DEVELOPING: Alan Fine received contribution from non-existent Republican committee
On March 4th, 2005 Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District Republican Committee ceased to exist. It could no longer be active in federal elections unless it re-filed with the FEC. Currently, they have not re-filed.
On June 27th, 2006, Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District Republican Committee gave $5,000 to candidate Alan Fine. They listed their FEC ID number as C10001313.
FEC ID C10001313 belongs to the Republican Party of Minnesota (RPM).
To be honest, I don’t know yet if this is illegal or just a colossal mistake. Either way, the Republican Party along with the FEC need to give voters some much needed clarity on the issue.
Keep checking back to Blanked-Out.com for updates to this and other developing stories.
UPDATE: If anyone can a find a record of the RPM disclosing their contribution to Alan Fine, please post it in the comments ASAP. I’ve been looking and I can’t find any evidence of disclosure in their most recent FEC filing.
If the RPM gave money to Fine, why have they not disclosed it?If the 5th CD Republicans gave money to Fine,why did they not re-file?
UPDATE: MDE has found the committee that gave the money to Fine. Instead of refiling, they created the Fifth CD Republican Committee instead of restarting the 5th CD Republican Committee.
One discrepancy still remains on Fine’s FEC report. The FEC ID number still points to the Republican Party of Minnesota. I can understand why Fine’s campaign might have been confused, as the Republican Party of Minnesota is the only contributor to the Fifth CD Republican Committee.
I’m sure Fine will file an amended disclosure with the corrected information any day now before the FEC needs to take any action. Thanks go out to MDE for helping a first time candidate avoid an uneccessary FEC fine. I couldn’t have done it without you Michael.
August 21st, 2006 at 3:48 pm
[…] Calling All Republican Attack Dogs… By MNCR You guys are getting owned by Noah at Blanked Out! What gives? Triple_A? Gary? Michael? What’s Boss Carey saying about all this? This entry is filed under Blog/Blogger issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. One Response to “Calling All Republican Attack Dogs…” 1 Noah Kunin says: August 21st, 2006 at 1:02 pm This is the best Triple A has to offer: […]
August 21st, 2006 at 5:22 pm
[…] "To be honest, I don’t know yet if this is illegal or just a colossal mistake. Either way, the Republican Party along with the FEC need to give voters some much needed clarity on the issue." Source: Blanked-Out […]
August 21st, 2006 at 5:26 pm
Alan Fine received a contribution from an active Republican committee, not a “non-existent Republican committee” as you reported.
Let me know if you need any tips on how to do FEC searches.
August 21st, 2006 at 6:02 pm
No, I’m good. Thanks for the offer though!
The committee didn’t come up in my searches initially because of the name change - I also think the fact that they are a PO Box in Fridley as opposed to a real address prevented it from showing up in my geographic specfic searches.
Thanks again for your help!
August 21st, 2006 at 7:36 pm
[raises hand] ooooh! show me Michael! ME ME ME!
October 9th, 2006 at 8:43 am
[…] Republicans have to recognize that while Fine was running a unique if quixotic campaign before the primary, it was his injection of “character” into the campaign and his attacks on Ellison that opened him up to the Star Tribune’s line of inquiry, if not their method of inquiry. Fine is a political newcomer, but should have understood the heavy burden of inquiry that would fall upon his family. […]