A panel of three Minnesota administrative law judges has denied the Republican Party's motion to dismiss a case brought by the government watchdog group Common Cause over the handling of the 2010 gubernatorial recount.

Minnesota Majority and its executive director, Dan McGrath, have engaged in lobbying at the Capitol, but were not required to register with the state, according to a ruling Tuesday by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. That's because they did not meet the threshold for lobbying activities that triggers the registration requirement under state law.

Common Cause Minnesota filed a complaint on Tuesday alleging that Minnesota Majority and its executive director, Dan McGrath, broke state law by failing to properly register as a lobbying organization and disclose costs associated with seeking to influence legislation.

In January, Common Cause Minnesota filed a complaint with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board accusing the state Republican Party of repeatedly failing to properly report expenses and contributions.

This summer Minnesota’s campaign finance agency will make its way through a couple of pending challenges brought by a watchdog group that’s taking a number of Republican-centered causes to task.

The pair of complaints come from allegations that ALEC is involved in lobbying activities but presents itself for tax and campaign finance purposes as a charitable organization.

The complaint against Minnesota for Marriage says that group did not disclose the name of donors who contributed more than $100 to its efforts.

In a ruling issued Wednesday, the Campaign Finance board dismissed the complaints brought by nonprofit Common Cause Minnesota, which alleged that the Minnesota Family Council (MFC) and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) teamed up on a $200,000 ad buy last fall to push for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and both failed to properly report their activities.

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board will meet tomorrow to consider dumping an advisory opinion from 1997 that excludes corporations from disclosing the sources of their donations when giving to ballot initiatives. The board's decision, on the eve of a possible government shutdown, is being watched by groups involved in the 2012 gay marriage ballot initiative.

A legal challenge to a new state law regulating campaign contributions will be argued in federal court tomorrow afternoon. The lawsuit challenges disclosure requirements that were enacted by the Legislature in the wake of the United States Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, which opened the door to direct corporate spending to influence elections.