Blackburn pays fine in funds dispute
By Bartholomew Sullivan
sullivanb@shns.com
April 25, 2006
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s campaign committee paid a $1,500 fine and entered into a negotiated settlement in a dispute with the Federal Elections Commission last month after an inquiry found the committee underreported contributions by more than $61,800.
The FEC also found that Blackburn’s committee failed to accurately report $50,046 in disbursements. The campaign committee’s Nashville lawyer, Kline Preston, signed the agreement with the FEC in which the reporting errors are referred to as an “inadvertent violation” of federal election laws due to “inexperienced staff.” Corrected reports were later submitted.
Blackburn, R-Tenn., is seeking her third term in a district that includes parts of eastern Shelby County. Neither her congressional press spokesman nor Preston responded to requests for comment Monday.
The $1,500 payment to the FEC is noted in Blackburn’s April quarterly filing to the FEC with the reference “Other: ADR,” an abbreviation for alternative dispute resolution. The three-month report also records payments totaling $3,874 for office supplies and $2,380 for legal services. The committee has $617,251 in cash on hand.
The Commercial Appeal reported earlier this month that the FEC cited Blackburn’s political action committee, Wedge PAC, for making an excessive contribution to her campaign committee in December. Her son-in-law, lobbyist Paul J. Ketchel III, had been Wedge PAC’s treasurer at the time of that contribution. The overpayment was later reimbursed.
In February, the newspaper reported that the Blackburn campaign and Wedge PAC had paid more than $123,000 since November 2002 for political consultations and fund-raising assistance to Political Concepts LLC, a company founded by Ketchel and Blackburn’s daughter, Mary, and operated from their home in a Nashville suburb.
The story noted that the practice of hiring relatives for campaign work is both legal and commonplace.
In the negotiated settlement agreement with the FEC, entered into March 21, the campaign committee explained that the error in the disbursements was caused by entering the same figure twice and the error in the receipts was a “data input error.”
Contact Washington correspondent Bartholomew Sullivan at (202) 408-2726.