Political watchers waiting for a firm ruling on the months-long debate over whether the Republican Party of Minnesota is responsible for 2010 gubernatorial recount debt might still be seeking answers after a key campaign finance board meeting next week.

Amid internal controversies over the Republican Party of Minnesota’s debt after state Chairman Tony Sutton’s resignation, party officers and insiders initially maintained that the state GOP was not legally required to pay the nearly $500,000 in legal fees racked up during the 2010 gubernatorial election recount.

On Wednesday one of the GOP attorneys on the recount, Tony Trimble, told PIM that then-RPM Chairman Sutton signed an agreement legally obliging the party to cover the full cost of the recount legal fees, reportedly around $450,000. And late Wednesday afternoon, Sutton confirmed the existence of an agreement that he says he does not recall disclosing to other party officials. But Sutton went on to claim that he believes the party is only responsible for the debt in the event that the recount fund in question, incorporated as Count Them All Properly Inc., ceases to exist.

In late November, a group of roughly two dozen Republican activists gathered at a residence in Edina to discuss the future of the state Republican Party. The meeting included a broad cross-section of the GOP’s notoriously fractious base.

Common Cause had sought to participate in the litigation and file briefs as a friend of the court.

A day after Common Cause's motion to participate in the suit, Republicans registered their own complaints, objecting to the move.

The new district maps coming in 2012 promise to alter Minnesota’s political landscape for at least the next decade. But one key decision made last week could have an outsized effect — and portend GOP gains — for districts in one very important part of the state: the metro area.

Jeff Hilger describes himself as first and foremost a horse guy. He owns a sprawling farm in Stillwater where he breeds thoroughbreds. He has also worked in the corporate world. One thing Hilger’s a bit low on is political experience.

The issues sound as arcane as the redistricting process itself: Should the metro area include seven counties, as it does now, or 11? When is it OK to split counties, cities or townships into separate districts?

Attorneys for one group aligned with Republicans, two groups of DFLers and the Secretary of State's office appeared before the five-judge panel.