IP official files complaint against StarTribune with Minnesota News Council

Peter Tharaldson, Independence Party 5th Congressional District chair, has filed a complaint with the Minnesota News Council regarding use of a poll by the StarTribune on Oct. 30. "All the campaigns were shut down out of respect for the Senator, all news was focused our state's collective grieving," said Tharaldson. "In the midst of this environment, the StarTribune conducted a quick hit poll on Monday, the day of the Senator's funeral and one day before his tribute.”

Referring to a 1994 news article titled "Why we Poll" by StarTribune Pollster Rob Daves, Tharaldson said, “The Oct. 30 poll was not ‘useful’ as a reflection of the electorate as defined by the StarTribune's own standards. This week’s St. Cloud State University poll, which shows the three candidates essentially tied, and commentary by the SCSU pollster, Dr. Steven Frank, also suggest that there may be large problems with the StarTribune poll.”

The four-page complaint identifies the problems with the poll and outlines possible consequences. "The very nature of the environment in which this poll was conducted demanded that the StarTribune provide a detailed analysis of or a substantive review of polling problems. The paper did not do that," Tharaldson said.

He expressed concern about the full day of campaigning in which Rep. Tim Pawlenty and Sen. Roger Moe tried to take advantage of the poll by pushing "wasted vote" arguments on the air. Pawlenty told a gathering in Rochester on Wednesday: "Our main competition is Moe. This race is going to be decided by a few thousand votes. If you can get two or three others to come out and vote with you, that will be the margin of victory.” Moe echoed the same sentiments, Tharaldson said.

"Tim Penny has been tied or leading all fall,” Tharaldson said. “What the StarTribune did was simply not right. In the past, they have run a very good polling operation, even when the results were disappointing. In the midst of this environment, however, they rushed to judgment. We need to watch for polls that were conducted during the time in which the StarTribune poll was unchallenged and compare the results — they could be seriously affected by the time the StarTribune poll went unchallenged. Finally, we all need to take a step back and focus on what counts in the election.”

Released: 11/1/02