In a meeting on Thursday the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board (CFPD) continued to refashion its advisory opinions concerning the fundraising and campaigning practices of ballot campaigns that will try to influence the outcome of next year’s ballot initiative concerning gay marriage.

Not only calling the disclosure guideline unnecessary and unfair, the group's chairman also questioned whether it is a change the Campaign Finance Board has the authority to make.

The news that state campaign finance officials had released a long-awaited statement on donor disclosure rules barely made a ripple in the political news cycle, but the opinion figures to make Minnesota a critical battleground in the national, post-Citizens United legal war over transparency, privacy and campaign money.

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board has released a much anticipated set of rules that tells ballot initiative campaigns if they need to disclose the original sources of their financial donors.

The Minnesota GOP has agreed to pay a $170,000 civil fine for failing to report nearly $1 million in debt from the 2006 election cycle. Party officials say they have taken steps to improve reporting.

Gov. Mark Dayton has delivered on a campaign promise to voluntarily report his campaign finance activities during non-election years. His campaign had $54,500 in the bank as of July 1.

As organizers start to contemplate the fundraising push for next year’s gay marriage constitutional amendment proposal, insiders will be tuned in on Thursday to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure (CFPD) Board’s meeting as the board weighs a potentially critical rules clarification on political contributions to ballot questions.

The main question is whether a political committee or association that has a political fund can donate money to candidate's recount fund.

The Senate DFL Caucus has raised $1.95 million as of Oct. 18. That trumps the Senate Republicans' $466,600 raised this year.

House DFLers, who are trying to protect a sizable majority, swamped Republicans in fundraising through Oct. 18. But House Republicans spent more on independent expenditures in contested races.