Looking over Brian Kemp’s financial disclosure statement, he has some contributions that while apparently technically legal, stink.
You see, per the State Ethics Commission, the limits for any donation from a “person, corporation, political committee, or political party” to “any candidate for state-wide elected office” are:
$6,100 for a Primary Election
$3,600 for a Primary Election Runoff
$6,100 for a General Election
$3,600 for a General Election Runoff
However, looking at Kemp’s financial disclosure report, I saw the following donations, each at the $6,100 limit:
Stacy Leebern of Columbus, GA
Donald Leebern III of Columbus, GA (twice!)
Donald Leebern Jr of McDonough, GA
Mrs Donald Leebern Jr of Columbus GA
Integrated Power Solutions of Covington, GA (twice!)
J. Clay Newman of Covington, GA (Chairman of Integrated Power Solutions) (twice!)
Judy Newman of Covington, GA (same address as J. Clay Newman, Court Reporter for Alcovy Judicial Circuit) (twice!)
Note that the total for all ‘Leebern’ last names – that appear to be a man, his son, and their wives – is $30,500 and the total for all that appear to be connected to Integrated Power Solutions is $36,600.
The Leeberns themselves account for just over 11% of Kemp’s total contributions so far, and the total for those that appear to be directly connected to Integrated Power Solutions is nearly 14% – meaning that the two groups together – and I am NOT suggesting these two groups know each other nor am I suggesting they are coordinating their contributions, I am SIMPLY noting the math here – combine for roughly 25% of Kemp’s contributions thus far.
I spoke with Mr. Kemp about a previous angle of this post before I knew that $6,100 was the actual current limit, and he assured me that his legal team had verified to him that all of these contributions were perfectly legal. I have no reason to doubt him at all there, and I am NOT accusing Mr. Kemp of any illegal acts whatsoever.
All I am saying is that these contributions from the Leeberns and Integrated Power Solutions stink, on the order of the John Oxendine Contribution Scandal – possibly even worse.
I don’t see what the problem is. A “person, corporation, political committee, or political party” can give $6,100 to “any candidate for state-wide elected office” in a primary election (your words, not mine). There is no reason why each of the Leeberns cannot give his or her money to the candidate of his or her choice, whoever that happens to be. This wouldn’t be a problem is it was a candidate that you supported.
Actually, it would. And I’ll be making it a point to note ANY of this that happens from ANY candidate. If it indeed becomes a pattern, as I’ve been told by some state wide politicos (including one directly linked to a GAGOV campaign) that it is, we have a FAR more serious problem than any one candidate or party – I just sincerely hope the Libertarian Party isn’t tainted by this crap as well.
Come on guys, give Brian a break. As you said in the article, he has broken no laws. How do you propose running for office without legally raising money? Please get serious with your writing or else you guys risk losing credibility realy quickly. Brian is a great guy and he deserves better than this. You owe it to us all to do a better job than this going forward. There is no story here. Please move on.
How about we let the people of Georgia decide what is and is not a story, Jay? A lot of things are perfectly legal – and wrong. But you’re right, I did say that he has broken no laws, because that is the truth. My opinion, however, is that it still smells to high heaven. Mr. Kemp was very gracious in returning my calls earlier about a prior version of this post, before I knew that $6,100 was the current maximum limit – in fact, he was kind enough to point me to the very page I linked to from the State Ethics Commission. I sincerely hope to have positive things to report about him, and if he is ever here in the Albany area, I would love to interview him for this site.
But no matter how nice a politician is, I DO want them to avoid even the APPEARANCE of impropriety, particularly when it comes to things that could potentially directly impact their on-the-job decisions. And the fact that roughly 25% of Mr. Kemp’s donations thus far has essentially come from one of two sources APPEARS to be an impropriety, even if nothing was meant by it from the donors or Mr. Kemp. Hopefully, Mr. Kemp will be able to raise more money from other sources throughout the next 6 months, and maybe after the December 31 reports come out, these contributions won’t be as high a percentage of his total war chest as they are now. Hopefully his money will have come from a more diverse spread of the population – something that I didn’t point out in this post is that the vast majority of his donations, like the vast majority of his non-legislator endorsements, has come from the area around Athens in Northeast Georgia. There are a few exceptions to that rule, but they appeared to be just that – exceptions.
Honestly, I really don’t have an opinion on who to support for the SoS race thus far. I talked to Gary Horlacher a little over a month ago, and I like a lot of what he told me, but I’m still looking to see what Mr. Kemp and Mr. MacGinnitie put forth before I make a decision.
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It’s called bundling. And it’s been around forever. It’s legal but as far as its morality, YMMV.
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