I have often criticized the New London Day, my sort of hometown newspaper. But for all it’s faults, the Day sometimes does yeoman work Ted Mann may be the best political reporter presently operating in Connecticut. He exposed Rell’s pollster shenanigans, and he also took the initiative to burrow into Linda McMahon’s campaign finance reports. Last month he reported that she reported huge, unspecified expenses as in-kind contributions from herself. McMahon, who perhaps is more obviously seeking to buy a Senate seat than anyone else in history (and that’s going some) pooh-poohed the story, but apparently the FEC begs to differ, as Mann reports:
After The Day first reported on the in-kind contributions in December, the McMahon campaign blasted the article as “erroneous,” since the campaign had not received a notice from the FEC requesting more detailed disclosures. And a spokesman said he saw no reason to file additional details with the FEC disclosing the identities of the campaign’s vendors.
“Why would we amend or re-file something that without question is filed correctly?” McMahon spokesman Ed Patru said on Dec. 11.
But attorneys for the FEC believe more detail is required. In a letter sent to the campaign on Christmas Eve, the commission instructs the campaign to provide the names of the recipients of McMahon’s in-kind payments, information that is “essential to the full public disclosure of your federal election campaign finances.”
The notice instructs McMahon’s campaign to provide the information by Jan. 28 or face “enforcement action.”
It should be noted here that it takes a rather blatant violation to get the usually quiescent FEC to take notice. Mann is doing a good job. Here’s hoping Dodd doesn’t do anything to draw his attention.
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