The entrepreneurial spirit

It’s alive and well with controversial state Representative John Thompson.

Alpha News reported last week that Thompson and his company, Fight For Justice Enterprises LLC, combined received more than $43,000 from Ramsey County for unspecified services. That amount is more than adequate to pay off his $3,000 in unpaid court fines, if he were so inclined.

The first-term St. Paul Democrat now serves as an independent in the state legislature, having been expelled by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor caucus in September of last year.

He formed the Fight For Justice company in February 2017. In keeping with his modus operandi, the MN Secretary of State lists four different addresses for the entity. Although the website is no longer active, his Facebook page is still up and running. Here is a screenshot from the website taken from the internet archive:

The Facebook page was most recently updated late last month, promoting a campaign fundraiser scheduled for April 30.

Speaking of campaigns, Thompson owns another company named John Thompson for 67A LLC. The company was incorporated in December 2019. The designation 67A refers to the House district Thompson represents. Both the 67A and the Fight For Justice LLCs list the same address on York Avenue and post office box number in St. Paul

This for-profit entity was founded a month before his separate campaign committee was registered with the state Campaign Finance Board (CFB). The LLC does not appear to have been listed in error, as the registration was renewed in October 2021. Reports filed with the CFB do not show any transactions between the campaign and the LLC of the same name.

It is not clear whether the LLC has received any revenue or what purpose it serves. Thompson’s campaign Twitter account links to a no longer active campaign page. The content appearing in the internet archive includes a donation page for the campaign, listing a York Avenue mailing address in St. Paul under the name “John Thompson for 67A.” The address for Thompson’s official campaign account is listed as a post office box in St. Paul.

Curiously, neither the Fight for Justice nor the 67A LLC is listed in Thompson’s Economic Interest Statement filed with the CFB. In his most recent statement, Thompson lists his occupation as “unemployed.” To be clear, the Statement is supposed to cover all activity in 2021. Ramsey County paid Thompson and Fight For Justice more than $15,000 in 2021.