The state’s reputation as a vanguard in political ethics is largely dead, producing problems such as the budget impasses and shutdowns we have seen in the last few years, and which again loom larger and larger this year.

Chisolm DFLer David Tomassoni faces the potential for conflict of interest as a state official receiving a salary from a group that lobbies the state.

House and Senate panels will focus on voting rules and election finance among other things.

In the Supreme Court races, the incumbents had sizeable fundraising leads over their challengers.

A new crop of conservative fundraising organizations have appeared over the last 18 months to build on existing mainstay groups geared up help candidates and causes.

A total of 22 legislative candidates and two candidates for constitutional office have failed to file campaign disclosure statements by the required deadline.

In 2012, the DFL and 13 of its Senate candidates benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars in falsely classified independent expenditures that in fact were paid for by the party.

State Rep. Steve Smith still hasn't filed his pre-primary campaign finance report. The 11-term incumbent, who was trounced in a GOP primary contest last month, now owes $1,400 in fines stemming from the failure to turn in his paperwork to the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

Republican legislative leaders face challenges in amassing a suitable war chest due to both a well-fortified traditional DFL donor base and a state Republican Party that is financially imperiled.

On Saturday Republicans will gather in Bloomington for a meeting of the party’s State Central Committee. Among the agenda items for the roughly 350 delegates: electing a new deputy chair and approving the party’s 2012 budget.