"[1][3] A Union Army veteran, Castle was active in the Minnesota Republican Party and held a seat in the state legislature in the 1870s.
[7] The Dispatch Printing Company bought the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1909 and managed the two newspapers as independent news outlets.
As a young man, Robert Ridder, the philanthropist and co-founder of the Minnesota North Stars, worked as a Dispatch reporter.
[15] In October 1978, William G. Sumner, the Dispatch's editor, interviewed a state legislative candidate named Bob Pavlak.
An Independent-Republican, Pavlak ran for the District 67A state legislative seat against the incumbent, Arnold Kempe, a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party.
[15] During the Dispatch interview, Pavlak produced documents that indicated that Kempe had missed over 300 roll call votes during the 1977 and 1978 legislative sessions.
[15] On Saturday, November 4, 1978—three days before the election—the Dispatch printed an editorial in which it asserted that the editors "have seen nothing to dispute his [Pavlak's] research report that shows the incumbent voted four times in 1967-68 this out of more than 300 opportunities.
[15] Pavlak's campaign subsequently informed the Dispatch editors that they had misstated the year, but did not make mention of the newspaper's erroneous tabulation of Kempe's roll call votes.
[15] The Minnesota Supreme Court later concluded that copies of the November 4 edition of the Dispatch reached at least 6,000 eligible voters in the district before Election Day.
[15] On Monday, November 6, the Dispatch printed a second editorial, this time asserting that it had "erred in our endorsement of Robert Pavlak, IR, who is seeking to unseat Rep. Arnold Kempe in 67A.
"[16] The Court thus concluded that "[i]n short, we have no jurisdiction to issue a final and binding decision in this matter, and our opinion by statute will be and by the Minnesota Constitution must only be advisory to the House of Representatives.
[17] However, the House immediately investigated the allegation that Pavlak's campaign violated state election law by circulating the editorial reprints.
[17] Accordingly, with party loyalty shaping how both sides viewed the contest, the House voted by a margin of 67 to 66 that Pavlak had violated the election law.