I'm reading through this complaint the Al Wynn campaign just filed against Donna Edwards with the FEC. He literally accuses SEIU, the League of Conservation Voters, Friends of the Earth, Anna Burger, EMILY's List, the Arca Foundation, ACORN, and the Tides Foundation of campaign finance violations, though as you can see it's kind of hilarious what independent experts think. I hope you're proud of your endorsee, Speaker Pelosi. And I hope the rest of these groups come out forcefully against Wynn, mocking him mercilessly for his nonsensical claims. Let's go through the problems.
First of all, the complaint is signed by Lori Sherwood, Al Wynn's campaign manager and a former Comcast lobbyist. Here's Wynn in the Baltimore Sun.
"There seems to be a vast, dare I say, left-wing conspiracy designed to circumvent campaign finance laws," Wynn told reporters during a conference call. "Within this scheme, her supporters are coordinating efforts to exceed fundraising limits and engaging in illegal campaign activities."...
An attorney with the independent Campaign Legal Center in Washington who was asked by The Sun to review the complaint said it didn't appear to contain any facts that would constitute illegal collaboration.
"Interestingly, and unlike most complaints filed with the Federal Election Commission, there's not a single provision of federal campaign finance law directly cited in the complaint," attorney Paul Ryan said. "Several of the allegations, in my view, make clear the complainant doesn't really have a clear understanding of what constitutes coordination under federal law."
And then there's the campaign problem, where Wynn radically underreports the amount of money he's taking in. On his original July 15th Quarterly Report, Wynn reported receiving $61,582.69 in contributions between April 1, 2006 and June 30, 2006. Two days later, he filed an amended report saying he actually received $107,132.69 - almost double what he originally reported. Two weeks later he filed yet another version of his July 15th Quarterly Report saying he actually raised $157,275.69. Last week the FEC sent a letter asking him to explain these discrepancies and threatening an audit of his political committee....
His willingness to tangle with the FEC and flout campaign finance laws is not new. In 2000, Wynn was forced to return contributions from MSFBDA Management Group, a company that laundered money through its employees to Wynn...
There's more. That year, Wynn's campaign was one of 45 campaigns that failed to file a pre-General election report. In 2001, he was fined for filing his report late.
And let's not even go near the massive electoral problems in the 2006 primary election. There's also a lot more nasty stuff on Wynn out there, and it hasn't come out yet. I imagine he's going to get really personal and vicious; he's already accused nearly a dozen powerful, important, and extremely lawyered-up and careful progressive groups of lawbreaking.
Let's get rid of this guy. Donna needs volunteers and money, especially volunteers (which you can do from anywhere as long as you have a broadband connection)! Sign up here or go through Blue Majority.
UPDATE: And let's not forget Al Wynn's fake news video, which you can tell is produced by Wynn's campaign not because it's disclosed as campaign material, but because it is an incredibly shitty and incoherent production. It of course was taken down immediately, though I did manage to grab a copy and upload it for posterity.
