Rand Paul has another sticky campaign finance mess on his hands. Check out http://www.kentuckyfight.com – another money bomb site. It ordinarily wouldn’t be a problem that there’s no FEC-required paid-for-by disclaimer on a random website talking about how much someone likes a particular candidate. But there’s clearly a requirement when advocating the election or defeat of a candidate. And it doesn’t help that Rand Paul’s campaign manager has officially endorsed the effort:
That’s Paul’s campaign manager promoting an independent expenditure by what is effectively a money bundler.
The same thing happened with http://www.runrandrun.com, with Adams and the campaign promoting it and the campaign directly profiting.
Playing fast and loose with campaign finance laws is not okay. We harp on the Democrats in Kentucky who pull this same shiz 24/7. And this campaign finance ignorance – whether intentional or not – is about as ridiculous as Jennifer Moore paying for Kathy Groob’s anti-choice, anti-gay mail pieces last election cycle. It needs to stop.
There’s no excuse for the appearance of impropriety when it comes to campaign finance. All candidates – especially Rand Paul since he’s profiting so heavily – need to get educated. Because this is the kind of mess that can sink someone – especially if the FEC gets involved.
14 responses so far ↓
1 E // Aug 31, 2009 at 12:03 pm
The FEC and other campaign regulators should put you on the payroll…you do their job better than they do.
2 paul // Aug 31, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Campaign finance law aside, it’s remarkable what Paul has been able to do money-wise. He’s staring down a million dollar quarter.
3 specs // Aug 31, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Sure seems like nitpicking if you call that officially endorsing the effort. It was merely an opinion on an independently organized event. He didn’t list the url. He didn’t say donate on this day. He definitely didn’t say he endorsed it. It isn’t linked to from the official campaign site and they haven’t sent out any official emails promoting it. Also that appears to be a personal/independent twitter account, not an official campaign twitter account.
Also, there a big difference between that effort and “bundlers”. As the bundlers collect the donations together and hand them to the campaign as one large sum. This effort is simply a “pledge” to donate on a particular date. Each individual donor donates independently, no bundling is actually done.
4 nitpicker // Aug 31, 2009 at 1:36 pm
“He didn’t list the url. He didn’t say donate on this day. He definitely didn’t say he endorsed it. It isn’t linked to from the official campaign site and they haven’t sent out any official emails promoting it. Also that appears to be a personal/independent twitter account, not an official campaign twitter account.”
He has in past postings listed the actual URL. Also, it doesn’t matter if it’s a personal/independent twitter account. Once you work for the campaign, you work for the campaign. Regardless of how many fire walls you keep up, when it comes to the law and any potential collusion, you CANNOT HAVE ANY contact with the wrong people. Regardless of whether it’s on your personal time or not.
5 Specs is Right // Aug 31, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Specs is right. David’s comment on the Kentuckyfight site is not an endorsement of any kind – it’s simply a prediction that he thinks it will be a success. That doesn’t violate any FEC laws.
6 tonyeasternman // Aug 31, 2009 at 1:45 pm
It is an endorsement when it comes from the campaign manager. He has a proven history of promoting the events. You would have to be totally brainwashed not to to see directly involved the campaign is.
7 Josh Manuel // Aug 31, 2009 at 1:56 pm
You could have just used the contact form.
I’ve added a disclaimer.
Thanks.
8 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // Aug 31, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I love how the Paul campaign is telegraphing its finance strategy to his competitors so early in the race.
9 rick // Aug 31, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Ok children, repeat after me…
COLOR OF LAW
If there by any chance are any problems, I hope they can be fixed before even one cent is raised.
FEC forever encouraging corruption..
Untill the last vestige of anything grassroots is eviscerated – THE FEC WILL BE THERE..
Supporting Lobbyists and Special interests…
In a town near you……
If you happen to live in Washington DC…
10 Web site promotes ‘fight’ to raise money for Paul : Bluegrass Politics // Aug 31, 2009 at 4:49 pm
[...] that Josh Manuel paid for the site was added later, after the Louisville-based political blog Page One Kentucky questioned whether it met Federal Election Commission [...]
11 Random User // Aug 31, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I like all of the conspiracy theories tied to the campaign. This was all planned on one of the popular liberty messageboards, believe me the campaign had nothing to do with it. If you can use the google-machine you will see it all step by step, post by post on the MB. Rand has a small army behind him. It might be an army of un-herdable cats, but it is a passionate group.
12 E // Aug 31, 2009 at 9:46 pm
[I love how the Paul campaign is telegraphing its finance strategy to his competitors so early in the race.]
And yet it seems to work so well…telegraphing…transparency…what a concept.
13 Larry West // Aug 31, 2009 at 10:01 pm
I thought tiny donations could be anonymous — you can give a campaign a twenty dollar bill for example and not violate the law. Wouldn’t the same apply if it was an “in kind” donation and not in cash? Am I not allowed to make a poster for a rally and not be forced to add a statement stating who paid for the poster and the paint? I remember seeing thousands of handmade Obama signs, and I don’t think any of them had a disclaimer written. Why is a website not any different?
Still, gotta love that “disclaimer”:
Copyright © 2009. KentuckyFight.com All Rights Reserved.
Website hosting and domain paid for by Josh Manuel.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
Big government sucks. Perfect example.
14 E // Aug 31, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Disclaimer of the year!
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