Two PACs fined over disclosure failures
State election officials have fined two controversial political action committees for failing to properly disclose donors and expenditures leading up the August primary and November general election.
On Wednesday, Strong & Free Tennessee was fined $5,000 for its failure to disclose contributions to its PAC and expenditures to support Republican candidates running for state executive committees. The relatively obscure committees serve to elect the party’s chairman, and this year’s election reflected divisions in the state’s Republican party.
The penalty also includes the group’s failure to disclose expenditures in support of two ballot measures: Amendment 1, which gives lawmakers more power to enact abortion regulations, and Amendment 2, which changes the process for selecting appellate judges. Both those measures passed.
Strong & Free faced sharp criticism during the election from some conservative Republicans, who accused the group of using GOP establishment money to defeat Tea Party affiliated candidates.
Despite new filings by Strong & Free Tennessee required by the state’s election commission, it remains unknown who contributed approximately $39,000 to the group. The campaign filings list a nonprofit corporation with the same name as the sole contributor to the PAC. The nonprofit Strong & Free Tennessee was formed last year and has not yet been required to file federal tax forms that reveal its donors.
Gif Thornton, a prominent Republican attorney and lobbyist, represents the PAC. He did not return a call requesting comment.
A separate political action committee was fined $100 in December for failing to register with election officials, despite spending more than $60,000 on a controversial ad last May that compared the Tennessee legislature to the Taliban in an effort to urge voters to vote against Amendment 1.
The ad drew criticism from those on both sides of the abortion debate, as well as from civil rights advocates, who called the ad offensive because it depicted an illustration of a turban-clad man who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent with his foot on a woman’s neck.
The ad, which ran full-page in four of the state’s major newspapers (The Tennessean declined to run the illustration, but ran the text of the ad) was purchased by Tennesseans for Preservation of Personal Privacy, which registered as a nonprofit in April. An attorney for the organization declined to reveal at the time who created the group or funded the ad, generating some mystery about who was behind it.
After being directed to register as an official referendum committee by the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, the group filed disclosure forms that named Robert Doochin as the sole donor.
Doochin lists an address shared by American Paper & Twine Co., a wholesale distributor of paper, packaging, office and janitorial supplies. That company’s president and CEO is Bob Doochin, a well-known Nashville businessman. Doochin did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Strong & Free Tennessee critics said they remain unsatisfied with the actions taken by state election officials.
Mark Winslow, a member of the Tennessee state executive committee and former Tennessee Republican party employee, said the group’s filings “still raise huge questions about their disclosures.” Winslow was among several Republicans to file a complaint with election officials about Strong & Free Tennessee.
Winslow dismissed it the $5,000 fine as too small to have an impact.
“Any group that goes to such lengths to conceal its donors, activities and intent will consider a $5,000 fine to be nothing more than the cost of doing business,” he said. “Average Tennesseans who wish to be involved in the political process and can’t financially compete with secretive PACs dumping thousands of dollars to buy influence are the losers in this ruling. The commission sided with wealthy interests over truthful politics.”
Drew Rawlins, executive director for the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, described the $5,000 fine as “pretty hefty” for a first-time offense.
Reporter Dave Boucher contributed to this report. Reach Anita Wadhwani at 615-259-8092 or on Twitter @AnitaWadhwani.