MOORHEAD (KFGO-KVRR) – Two members of the Moorhead City Council have filed formal complaints alleging state campaign laws were violated when a retired Moorhead fire truck was used in public parades to promote city council candidate Sarah Opitz.
According to documents obtained through an open records request, city council members Chuck Hendrickson and Ryan Nelson filed complaints against Opitz, Moorhead Firefighters Union Local 1323 and union president Eric Welk.
Opitz is challenging Nelson in the race to represent Ward 1.
The 39-page report from the Minnesota Court of Administrative Hearings alleges Opitz, Welk and the union violated state law by giving the false impression that Opitz is endorsed by the Moorhead Fire Department.
The truck displaying “Moorhead Fire Dept.” decals and Opitz campaign signs was used in the Moorhead High School Homecoming Parade on Oct. 9.
The fire truck is owned by the union. The complaint says the union was required to remove the decals when the truck was purchased.
“Any reasonable person in Moorhead seeing this fire truck in a Moorhead parade would believe the truck represents the Moorhead Fire Department,” the complaint states.
Opitz “did not merely happen to appear near the vehicle. She participated in campaign activity involving the fire truck and subsequently deliberately used photographs of that same marked fire truck in campaign material.”
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