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CANDIDATE’S REQUIRED FEC PAPERWORK ARRIVED MONTHS LATE, IMPROPERLY COMPLETED
First Congressional District challenger “Liberal” Linda Ketner began her bid to unseat Rep. Henry Brown with a $50,000 personal contribution to her campaign on Aug. 29, 2007. Under federal law, that donation officially made her a candidate for Congress.
And part of being a candidate means filing the proper paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. It’s not only expected, it’s required by law. But Ketner apparently failed to do so.
Because her initial contribution exceeded $5,000, Ketner was required to file a quarterly report in October of that year, which covered activity between July 1 and Sept. 30. The FEC further requires House campaigns that raise or spend at least $50,000 — as Ketner did — to file that report electronically.
However, Ketner’s first disclosure to the FEC was not filed until April 15, 2008: a full seven-and-a-half months after her $50,000 initial investment and six months after her October report should have been filed. And it wasn’t filled out by hand.
Ketner should have also filed a Statement of Candidacy and Statement of Organization with the FEC no more than 15 days after dropping that first big check into her campaign account. Once again, it looks like she not only ignored this law, she flaunted it.
The Statement of Candidacy was not received by the FEC until Jan. 28, 2008 — nearly six months after that first significant contribution.
Any way you slice it, Ketner appears to have broken the law. She didn’t just do it once, but a couple of times. And those are just the ones we know about.
Perhaps she was having some trouble with the FEC’s questions and just kept changing the answers for a few months.
I am betting every candidate breaks election law. I also believe other candidates may have broken other laws but are not being held accountable.
Elections are run by the government. Our government is broken, nothing worked as plannedl.
Voter fraud, fundraising illegality, ethics violations…are common place. But not one of our elected officials will say anything. Not one.
The SC Ethics commission is simply worthless, and should be disbanded. It is better to have no commission, than to have one that shills for the powerful.
While I realize this is a blog, how can you honestly protray yourself as an unbiased person when you are listed in facebook as Henry’s friend?
Look, while we all realize that Ms. Ketner must have spurned your affection, and her girlfriend is much hotter than anything you will ever get, please stick to the facts and not some made up lies.
You do realize that you could be held liable for writing malicious lies about a candidate – for shame. Oh, I forgot – the republicans are famous for hiding the truth.
Politico has a new story about the relationship between the McCain campaign and the blog Palmetto Scoop.
Lots of “Straight Talk” going on here. As we’ve been telling you, former SC House Majority Leader Rick Quinn created Palmetto Scoop a few months back, probably because he was bored after losing his re-election campaign. Or maybe its because the Golden Tee machine was removed from The Back Porch. That’s what we hear anyway. We aren’t allowed in The Back Porch anymore. McCain camp only…seriously, no crap.
In order to keep his name off the blog, Quinn brought in Adam Fogle from Georgia to run the site a few months after it was already up.
Now, Fogle likes to call the Quinn’s “unpaid advisors” to McCain, but let’s be real for a minute. The Quinns run the McCain camp. Fogle works for Rick Quinn at his mail shop Mail Market Strategies. Mail Market Strategies is in the same office as the McCain SC campaign.
Fogle admits that he is pro-McCain and anti-Romney. We give Fogle some props for finally telling the truth. But we all know that the relationship goes well beyond that.
Last week we received a piece of mail from the McCain campaign touting his “straight talk.” That mail was most likely printed by the Quinns. So, why can’t we get some straight talk out of Rick Quinn and his face, Adam Fogle?
Newsweek’s recently launched group blog, The Ruckus, features nine political bloggers — including one employed by a South Carolina direct mail firm that’s been paid over $79,000 by the McCain campaign this year, according to Federal Election Commission reports.
Adam Fogle, who is also editor of the blog The Palmetto Scoop, is described in his Newsweek bio as an “account representative for Mail Marketing Strategies in Columbia, S.C., … owned by former House Majority Leader Rick Quinn, whose father Richard Quinn serves as an unpaid adviser to Sen. John McCain in South Carolina.”
But that disclosure from Newsweek’s blog, which was launched in conjuction with the Media Bloggers Association, fails to mention thousands of dollars in printing and postage fees paid by McCain to Mail Marketing Strategies as late as September 2007.
In addition, the McCain campaign has paid $184,000 this year to two companies registered to the elder Quinn: Richard Quinn and Associates (for survey research and GoTV consulting) and Capitol Investments (for rent).
Both companies share an address in Columbia, S.C.; the direct mail firm is located on the same street.
Newsweek.com editor Deidre Depke, in an e-mail to Politico, said that Newsweek and the MBA looked into the bloggers’ backgrounds and were aware that Mail Marketing Strategies “had previously done business with the McCain campaign.”
Depke continued: “However, according to Fogle, that is no longer the case. … Because our intent was to develop a panel blog of PARTISAN bloggers, the prior relationship was not an issue for us. However, in retrospect, it should have been disclosed in Fogle’s bio, and we will make that change.”
Indeed, Fogle — who wrote his own bio — told Politico that his understanding is that neither Rick nor Richard Quinn are “paid for advice or anything to do with campaign strategy.”
Fogle also said that he has not read the FEC reports and is unaware of the amount of payments the companies received from the McCain campaign. On The Palmetto Scoop, Fogle said that he writes without any interference from the Quinns.
But judging by The Palmetto Scoop’s pro-McCain slant, there is, at the very least, an appearance of a conflict of interest.
“My beliefs are probably going to be about the same as theirs,” Fogle said of the Quinns.
“I’m going to push a pro-McCain agenda, but it’s not because of them but because of my personal beliefs,” he continued, adding that the Arizona senator is “the best choice for America.”
Throughout the day, The Ruckus publishes unedited selections from the nine blogs, with links to the original posts for further reading.
Fogle said he became affiliated with The Ruckus two weeks ago after being approached by MBA President Robert Cox.
The MBA website raises the issue of transparency on their Web site: “Clearly disclose conflicts of interest including personal relationships, financial considerations or anything else that might influence or appear to influence your independence and integrity.”
Cox could not be reached for comment.
Depke also said that if Fogle’s employer re-enters “a financial relationship with the McCain organization, we would re-evaluate Adam’s appropriateness as a Ruckus contributor.”
But with more publications adding partisan bloggers into the fold, this type of conflict could be expected to continue through November 2008.
As Politico reported this past February, National Journal’s Hotline ended a relationship with The Daily Shot, a South Carolina website that had ties with the Romney campaign.
Then, it was McCain’s campaign that complained to The Hotline about the site, which was “part-owned and written by employees of a political consulting firm that works for” Romney.
I like Fogle.
You are Johnny-Come-Lately to the scene for sure. However, the facts remain the same. Linda Ketner and her team have proven that they will do and say anything to win a seat in Congress. She has flip-flopped on issue after issue and altogether refused to take a position on a few.
She does not share the values of the people she wants to represent.
She is better suited to represent San Francisco than South Carolina.
Hi Adam:
I wanted to quote your story accusing Ketner of breaking the law, but couldn’t verify your information. In fact, it appears that she has done everything she should have done. Even though you said she MAY have broken the law, the implication is that you have some reason to believe that she has. You should have Quinn’s lawyer check this out … because you both MAY be liable in the legal sense.
South Carolina’s Most Wanted: Richard Quinn & Associates Client List
by: Tim Kelly
Fri Oct 24, 2008 at 08:21:09 AM EDT
Just below this post, my IJ partner Not Very Bright makes an eloquent case for honor in blogging. This was prompted by the petty crusade of Adam Fogle of Richard Quinn & Associates, purveyor of the The Palmetto Poop, to “out” South Carolina’s anonymous bloggers.
As anyone who’s followed our respective blogging careers can tell you, Not Very Bright provides thoughtful, disciplined analysis of the major issues facing our state and nation without engaging in the kind of cattiness and immaturity that characterizes so much of blogdom.
I, on the other hand, am an asshole, and I enjoy pointing out other assholes and the bullshit they wallow in.
With that in mind, I’m announcing our first ever competition here at Indigo Journal – The Ask Quinn Clients If They Know They’re Funding A Homophobic Shitbird’s Blog Contest.
We can start, obviously, with Quinn’s political clients, who – being Republicans – are probably gleeful that Richard employs a partisan hack and alleged drunk driver to blog on their behalf. For starters, these include:
John McCain
Lindsey Graham
Joe Wilson
Glenn McConnell
Far more importantly, though, I’d like to expose the corporate and state-funded clients who provide the bulk of Richard Quinn & Associates – and by extension Fagle, oops, Fogle’s – income. These are people who might be surprised and perhaps embarrassed to be associated with the kind of hateful drivel that Richard Quinn’s employee is spewing daily, using their money. (Well, I doubt Friends of the Hunley will be that embarrassed, since that’s really pretty much just Glenn McConnell’s slush fund for refighting the Civil War).
I can go ahead and “out” Palmetto Health on this count, the Midlands largest employer. I happen to know this because I’ve worked with Richard Quinn & Associates on numerous projects over the years, so as my memory improves, I’ll start sharing more names and companies.
And here’s where you come in. Do you know any Quinn clients? If so, post them in this thread. The winner of this contest will be the provider of the Quinn client who first threatens IJ with litigation, something I’ve become quite familiar with in the last two days.
Rock on!
Proving your dishonest once again:
Look at comment that is attributted to me above that states the following:
You are Johnny-Come-Lately to the scene for sure. However, the facts remain the same. Linda Ketner and her team have proven that they will do and say anything to win a seat in Congress. She has flip-flopped on issue after issue and altogether refused to take a position on a few.
She does not share the values of the people she wants to represent.
She is better suited to represent San Francisco than South Carolina.
I DIDN’T WRITE IT – ADAM DID.
HE IS AFRAID OF THE TRUTH
PLEASE POST SOMETHING ABOUT THE TRUTH ADAM
YOU JUST CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH
Just think Adam – if I had just one day without anything to do, I could find and post all of the trash about you.
I’m not schizophrenic, but I am and so am I.
AGAIN – VERY FRIGHTENED ADAM IS PRETENDING TO POST AS ME.
SAD LITTLE FAT BOY FROM WILLIE WONKA
SC CD 1, how about find another link to leave for your name. That one’s wrong and misleading.