You thought it couldn’t happen again but you were wrong. Greg Fischer’s campaign for U.S. Senate has violated federal campaign finance law again. Twice.
On a flyer the Fischer campaign has been handing out all over the Commonwealth, Fischer claims he “cares about Kentucky’s past and future” and goes on to make a non-specific “policy” statement about the Kentucky Heritage Countil, National Park Service and something about supporting preservation. The bottom of the flyer reads, “Vote for Greg Fischer for U.S. Senate, May 20th.” Click the image to the left for a full-size version.
Though Fischer’s “policy statement” is vague it’s not the first time we’ve encountered something vague during this campaign. It’s also not surprising to discover that Fischer violates campaign finance law with the flyer by apparently willfully excluding a legally required disclaimer at the bottom of the page to indicate that it was paid for by his campaign. It’s a big deal and he should have educated himself on FEC regulation by now. It’s May 19. The day before Election Day.
But that’s not all. Greg Fischer goes a step further in breaking campaign finance law by distributing a double-sided flyer that implies an endorsement from Barack Obama and advocates the election of Obama. The flyer has been distributed in largely African American areas like Louisville’s West End. Of course, the Obama campaign has said it does not support Fischer and a spokesman for the campaign tells us that the campaign asked Fischer to stop distributing material featuring Obama.
Take a look:
CLICK TO ENLARGE
And watch WHAS11′s newcast from last night about the ordeal:
Once you get over the ignorant quote from the Fischer campaign’s spokesman, “We know that the papers are not interested in covering the U.S. Senate race,” he said. “And I hope you quote that.” and the fact that the campaign could only get 38 or so African Americans to list their name on a flyer for Fischer, you start thinking about campaign finance regulation. Then you realize that the Fischer campaign is illegally spending funds to advocate the election of another candidate (Obama). To the tune of several thousand dollars after production, printing and distribution. Wholly illegal.
Thankfully the FEC reads this site. But we won’t rehash that since we’ve already reported that there’s an ongoing Fischer investigation.
Amateur hour. It never ends.
3 responses so far ↓
1 anon // May 19, 2008 at 10:41 am
Finale? Come on Jake, they’ve still got another 32 hours to fuck something else up. Give ‘em some credit. I know it will be hard to do, but I think they’ve got it in them to pull off at least one more spectacular screwup. It ain’t over till its over.
2 Hillary // May 19, 2008 at 11:20 am
A few questions… How will of these violations affect the campaign? Will they be fined, reprimanded, etc.? What are the consequences and when are they likely to take shape?
3 jake // May 19, 2008 at 11:28 am
The campaign is effectively over today so there’s no bearing. Beyond all the negative press the past couple days– the time when Joe Blow Voter is finally paying attention.
Depending upon how broke the FEC is, they could start pushing fines any time they want. Or they could wait four years like they did with Dan Mongiardo.
Consequences range from fines in the hundreds area to the thousands area. There have been so many “mistakes” that there’s no way to calculate what it could potentially cost.
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