, the man was arrested on charges including assault of a peace officer causing bodily harm, fleeing police in a motor vehicle, assault inflicting serious bodily harm with a dangerous weapon as well as damage to property over $1,000.
Star Tribune
Coloring book duo teams up again to highlight St. Paul’s Rondo history
Kosfeld used family photographs and old newspaper pictures as the basis for her illustrations. She also researched clothing of the period. It was important to her, she said, that her drawings “were respectful. No cartoons or caricatures.”
“Rondo,” Kosfeld said, “can be a heavy subject to some communities. But I wanted to show it was just beautiful. Playful.”
The project took nearly two years to complete from January 2023 to early 2024. Kosfeld and Kronick published the coloring book themselves. The Rondo book can be found at several shops and bookstores in St. Paul, including Next Chapter Books, Red Balloon, Wet Paint, Waldmann Brewery, Subtext Books, the Minnesota Historical Society gift shop and St. Paul Children’s Hospital.
Kosfeld is working on a third coloring book with a St. Paul focus, this one on the art, architecture and history of the St. Paul park system, to be published by the Ramsey County Historical Society.
Star Tribune
Harris goes to church while Trump muses about reporters being shot
LITITZ, Pa. — Kamala Harris told a Michigan church on Sunday that God offers America a ”divine plan strong enough to heal division,” while Donald Trump gave a profane and conspiracy-laden speech in which he mused about reporters being shot and labeled Democrats as ”demonic.”
The two major candidates took starkly different tones on the final Sunday of the campaign. Less than 48 hours before Election Day, Harris, the Democratic vice president, argued that Tuesday’s election offers voters the chance to reject ”chaos, fear and hate,” while Trump, the Republican former president, repeated lies about voter fraud to try to cast doubt on the integrity of the vote and suggested that the country was falling apart without him in office.
Harris was concentrating her Sunday in Michigan, beginning the day with a few hundred parishioners at Detroit’s Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ. It marked the fourth consecutive Sunday that Harris, who is Baptist, has spoken to a Black congregation, a reflection of how critical Black voters are across multiple battleground states.
”I see faith in action in remarkable ways,” she said in remarks that quoted the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. ”I see a nation determined to turn the page on hate and division and chart a new way forward. As I travel, I see Americans from so-called red states and so-called blue states who are ready to bend the arc of history toward justice.”
She never mentioned Trump, though she’s certain to return to her more conventional partisan speech in stops later Sunday. But Harris did tell her friendly audience that ”there are those who seek to deepen division, sow hate, spread fear and cause chaos.” The election and ”this moment in our nation,” she continued, ”has to be about so much more than partisan politics. It must be about the good work we can do together.”
Harris finished her remarks in about 11 minutes — starting and ending during Trump’s roughly 90-minute speech at a chilly outdoor rally at the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, airport.
Trump usually veers from subject to subject, a discursive style he has labeled ”the weave.” But in Lancaster, he went on long tangents and hardly mentioned his usual points on the economy, immigration and rote criticisms of Harris.
Instead, Trump relaunched criticisms of voting procedures across the nation and his own staff. He resurrected grievances about being prosecuted after trying to overturn his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden, suggesting at one point that he ”shouldn’t have left” the White House.
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