Lieberman Pays $50,000 Fine for Passing Out Street Cash in 2006

[babylonsister]

http://firedoglake.com/2009/05/01/lieberman-pays-50000-fine-for-passing-out-street-cash-in-2006/

Lieberman Pays $50,000 Fine for Passing Out Street Cash in 2006
By: Jane Hamsher Friday May 1, 2009 4:45 pm


Former Lamont staffer Tim Tagaris sends this along:

The campaign of Sen. Joe Lieberman, I/D-Conn., agreed to pay a $50,000 civil penalty after the Federal Election Commission concluded that the campaign repeatedly flouted the law in disbursing cash payments to volunteers during Lieberman's bruising Democratic primary against businessman Ned Lamont in 2006.

The FEC opened an investigation in late 2006 after Lamont's campaign lodged a complaint alleging that Lieberman was using a "slush fund" to fuel his campaign in the waning days of the primary. Lamont's campaign cited more than $387,000 in unexplained expenditures listed only as "petty cash."

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The FEC recently posted on its Web site a conciliation agreement with the Friends of Joe Lieberman showing that the case had been settled with the campaign's decision to pay the civil penalty.

According to the conciliation agreement, federal campaign law allows a political committee to maintain petty cash fund for disbursements "not in excess of $100 to any person in connection with a single purchase or transaction." The treasurer, the law says, must keep a record of all petty disbursements, the date, purpose and identity of each recipient.

The agreement says that the Lieberman committee made cash payments to 1,003 canvassers totaling $344,496 for get-out-the vote activity. The agreement says: "In making the payments, the committee withdrew very large amounts of cash from its bank account on 14 separate occasions and gave the money to campaign consultants and volunteers who put cash in envelopes that were disbursed to canvassers, frequently in amounts well in excess of $100."

[SmileyRose]

1. This is so easy to get around it's laughable.

federal campaign law allows a political committee to maintain petty cash fund for disbursements "not in excess of $100 to any person in connection with a single purchase or transaction." The treasurer, the law says, must keep a record of all petty disbursements, the date, purpose and identity of each recipient.

so you hand cash of exactly $100 to your people once a week for years for mileage, office supplies or whatever else they could possibly buy (wink wink) for the campaign. This is about record keeping not practices.

[Enrique]

2. so he cheated and lost anyway

Loserman. :thumbsdown:

[babylonsister]

3. Must be sad to have to buy support. nt