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Another Republican Senate Candidate Caught Skirting Campaign Finance Laws

Patrick Morrisey is the latest Republican Senate candidate caught using a loophole to skirt campaign finance laws so donors can give more than the maximum donation to his campaign.

A new report from Greenwire details how Morrisey used a “clever way of giving his campaign more time to solicit the biggest possible contributions while abiding by the [Federal Election Commission]’s rules.”

From Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman David Bergstein: “From leading a lawsuit to eliminate protection for pre-existing conditions coverage to hiding public records on his correspondence with pharmaceutical companies, and now a report that his campaign is using shady campaign finance tactics to buy a Senate seat, it’s clear that Patrick Morrisey does not share West Virginia’s values. Voters will hold him accountable for his dangerous agenda and tactics in November.”

Greenwire: Patrick Morrisey’s ‘clever way’ to get more money from donors

Key Points:

  • The two cousins who help run Pennsylvania mining services firm Lee Supply Co. Inc., Shawn and Kevin Lee, each gave $3,000 to West Virginia Republican Senate candidate Patrick Morrisey on July 30. Another family member, CEO Michael Lee, gave the same amount.
  • E&E News first reported on the “debt retirement” tactic in August (Greenwire, Aug. 9). Fundraising emails show Morrisey asking for donations to pay off personal loans the candidate made to his campaign committee before the May GOP primary.
  • “Your contribution (up to $2,700) will be designated for the primary election debt retirement,” a June email states. “The next $2,700 will be designated for the general election.”
  • Debt retirement allows donors who sat out the competitive Republican primary to still give up to the $5,400 individual maximum to Morrisey: $2,700 retroactively applied to the primary and $2,700 for the general.
  • In the case of each member of the Lee family, $2,700 went to pay off Morrisey’s primary debt and $300 for the fight against Manchin.
  • Andrew Mayersohn, a political action committee researcher for the Center for Responsive Politics, called it “a clever way of giving his campaign more time to solicit the biggest possible contributions while abiding by the [Federal Election Commission]’s rules.”

 

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