The North Carolina State Board of Elections has came down with a ruling in the inquiry from Keith Brown to the campaign contribution of $5,000 from Action Greensboro to the George C. Simkins Jr. Memorial Political Action Committee.
To see the official letter from the State Board of Elections click on the title above or CLICKHERE
To understand the history of this issue Triadwatch has a post back on January 25, 2009 called "Letter of Inquiry to the State Board of Elections on Simkins PAC and Action Greensboro" CLICKHERE
Here are a few of the questions that were sent to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
#1 Is the maximum contribution $4,000 per cycle?
YES
The Simkins PAC and Action Greensboro violated North Carolina General Statute 163-278.13 where the maximum amount that can be given is $4,000 per cycle.
#2 Can a 501(c)3 non profit organization like Action Greensboro give to a PAC?
NO
Action Greensboro was in violation of North Carolina General Statute 163-278.19 because Action Greensboro is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)3 group and therefore is prohibited from making contributions to political action committees registered in the State of North Carolina. The next letter of inquiry should be to the Internal Revenue Service.
What happened to the $5,000 given to the Simkins PAC?
The state board concluded that this money was considered a prohibited receipt and would need to forfeit the contribution to the North Carolina Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund.
On March 6, 2009 a check in the amount of $5,000 was given to the North Carolina Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund by none other than Melvin "Skip" Alston, the treasurer of the Simkins PAC and also chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissions and local lawyer R. Steve Bowden name was also on the letter from the state.
As reported in the past on Triadwatch, Skip Alston has his own link CLICKHERE , where you can see from past post that the Simkins PAC might need to hire another treasurer because he doesn't have a clue on campaign law or lately he doesn't have a clue on open meetings law as well.
This campaign contribution from Action Greensboro brings up a whole lot of issues that have been talked about in the past and need to be looked at more closely in the future.
Here is a good post on Joe Guarino's blog where Skip Moore from the Weaver Foundation and a member of Action Greensboro wanted to cover his you know what on this $5,000 contribution, here is the link CLICKHERE with a title "Action Greensboro's Pay to Play".
Campaign laws in this state are pretty clear and the total lax reporting of our local Guilford County politicians in regards to campaign contributions need a complete overhaul. The Greensboro municipal elections are coming up in fall and I would like to suggest to all of them to clean up their reports and make sure you are following state law or it will get reported and brought to the attention of our local board or in the case of the Action Greensboro, illegal contribution to the George Simkins Jr. Memorial Political Action Committee it will need to go to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
This is citizen journalism at it's best.
Update: Local Post
Greensboro News and Record article CLICKHERE
Joe Guarino's Blog CLICKHERE
FEC CLICKHERE
Spag Report CLICKHERE
Yes! Weekly CLICKHERE
Piedmont Publius CLICKHERE
Tony Wilkins CLICKHERE
Greensboro Metro CLICKHERE
7 comments:
Congratulations.
$5,000 is chump change. Look for other consideration - employment, jobs, contracts, etc. that are being made.
It's like the mafia. There's a dollar value; but only goods and services are exchanged because the tracks are hard to follow.
thanks FEC and Don you are correct and those need to be brought out for all to see as well.
Like EC wrote yesterday, "These blogs write themselves..."
Keith you are like a Pit bull on a ham bone. You just won't let go of it. Congratulations and thanks for demonstrating once again the power of persistence.
Keith, well done!
Thank, david
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