REGIONAL— A panel of three administrative law judges has imposed a $1,000 civil penalty for campaign violations against Jason Lukovsky, the current St. Louis County Undersheriff. Lukovsky, who is running to replace the retiring Ross Litman as county sheriff, was accused in a complaint filed back in August of accepting $2,750 in campaign contributions from corporations, something that’s prohibited under Minnesota campaign laws. Lukovsky was one of two candidates to make it through the Aug. 11 primary and his name will appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
The complaint was filed by a Steven Peterson, although no address for the complainant was immediately available. But Peterson filed the complaint after reviewing Lukovsky’s recent campaign finance filings and noticing contributions over a nine-month period from several businesses, including Puglisi Classico LTD., Twin Ports Computer Services, LLC, Mainella Properties, LLC, Hernesman Sports, Inc., Lukovsky Chiropractic Clinic, and Rust Group, LLC.
In testimony to the panel, Lokovsky admitted accepting the improper corporate contributions, but said he had done so in error out of a misunderstanding of the statutes in question.
But the judges noted that the complainant argued that all candidates have an obligation to follow the law, particularly when an individual is running for the chief law enforcement job in the county.
The panel, using a rubric established by the OAH imposed the $1,000 civil penalty and ordered Lukovsky to return the illegal campaign contributions to the donors.