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.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer said Friday that the hand recount is only a “step in the process” to determining Minnesota’s next governor, and emphasized a still-absent ruling from the state Supreme Court on the issue of reconciling votes.

The likelihood that Tom Emmer can overcome a nearly 9,000-vote deficit in the governor's race is exceedingly slim.

Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson has been plucked to help lead recount litigation efforts for GOP gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer and the Republican Party of Minnesota.

The morning after the election, Republican Party of Minnesota Chair Tony Sutton and Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb gathered the bleary-eyed Capitol press - who had been sitting up into the early morning hours waiting for a verdict on the Minnesota gubernatorial election - and began sounding off on the prospect of an automatic recount.

In October, Gov. Tim Pawlenty established the Freedom First PAC to solicit donations and funnel contributions to Republican candidates across the country. Here's a look at the key players advising Pawlenty as he contemplates a 2012 GOP presidential bid.