Fundraising Squabble Signals What’s to Come in Ohio’s 15th
The Ohio Democratic Party is asking Republican congressional candidate Steve Stivers to return money he collected at a June 3rd fundraiser with the Ohio Bankers League.
In a complaint filed with the Federal Elections Commission 1, Ohio Democratic Party Executive Director Doug Kelly argues Stivers improperly benefited from the fundraiser.
Federal Elections Commission rules prohibit corporations from organizing fundraisers for candidates. The Bankers League is a non-profit corporation, but a spokesperson says the fundraising event was coordinated by its Political Action Committee. The invitation to the event uses the Ohio Bankers League address as a collection point for checks written out to Stivers. Democratic Party attorney Don McTigue says the use of the address and an employee as a collector of checks constituted an improper use of corporate resources to fundraise on a candidate’s behalf.
The Ohio Bankers League issued this statement today from Ohio BankPac Treasurer Jeffrey D. Quayle:
“We believe the complaint filed with the Federal Elections Commission from the Ohio Democratic Party is without merit. This event was always intended as a PAC event and as such, is clearly permitted under federal law. The Stivers campaign is paying for all of the expenses related to the event, which will be fully disclosed in FEC filings.”
And Stivers campaign manager Mike Hartley followed by releasing his own statement:
We are confident the campaign has not violated any FEC law. This is a tactic that has been used by losing campaigns for years. They make an allegation knowing that the FEC will most likely not rule on the complaint for months. They used this tactic against Deborah Pryce in 2006 and they are continuing their smear campaign against us this year. This shows that the Ohio Democratic Party knows that Kilroy cannot win a campaign on the issues, so they have to resort to negative politics. They know full well this complaint has no merit and will be dismissed.
McTigue says the donors should have mailed the checks directly to Stivers’ campaign or handed them to the candidate at the event. In announcing the complaint today, Ohio Democratic Party Executive Director Doug Kelly took a shot at Stivers’ past work for Bank One:
“Career banking lobbyist Steve Stivers thinks that basic campaign finance laws do not apply to him and his efforts to raise big money from the banking lobby. We disagree. Steve Stivers should immediately return the tainted money he collected from his banking lobbyist friends.”
