NEWS & COMMENTARY Complaint re Rep. Brian Brown's campaign reports illustrates the sham that is campaign finance reporting in North Carolina



There's an interesting political race shaping up in Pitt County for the House 9 Republican Primary. Incumbent Brian Brown is being challenged by Ashley Bleu. The district is one of those redrawn by the Republican legislature to switch it from Democrat to Republican. It covers most of eastern Pitt County along with an area in southeastern Greenville. Brown won the seat in 2012 by defeating Marian McLawhorn, who had served since 1999, with a margin of 1,136 votes out of a total of 38,424. He defeated Jack Wall, in the Republican Primary by a vote of 3702 to 2424.



The district is 45% Democrat, 32% Republican and 23% Unaffiliated. As such, the district is typical of many "swing" districts, including Beaufort, which would be heavily Democrat over Republican but were it not for the Unaffiliated. If a candidate in such districts gets most of the Republican vote and the Unaffiliated vote then the chances are that candidate will defeat the Democrat. Without that coalition vote (R+U) the Democrat wins. But that depends on turnout. If a significant number of Republicans and/or Unaffiliated don't vote the Republican has little chance of winning in the General Election.



Observers knowledgeable of House 9 tell us that another dynamic is present in the 2014 primary. "It is simply a battle between the Establishment and Grassroots elements of the conservative coalition," we were told. "Ashley is a solid conservative who is supported by many in the TEA Party, Liberty Caucus and anti-Establishment folk who don't see much difference between the current Republican leadership and the Democrats. Brian was supported by the Tillis element in 2012 and will probably be supported by them in 2014. The difference is that some believe there has been a shift against the Tillis Establishment since 2012 and this makes this year's primary so interesting," our source tells us. We were told that the perception among the Grassroots leadership in the district is that Brown has been a puppet of the House Leadership and pandered heavily to special interests. His campaign finance reports would seem to confirm this.



A formal complaint was filed March 17, 2014 by Todd Bennett with the State Board of Elections asking the SBOE to audit and investigate Brown's campaign. You can review the complaint by



You will note that Bennett says his attention was directed toward Brown as a result of investigations that volunteers have been doing on the influence of what Bennett characterizes as a "radical environmental group known as (the) Coastal Conservation Association." The CCA is the lobbying arm of what is generally perceived to be the "sports fishermen" element that has been pushing for more restrictive regulations on "commercial fishermen." Sports or recreational fishermen generally fish with hook and line. Commercial fishermen use nets and their product is what you buy in fresh seafood markets and restaurants. Bleau is the owner of a fresh seafood market and restaurant (Dingbatters) in Greenville. One of Brown's contributors is Parker Overton, whose name is synonymous with sports fishing. Overton's, in Greenville, is one of the nation's largest sporting goods retailers.



However, Overton's contributions, whether connected to the CCA's lobbying or not, were insignificant compared to those that came from the House leadership. The reports show that several legislators made contributions to Brown from their own campaign funds. You can see some of these beginning on Page 35 of the document linked above. Noteworthy is the maximum contribution ($4000) from Rep Ruth Samuelson, who was rumored to be running to be the next Speaker of the House, Skip Stam a key leader in the House who gave $2000, and the N. C. Republican Party pitched in nearly $22,106 (page 68) although it appears Brown's campaign then sent $10,000 to the Republican House Caucus (page 77). Brown also donated $8300 to the Thom Tillis Committee (page 122).



The complaint also raises questions about disbursements made from Brown's campaign to his business, Rep Express Catering. The reports don't provide enough information to ascertain what the payments were for. We understand this is one of Bennett's major contentions—that an audit should be done to determine how the amount of payments to his business were determined (number of people attending, kind of food served etc.)



Commentary



This report illustrates what we have said here on numerous occasions: The SBOE is not doing the job it should be doing to insure actual transparency. You can't tell, often, where the money came from or where it went. Brown's reports are typical of this problem. For example, simply listing that $6339.12 (page 124) was paid to "Rep Express Catering" does not give enough information to determine whether the $6339.12 was a reasonable expense for a legitimate activity or whether it was an illegal transfer to money from a political campaign to a candidate's personal/business accounts. Likewise, with Brown's reports it is often difficult to determine who the donor actually is. Often these reports omit the required employer's name and occupation. Similarly, to say that you paid a consultant for "research" or "training" tells the public very little. The disclosure should document what the actual expenditure was for such as a business audit requires a substantiating itemized invoice to support a disbursement.



What is obvious to us is that Bennett has a very legitimate complaint about the ambiguity of the reports. Too often the required information is not showing. This is particularly true, as we have seen with some candidates here in Beaufort County, the name of the recipient of disbursements is not sufficient to know who got the money. The form requires an address. It is often left blank. The report forms don't require that it be shown who the principals are of the "business" that receives the disbursement. ACORN should have shown the SBOE that such reporting is not sufficient for honest disclosure.



And neither the press nor a citizen such as Mr. Bennett should have to file a formal complaint to simply find out where the money actually came from and for what it was actually spent. For example, what does a $4000 (the legal maximum) donation from "Friends of Ruth Samuelson" tell the average citizen who does not happen to know who Ms. Samuelson actually is? This report (page 106) does not even list their address.



We'll have more on this in later articles. We have some experienced campaign finance reporters going over these records and we'll let you know what we come up with. And there are other major issues we see in these reports that we will focus on in a separate article.



That is not to suggest that Mr. Brown is guilty of any wrongdoing. He is obviously guilty of not filing complete and accurate reports. But whether there is a "smoking gun" here we are not suggesting there is. But for us, that is the problem. You just cannot tell. Campaign finance reporting in North Carolina is just a sham. There's an interesting political race shaping up in Pitt County for the House 9 Republican Primary. Incumbent Brian Brown is being challenged by Ashley Bleu. The district is one of those redrawn by the Republican legislature to switch it from Democrat to Republican. It covers most of eastern Pitt County along with an area in southeastern Greenville. Brown won the seat in 2012 by defeating Marian McLawhorn, who had served since 1999, with a margin of 1,136 votes out of a total of 38,424. He defeated Jack Wall, in the Republican Primary by a vote of 3702 to 2424.The district is 45% Democrat, 32% Republican and 23% Unaffiliated. As such, the district is typical of many "swing" districts, including Beaufort, which would be heavily Democrat over Republican but were it not for the Unaffiliated. If a candidate in such districts gets most of the Republican vote and the Unaffiliated vote then the chances are that candidate will defeat the Democrat. Without that coalition vote (R+U) the Democrat wins. But that depends on turnout. If a significant number of Republicans and/or Unaffiliated don't vote the Republican has little chance of winning in the General Election.Observers knowledgeable of House 9 tell us that another dynamic is present in the 2014 primary. "It is simply a battle between the Establishment and Grassroots elements of the conservative coalition," we were told. "Ashley is a solid conservative who is supported by many in the TEA Party, Liberty Caucus and anti-Establishment folk who don't see much difference between the current Republican leadership and the Democrats. Brian was supported by the Tillis element in 2012 and will probably be supported by them in 2014. The difference is that some believe there has been a shift against the Tillis Establishment since 2012 and this makes this year's primary so interesting," our source tells us. We were told that the perception among the Grassroots leadership in the district is that Brown has been a puppet of the House Leadership and pandered heavily to special interests. His campaign finance reports would seem to confirm this.A formal complaint was filed March 17, 2014 by Todd Bennett with the State Board of Elections asking the SBOE to audit and investigate Brown's campaign. You can review the complaint by clicking here. You will note that Bennett says his attention was directed toward Brown as a result of investigations that volunteers have been doing on the influence of what Bennett characterizes as a "radical environmental group known as (the) Coastal Conservation Association." The CCA is the lobbying arm of what is generally perceived to be the "sports fishermen" element that has been pushing for more restrictive regulations on "commercial fishermen." Sports or recreational fishermen generally fish with hook and line. Commercial fishermen use nets and their product is what you buy in fresh seafood markets and restaurants. Bleau is the owner of a fresh seafood market and restaurant (Dingbatters) in Greenville. One of Brown's contributors is Parker Overton, whose name is synonymous with sports fishing. Overton's, in Greenville, is one of the nation's largest sporting goods retailers.However, Overton's contributions, whether connected to the CCA's lobbying or not, were insignificant compared to those that came from the House leadership. The reports show that several legislators made contributions to Brown from their own campaign funds. You can see some of these beginning on Page 35 of the document linked above. Noteworthy is the maximum contribution ($4000) from Rep Ruth Samuelson, who was rumored to be running to be the next Speaker of the House, Skip Stam a key leader in the House who gave $2000, and the N. C. Republican Party pitched in nearly $22,106 (page 68) although it appears Brown's campaign then sent $10,000 to the Republican House Caucus (page 77). Brown also donated $8300 to the Thom Tillis Committee (page 122).The complaint also raises questions about disbursements made from Brown's campaign to his business, Rep Express Catering. The reports don't provide enough information to ascertain what the payments were for. We understand this is one of Bennett's major contentions—that an audit should be done to determine how the amount of payments to his business were determined (number of people attending, kind of food served etc.)

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