The state’s political practices commissioner Friday found that Republican Ken Miller’s campaign for governor violated six state campaign finance laws and could face up to $45,000 in fines.
Miller, locked in a seven-way Republican primary that culminates with Tuesday’s election, denounced the commissioner’s findings as politically motivated. He called it a “brazen” attempt “to damage a surging Miller for Governor campaign just four days before the primary.”
Political Practices Commissioner Jim Murry said his office found sufficient evidence to conclude the campaign broke state laws and regulations by taking contributions over the limit and accepting anonymous donations. Murry also said the campaign broke the law when Miller stayed 21 days at no charge at a corporate-owned motel in Missoula during the campaign.
Under state law, Miller could be fined $500 per violation, or up to three times the amount of the illegal contributions or expenditures, whichever is greater.
Murry’s office said the Miller campaign had illegal contributions and expenses estimated at $15,000. Murry said the campaign had $11, 000 in money improperly accounted for and $4,000 in campaign checks improperly written by Miller and his wife, Peggy, when they were not designated as campaign treasurers.
Murry’s findings support allegations filed in April by Miller’s former chief fundraiser, Kelly Bishop of Polson.
The findings now go to the Yellowstone County attorney’s office, which has 30 days to decide whether to pursue civil penalties against the Laurel-based campaign. If the attorney refuses to take the case, it goes back to Murry’s office, which will try to negotiate a settlement. If that fails, the office will file a civil action in district court.
Miller blasted Murry, accusing him of being “still very much a Democratic Party operative.” He noted Murry previously was executive secretary of the Montana AFL-CIO and, prior to his appointment as commissioner by Gov. Brian Schweitzer earlier this year, had been treasurer of the governor’s campaign organization.
After “an exhaustive and painstaking review,” all Murry’s office came up with was “a couple of disputed procedural issues,” which have since been corrected, Miller said. None was substantial, he said.
“The extraordinary timing of their release, just four days before primary election day, is a brazen yet anticipated effort to derail the momentum of the Miller/(Bill) Gallagher primary campaign,” Miller said. “The continued usage of this COPP office for character assassination furthers shows the desperate need for reform of that office.”
When Bishop’s complaint was filed in April, Murry pledged then to issue a decision before the primary.
Murry found sufficient evidence that Miller’s campaign violated state law and regulations by:
n Accepting excess contributions. In some cases, the Miller campaign received donations exceeding the $630-per-contributor limit for the primary. Without getting the necessary approval from donors, the campaign rolled the money into the general election account. A donor can give up to $630 to a governor candidate in the primary and $630 more for the general election.
The campaign didn’t seek permission from these donors until after Bishop filed her complaint and the state investigation was launched, the findings said.
• Failing to report certain contributions.
• Failing to report certain expenditures. The campaign failed to report $905 in wages paid to an employee on its original campaign finance report in April. It was correct in an amended report last month.
• Accepting anonymous contributions. It received one $50 anonymous donation in 2011 and six anonymous contributions totaling $502 earlier this year. The political practices office notified Miller’s campaign in December and January that it had to either identify a donor for the anonymous contribution or donate that money to a nonprofit group. On May 7, the campaign wrote a check for a $200 donation to a Laurel nonprofit group.
• Accepting direct contributions from a corporation. Miller received motel rooms free of charge from the Super 8 Motel in Missoula on 21 nights. The motel is owned by a corporation named A M S Ranch Inc. in Conrad.
Sonya Quackenbush, one of the owners, said if she had charged Miller, she would have charged him the “regular customer” rate of $40 per night, plus tax. Asked what the “fair market value” of those contributions, she said the rates change all the time and would be difficult to calculate.
However, the political practices office, using rates for the motel listed on the Internet, calculated the fair market value of the rooms “comped” to Miller at $1,408, not including taxes, about $67 per night.
• Making expenditures by persons other than appointed campaign treasurer or authorized campaign treasurer. Miller and his wife, Peggy, were the authorized signatories on the campaign account, even though neither was designated a treasurer or deputy treasurer prior to Bishop’s complaint.
In addition, the political practices office found that Quackenbush, an owner of the Missoula motel, made an illegal corporate contribution directly to Miller by letting him stay there at no charge.
The commissioner’s investigation noted Miller is not an inexperienced candidate. He ran for governor in 2004, was state Republican Party chairman in 2001-2004 and was twice elected to the Montana Senate in the 1990s.
The Millers maintained control of the campaign checkbook, invoices and receipts and wouldn’t give them to the treasurer, Patsy Guenthner, “thereby preventing her from having access to relevant information and severely hampering her ability to perform her duties as treasurer,” the findings said.
Bishop said she feels vindicated by the commissioner’s findings.
“I feel like my allegations were obviously all true,” Bishop said. “He failed to represent his campaign, the Republican Party, the tea party and his supporters by his actions of not upholding the law following proper campaign finance rules.”
Port Vale: Gills switch? That's news to me, declares Adams - This is Sentinel
MICKY Adams insists he is still committed to Port Vale after the club refused Gillingham permission to speak to him about their vacant manager's position.
Adams is clear favourite with the bookies to be appointed at Priestfield, where the 50-year-old started his playing career in 1979.
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Port Vale manager Micky Adams
Vale announced yesterday that there had been an approach for Adams, although that was quickly denied by Gills chairman Paul Scally, a friend of the Vale boss.
Adams, who arrived back at Vale Park for a second spell in charge 13 months ago, last night stood by previous comments when he refuted any desire to move south.
"I'm still the manager at Port Vale and I'm happy at the club. The situation has not changed," he said.
"I'm trying to enjoy a holiday, and talk about Gillingham making an approach was news to me. As far as I'm concerned, that's that."
Prospective Vale owner Keith Ryder has already said he is looking forward to working with Adams, and has promised him an improved budget to finance a promotion push next season.
And after moving quickly to rebuff any interest in Adams from Vale's League Two rivals, Ryder said: "Micky is an integral part of what we are trying to build at Port Vale and, to my knowledge, he has no desire to leave."
The Sentinel exclusively revealed last month that Gillingham were keen to take Adams back to Kent.
However, Scally, who is looking for a replacement for Andy Hessenthaler, was quick to pour cold water on Vale's claim that he had tried to speak to Adams. He told BBC Radio Kent it was "complete rubbish", but refused to say who his actual managerial targets were.
Adams, meanwhile, continues to plan for the future, even though he cannot commence his summer rebuilding programme until Vale come out of administration.
Ryder, whose £1.3m bid to buy the club was approved by creditors last month, had hoped his takeover would be ratified by the Football League board on Wednesday.
Instead, he has been asked for more information on his plans for the club, meaning it could be three weeks before the deal is finally cleared and Vale's transfer restrictions lifted.
Adams denied it was a setback. He said: "The time scale has not altered. You cannot exchange player contracts until July 1, and that has not changed. I'm still speaking to players all the time and that will continue."
Union raises concerns over Hertfordshire police privatisation plan - Watford Observer
Union raises concerns over Hertfordshire police privatisation plan
5:30pm Friday 1st June 2012 in News By Mike Wright, Chief Reporter
A police union has raised concerns about Hertfordshire Constabulary’s plans to privatise some of its back office functions.
The Hertfordshire Police Branch of Unison has described proposals to outsource services such as human resources, finance and IT as a step too far.
The comments come after Hertfordshire Police Authority agreed to draw up a business case for privatising some of its back-office functions along with police services in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, with which it is partnered.
The force has said the move in necessary to plug a £73m shortfall in the fund for the three counties.
Hertfordshire Police Authority will look at more detailed proposals later this month.
If agreed by all three police authorities, the earliest that outsourced services could be in place would be April 2013.
However Unison said police staff were a dedicated and vital part of the force and lumping them in as “back office” was simplistic and unhelpful.
The union pointed to the role police staff had played in the riots in directing officers to where they needed to be, adding that they had a direct impact on the effectiveness of frontline officers.
Unison also said there is no evidence that privatising police services makes them more efficient.
A spokesman for Unison said: “None of the previous experiments with police privatisation have proven to provide more value for money.
"In fact, no force has yet dared to release the performance data of its private contractors.”
Pakistan Cuts Taxes, Raises Salaries Risking Deficit Target - Bloomberg
Pakistan cut taxes and raised government salaries in an election-year budget that risks missing a target to narrow the deficit from a three-year high.
The government pledged to narrow the budget gap to 4.7 percent of gross domestic product in the year ending June 30, 2013 from 7.4 percent of GDP in the previous 12 months, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said in his budget speech in Islamabad yesterday. Opposition lawmakers shouted anti- government slogans, held up placards and scuffled during the presentation.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s government, facing a general election by February at the latest, is under pressure to counter growing public anger over power blackouts, the fastest inflation in Asia and an insurgency on the Afghan border. The government is relying on domestic borrowings after aid flows from the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund dwindled.
“Raising salaries, reducing duties and increasing expenditure means they are likely to miss the fiscal deficit target once again,” said Saad Khan, fund manager and economist at Askari Investment Management Ltd. in Karachi which oversees 25 billion rupees ($267 million) in stocks and bonds.
Salaries, Pensions
Government salaries and pensions were raised by 20 percent and subsidies were cut by 60 percent to 208.5 billion rupees, Shaikh said. The government will increase cash transfers to the poor to 70 billion rupees from 50 billion rupees this year.
“We kept our promise to honest tax payers by not putting further burden on them and in fact providing relief,” Shaikh said at his post-budget news conference in Islamabad today.
Federal excise duties were abolished on 10 items including livestock insurance, customs duties were reduced to curb smuggling and the turnover tax on businesses was cut to 0.5 percent from 1 percent. A levy on cement was cut by 100 rupees a metric ton, tax relief was provided to voluntary pension schemes and the income tax exemption limit was raised by 100,000 rupees, Shaikh said.
The 2.96 trillion rupee budget was unveiled after the nation’s financial markets closed. The Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index (KSE100) rose 0.7 percent today and has climbed 14.5 percent in the past year. The Pakistan rupee was at 93.67 against the dollar, having declined 7.7 percent over the past 12 months.
‘Huge Challenge’
“The rising fiscal deficit is posing a huge challenge for policy makers,” said Raza Jafri, head of research at AKD Securities Ltd. in Karachi. “They need to find ways to increase tax income and cut subsidies without hurting growth.”
The government set a tax collection target of 2.38 trillion rupees for the 12 months ending June 30, 2013, a 22 percent increase, Shaikh said.
Pakistan recorded its highest budget deficit of 8.8 percent of GDP in the year ended June 1991, according to government data. The administration estimates 3.7 percent economic expansion in 2011-2012 and has a goal of 4.3 percent growth for the next fiscal year.
Pakistan is trying to mend a fractious relationship with its main aid provider, the U.S., which scaled back funds over differences on how to stop militant groups from operating in the country’s tribal areas and a refusal to re-open supply routes for NATO troops in Afghanistan. The Senate Appropriations Committee has requested $1 billion in aid for Pakistan for fiscal year 2013, down from about $1.5 billion.
Defense Budget
Pakistan raised defense spending by 7 percent to 545 billion rupees for the year starting July 1, according to the budget documents.
With a view to wooing voters ahead of the election, the government on May 24 said it would increase spending on roads, electricity, education and healthcare by 19.5 percent to 873 billion rupees in the 12 months starting July 1. The Prime Minister will move to a “small house,” giving up the official mansion so it can become an institute of advanced studies, Shaikh said.
As aid dried up, the administration borrowed 442 billion rupees from the central bank in the first 11 months of the fiscal year, defeating its zero-borrowing target. That was double the amount borrowed last year, State Bank of Pakistan data shows.
Rising Borrowings
Borrowings may still rise. An $11.3 billion IMF loan to Pakistan expired in September, with disbursements suspended in May 2010 after the country failed to meet conditions attached to it.
The Washington-based lender, which has described the country’s economy as “highly vulnerable,” said in February the government should widen the tax base, curb some subsidies and curtail central bank financing of the budget deficit. Inflation accelerated to a 10-month high of 12.29 percent in May, limiting room to cut interest rates to support the $200 billion economy. The pace of price gains is the fastest in a basket of 17 Asia- Pacific economies tracked by Bloomberg.
The government plans to spend 183 billion rupees to reduce a record shortage of power and is willing to commit ”unlimited resources,” to end this crisis, Shaikh said in his speech, as protesters burned tires and destroyed state property in Faisalabad and Multan, Gilani’s hometown.
Energy shortages are adding to challenges and may slice 4 percentage points off economic growth in the current fiscal year, according to the Planning Commission of Pakistan.
To contact the reporter on this story: Haris Anwar in Islamabad at Hanwar2@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.net
Money a good thing in Scott Walker recall election - Washington Times
SALT LAKE CITY, June 2, 2012 — Wisconsin voters look poised to deliver a fairly telling vote of confidence for their governor, Scott Walker.
To Democrats, whose heretofore legislatively-guaranteed political advantages have helped them to engineer the recall, Walker's probable victory only serves as proof that the Republican governor is unfairly buying the election.
Setting aside the obvious hypocrisy of the conventional wisdom that President Obama's unprecedented war chest represents the enthusiasm of millions of ordinary Americans, the idea that Governor Walker's win is tainted by the millions he has spent to run the campaign is preposterous.
Preposterous because it relies on a number of assumptions that are antithetical to American democracy.
The first of these assumptions is that voters can't discern issues for themselves, that they are simply mindless automatons who are easily hypnotized by seductive advertising.
If that is the case, perhaps President Obama's impressive victory in 2008 wasn't so impressive after all, considering that he outspent his rival many times over in the closing weeks of the presidential contest.
Closer to home, the recall effort against Walker himself was financed by those with a stake in getting him out of office. He did not ask for this election, so for liberals to complain that he is raising and spending money in an effort to make his case to voters is a bit disingenuous.
Of course it was their perfect right to dedicate their own time and resources to the recall effort. Indeed, in a participatory democracy, it should be lauded. So too, should the contributions and participation of thousands of donors who have decided to commit their resources to the governor.
John Nichols complains in the Capital Times, a left-leaning newspaper, that Walker exploited a "loophole in Wisconsin election law which removes contribution limits for officials seeking to prevent a recall election." He neglects to mention that the loophole is purposeful and consistent, since no limit exists on raising funds to mount a recall in the first place.
Nor should there be. Citizens who choose to engage in politics shouldn't be hindered by laws designed to restrict how they spend time or money. And it seems ridiculous to expect that a sitting governor should be powerless while his opponents amass their forces against him setting up a recall.
Another faulty assumption that liberals make is that money from business associations (to which they try to tie Walker) is somehow less virtuous than money from other types of associations.
The Left's preferred association is the labor union, and it was they who organized what might very well turn out to be the most colossal strategic error of the past decade. Nevertheless, the fight is almost completely over union money—whether union bosses can use the machinery of the state to forcibly extract political funds from public employees—and initially financed by union money. If anyone can be accused of trying to buy the gubernatorial seat in Wisconsin, it is the public sector unions, not the current governor who already won it less than two years ago.
A third bad assumption is that money actually moves votes.
ABC news reports that the executive director of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is skeptical.
"So far," said Mike McCabe, "the tens of millions of dollars that have been spent on ads don’t seem to have moved the needle very much. Poll numbers haven’t changed much. Walker’s approval ratings haven’t changed. So the tens of millions spent don’t seem to have changed very many minds."
On the other hand, the act of contributing is a civic act that has great importance. It is a way for people to get involved and show their support for one cause or the other. So far, Walker is winning that contest, which infuriates the Left because part of their trope is that they represent the masses.
Recall the weeks and months of large scale demonstrations at the state capitol in Madison, a sign, we were told, that the people were unhappy with the governor. Their mobilization was lauded as high-minded political participation.
Some people skip work and march. Others donate a few bucks.
Democrats regularly try to "buy" elections. Governor Walker's challenger, Tom Barrett, has frantically tried to raise money. The unions have poured in precious dollars during every phase of the foolhardy recall, from the state senatorial elections to that of the state supreme court seat held by David Prosser.
If they could raise more money, they would.
For them to claim that Scott Walker is trying to buy the election simply because he has been more successful at raising money is ignorant of the role of money in American elections, and the freedoms it represents.
Learn more about the author at Rich-Stowell.com
Rich is a teacher and a soldier. In addition to writing the "Rich Like Me" political column at the Washington Times Communities, he is the author of Nine Weeks: A Teacher’s Education in Army Basic Training; Tunnel Club; and Not Another Boring Textbook: A High School Students’ Guide to their Inner Conservative, which you can follow on Facebook.
This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.
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