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Capitol View®
Mark Zdechlik

Dalhberg accuses Ortman of illegally using ‘robocalls’ in GOP Senate race

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U.S. Senate hopeful Chris Dahlberg is accusing fellow Republican Julianne Ortman of possibly violating state law by using automated phone calls to solicit support for her U.S. Senate campaign.

“We have to follow the law, and we don’t get to be the person that makes the judgment on this,” Dahlberg said. ” I think the attorney general’s office is the one that does this, and so we’re just saying that there are rules out there on ‘robocalling’ and they have to be followed.’

The Ortman campaign denied any wrongdoing.

"We have not heard anything from the attorney general's office, and all calls made by the campaign have been perfectly appropriate,” said  Jim Sanborn,  Ortman’s political director.

Minnesota law prohibits the use of an automatic dialing-announcing device except under very specific limited circumstances, such as the recipient knowingly or voluntarily requesting, consenting, permitting or authorizing the receipt of the message, or if the message is immediately preceded by a live operator who obtains the recipient’s consent before the message is delivered, according to the state attorney general's website.

In the Republican contest to come up with a GOP challenger to take on DFL Sen. Al Franken, most of the candidates say they will consider primary campaigns if they fail to win the party endorsement this spring.

Dalhberg, a St. Louis County commissioner and Ortman, a state Senator from Chanhassen,  say they will abide by the endorsement, meaning that they'll drop out of the race if Republican convention delegates  endorse someone else.

Dahlberg says the Ortman campaign's robocalling  may have caused  "irreversible damage" to the candidate selection process.  Still, he said he intends to abide by the endorsement.