Minnesota Republican Party unable to pay rent for headquarters

The Republican Party of Minnesota was unable to pay rent for its headquarters in St. Paul for several months due to its "precarious" financial situation, according to internal documents obtained by Politico.

"Consequently, please note that we are not paying our office lease rent payment currently (but have been in discussions with our landlord) and have not yet negotiated long-term payment schedules and/or negotiated settlements relating to most of the vendors on the accounts payable aging (see accompanying financial statements and schedules for summary accounts payable aging reports as of February 29 and January 31, 2012)," Secretary-Treasurer Bron J. Scherer wrote in a memo.

In addition, a spreadsheet revealed the party was more than $1.2 million in debt in February.

Minnesota Republican chairman Pat Shortridge told the Associated Press that the documents only showed a "snapshot in time" and that the party was doing much better now.

Former Minnesota Republican chairman Tony Sutton abruptly resigned in December 2011. When he took the position in 2009, the party had approximately $1 million in the bank, according to the Star Tribune.

[Image via Shutterstock]