By Patrick Tepoorten

The pre-election day allegations of bribery leveled against Harris resident Marvin Stai and supporters of Larry Nelson for mayor, and counter-filings, resulted in a bill of almost $6,000, payable by county taxpayers.

The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) submitted the bill, for $5,832, which was approved by the county board Nov. 22. Included were the total cost of settling the bribery charge, $4,944, as well as almost $1,000 for two separate allegations brought against mayor Rick Smisson, and Councilors Kathy Olson and Douglas Payne by Marcus Shelander, for alleged campaign violations.

All of the allegations brought by various individuals were dismissed for lack of evidence or merit.

According to County Auditor Dennis Freed, county taxpayer responsibility for election spats at the municipal level is not at all unusual. In fact, complaints of this nature were handled by a county attorney's office in the past. A law change moved responsibility to the OAH but kept the responsibility for paying the bill with the county.

County Attorney Katherine Johnson called the 2004 law a "good law," because it takes the pressure off of county attorneys, who would routinely get swamped with campaign related complaints as soon as votes were counted. "Complaints must be investigated in a very short time and county attorneys just don't have the resources," she said.

A county attorney's office is not removed from the process entirely though. It is possible for the OAH to take measures of its own, such as reprimands or fines, but if complaints are egregious enough they are forwarded to the county for review for possible criminal charges.