Minneapolis City Council member says Emily Koski violated campaign finance law in mayoral run

As if Minneapolis City Council meetings aren’t tense enough.

Now Council Member Linea Palmisano has accused her colleague, Council Member and mayoral candidate Emily Koski, of violating several state campaign finance laws.

Palmisano and DFL donors Sam and Sylvia Kaplan have filed a complaint with the state Office of Administrative Hearings claiming Koski violated several laws including by using their donations to fund her 2025 mayoral campaign. Palmisano and the Kaplans donated to Koski’s Ward 11 council re-election campaign in 2023.

“Emily Koski wants to run our city, and she can’t manage her own campaign account,” Palmisano said. “It’s not rocket science.”

The complaint, filed Feb. 3, alleges Koski improperly used her council campaign money for her mayoral run. Koski reported nearly $31,555 in funds received on her 2024 campaign finance report for her council campaign committee, but most of the account’s contributions and expenditures came after her Dec. 4 mayoral launch.

Mayor Jacob Frey reported receiving $108,500 in 2024 contributions for his re-election campaign; Sen. Omar Fateh reported nearly $50,000; and DeWayne Davis nearly $37,000.

Here’s a list of candidates who have announced they’re running in Minneapolis' 2025 elections for mayor and city council.

The complaint also said Koski received a $1,000 contribution last year that exceeds the $250 maximum allowed by state law during non-election years.

An administrative law judge recently decided there was enough evidence to allow those allegations to proceed to a hearing before three administrative law judges. A pre-hearing conference will be held Thursday to schedule proceedings and discuss other issues, and then the panel of judges will later hold a hearing to decide whether the law was violated.

Koski’s spokesperson, Teresa Mozur, called the allegations “a politically motivated complaint from Jacob Frey’s campaign supporters against his strongest challenger.”

“We’re following the law — our campaign is doing no different than what Frey did in 2017," Mozur said.

However, the law has changed since 2017.

Frey sought guidance from the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board on using money from his council campaign for his mayoral campaign in 2017. The campaign finance board said the move was legal. But in 2021, lawmakers repealed the state law that advisory opinion was based on, so the campaign finance board revoked the advisory opinion in 2023.