There have been 2 Ballot Questions added to the St Paul Ballots in the November 4th General Election. One of them was put on the ballot by a petition spearheaded by Peter Butler. In 2024 he successfully got the Ballot question of moving Mayoral and City Council Elections to the Presidential year starting in 2028.

This year he got the City Fine Ballot Question onto the Ballot. I, Publius Jr, remember signing this petition outside of the Local Republican Party Convention of which I caucus with. Voting Yes for the Ballot Question actually makes it harder for residents to appeal decisions by the City. The Vote Yes for a Fairer St Paul are actually lying about how this makes it fairer for St Paul Residents.

The Second Ballot question is about giving the Independent School District 625 (St Paul Public Schools) $37 million more. No amount of your money has improved the school district. From Schooldigger.com that ranks schools across the country through a variety of metrics, shows St Paul Public Schools ISD 625 flatlined it’s performance and educational excellence. They rank in the lower 22% of School Districts in the state. Their enrollment is dropping due to the curriculum, but mostly due to the current board members advocating for removal of School Resource Officers (SROs) and not suspending nor expelling disruptive or violent students. Remember Devin Scott might be alive today if he wasn’t murdered on his first day of class at Harding High School on February 10, 2023 because the school lacked SROs.

St Paul DFL Supports a YES Vote on Both Ballot Qns is Illegal

St Paul DFL earlier in the year became a defunct political organization, when they didn’t hold a caucus to elect delegates & alternates, and leaders of the organization. If they don’t have leaders or delegates & alternates they cease being a party unit.

Then they recently sent out Campaign material that shows “St Paul DFL Supports” Yes votes on the Ballot questions. This is illegal because who voted for this? Fred Melo, the St Paul Beat Reporter for Pioneer Press talks about this in his report on October 27, 2025.

“How did the St Paul DFL, which is on hiatus, back Two Ballot Questions?”

Peter Butler then filed a complaint against Rick Varco who is the St Paul DFL Treasurer, as well as the treasurer for the “Vote Yes for a Fairer St Paul” group. The hearing by the MN Court of Administrative Appeals would be a week after the election. Sounds almost as if those lit pieces were sent knowing any complaint would not be heard before the election. But then something Happened. His complaint against Rick Varco was dismissed without a hearing. Amazing how fast DFL Justice happens when one of their own is being held accountable.

Here’s the dismissal document from Peter Butler click here: Order of Dismissal

Then the new St Paul Republican City Committee (SPRCC) Chair Greg Copeland sent out a letter to the Pioneer Press Letters to the Editor, and others in response to the dismissal of the complaint. We’re posting it because no one else will.

SPRCC Greg Copeland’s Letter Addressing St Paul DFL’s Illegal Action

“The haste applied by the Court to dispatching Peter Butler’s complaint without a hearing, given the absence of any reply filing by DFLer Rick Varco seeking a dismissal, strikes me as a process falling far short of even the appearance of passing for “Justice”.

How can Citizens have any confidence in the conduct of their elections when there is such flagrant disinterest on the part of those Public Officials  paid to Oversee the ways in which questionable campaign spending raises legitimate concerns that voters are being misled about who is financing political advertisements that advocate adoption of 10 years of additional new property taxes, and a law to levy new city fines on citizens in referendum elections.

Especially in this case where Saint Paul citizens will be subject to a host of new financial penalties and fines for violations of City Codes as well as an average $300 per home property tax hike!

It is ironic too that given the fact that Citizens have the power to cast ballots in the matter of new city fines only due to Citizen Volunteers working successfully to collect hundreds of signatures to require this referendum election.

I am thankful that the Pioneer Press put the facts in great detail on their October 28 front page seeking an answer to “Who is sending those DFL mailings?”; and declaring, “The local party unit doesn’t exist, yet it is advocating for votes”. Unfortunately the MN Court of
Administrative Hearings refuses to give these questions a Public Hearing.

Citizens should Vote NO Tuesday on both referendums given the lack of basic accountability. This lack of government transparency requires the People to reject Granting the City any authority to levy new fines and yet more property taxes.

Greg Copeland
Chairman
Saint Paul Republican City Committee”

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This post was not authorized by any candidate, or candidate’s committee, PAC, or the Republican Party of Minnesota. We did get permission to repost the article “SPRCC Chair Calls for St Paul DFL to be held Accountable,” from the Saintpaulrepublicans.us which posted it on November 3rd 2025. — admin