Carroll County Republican Club charged with violating two state election laws
November 2nd, 2006
All the local Carroll County newspapers have posted articles early Thursday evening, November 2nd, 2006, that report that the Maryland State Prosecutor has filed charges against the Carroll County Republican Club president Scott Hollenbeck and club secretary Suzanne Primoff for “alleging violations of two state election laws.”
The Westminster Eagle article can be found here: EAGLE ALERT: Republican club charged with election law violations.
The Eldersburg Eagle article can be found here: EAGLE ALERT: Republican club charged with election law violations.
The Baltimore Sun - Carroll Sun article by Laura McCandlish, Sun Reporter, filed at 5:45 PM EST can be found here: “Carroll Co. GOP club said to violate election laws - 2 officers charged for failing to register group as political action committee.”
And the Carroll County Times article by Justin Palk. Times Staff Writer, can be found here: “Charges filed against Republican club.” Mr. Palk’s article is short; hopefully he will write more on Friday, November 3rd, 2006. Update: To find his longer article, click here.
The Westminster Eagle article noted, “The statement by the State Prosecutor’s Office notes that, ‘All of those who have been identified ... are merely charged and are presumed innocent until and unless convicted in a court.’ ”
For my previous posts about the matter of the negative campaigning in Carroll County please see:
20060925 Cartoon on Carroll County primary elections
20060908 Negative ads and fliers plague Carroll County primary election
20060907 Thoughts on the Carroll County primary election
In the September 6th, 2006 issue of the Westminster Eagle and the Eldersburg Eagle, both Editor Jim Joyner and I wrote columns addressing the negative campaigning dynamic in what many recall as one of the most unpleasant election years in 16 years.
The title of my column is: “Just so no to reality TV in Carroll County election campaigns.”
The title of Mr. Joyner’s column is: “Final daze Voters should be aware of wild political finish.”
I also have a Tentacle column addressing this issue of negative campaigning. “Why go negative?”
The best background on this story was written by Justin Palk back on September 7th and 8th, 2006. I just tried the links to the stories and the Carroll County Times does not use permalinks – and the links are dead behind a pay wall.
On September 7th, 2006, Mr. Palk wrote, “State probing election adverts” and on September 8th, 2006, he wrote, “Candidates deny contact with group.”
A portion of the story which Mr. Palk wrote on September 7th, reads:
Maryland's State Board of Elections is reviewing negative campaign ads from what appears to be a new Republican club in Carroll County for compliance with state law.
An organization calling itself the Carroll County Republican Club, which has sent out mailings to county residents, among other advertising, is not registered with the state as a political action committee, said Jared DeMarinis, director of the State Board of Elections' candidacy and campaign finance division.
DeMarinis said he could not comment further on the matter because the board is reviewing it.
In general, organizations that raise or spend money for a specific candidate in an election do have to register with the state, he said.
The ads and mailings, which list Scott Hollenbeck as the club's president, attack the sitting county commissioners and urge voters to back challengers in Tuesday's primary election.
Carroll County Commissioner Perry L. Jones Jr. rejected some of the claims made specifically about him in the ads, such as the accusations that he spends the night in Frederick County, rather than Carroll.
Other accusations are based on incomplete information, he said, such as statements criticizing him and Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge for having county cars, but fail to mention that they both pay leases for their vehicles, he said.
"In a way, it's humiliating, in a way it's hilarious," Jones said. "If we did half of what they say we did, we'd be sitting in the Carroll County lockup, I believe."
The ads contain other inaccuracies as well, including a statement that the county allows multiple housing units to be built on a single building permit, when the county requires one permit per unit, said Vivian Laxton, the county's spokeswoman.
Similarly, the county commissioners are not, as one ad states, considering any legislation that would permit them to impose a personal property tax, Laxton said.
The Carroll County Republican Club does not appear on the list of Republican clubs in Carroll on the Carroll County Republican Central Committee's Web site, and Joe Burns Jr., the committee's secretary, said he had not heard of the organization.
Hollenbeck did not return phone calls or an e-mail requesting comment for this article Wednesday.
Going negative
Negative politics work because it's always easy to find an area of disagreement to focus voters' attention on, and then attack repeatedly on that issue, Thomas Schaller, a professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, wrote in an e-mail. Even if a voter agrees with a candidate on three out of every four issues, he or she can still be persuaded to dislike that candidate on the fourth issue.
People also have better memories for critical messages rather than positive ones, which makes negative politicking a powerful tool, he wrote.
In terms of outright dirty tricks, it's key for the trickster to keep his or her fingerprints off the deed, because tricks have the potential to backfire disastrously if the trickster is caught, Schaller wrote.
The Westminster Eagle article this evening reports that Ms. Primoff and Mr. Hollenbeck, “were charged in Carroll County District Court on Thursday with alleged violations of election laws, namely:
•Engaging in campaign finance activity other than through a campaign finance entity, an offense that is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $25,000; and
•Causing the publication and distribution of campaign literature without a proper authority line, an offense is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.”
Ms. McCandlish reported what many political pundits are saying, on and off the record: "People have gotten tired of all this negativity of the extremists," said Tony Roman, an adjunct political science professor at Carroll Community College. "The Democratic Party is getting a boost out of this. If Beard gets elected, it gives them sort of a basis to start from."
She added: “Both Primoff and Hollenbeck have been outspoken critics of the current board of commissioners, all GOP moderates. Ed Primoff, a club member married to Suzanne Primoff, defended the club's actions today. If the club had agreed to register as a PAC, the state prosecutor would have dropped charges last week, Ed Primoff said.
He said the club rejected that offer. "Everything we did was reviewed by competent legal counsel, and they assured us that we were in compliance with all the Maryland election laws," Primoff said. "This club is fighting corruption and fighting for ideologies that we believe in."
Indeed, The Westminster Eagle article reveals, “In ads published this week, the CCRC contended that it acted in the primary as a political “club,” and not a political action committee.”
I found the ad on page two at this address: http://carrollstandard.com/standard_12p_11-1-06.pdf
In a Baltimore Sun article on October 28, 2006 entitled, “Republicans split in Carroll County - Democrat Beard gains GOP backing,” Sun writers Laura McCandlish and Mary Gail Hare wrote: “ ‘If the primary purpose is campaign finance, then clearly you have to register,’ said Mark J. Davis, the assistant attorney general for the board of elections. "But if the club only occasionally engages in campaign finance, then no registration is required. The laws on political clubs tend to be vague and should be clarified by the General Assembly, Davis added.”
However, in a broad-sweeping conversation earlier this evening with several political scientists, it was called to my attention that the state takes a dim view of folks participating in electioneering without registering and has been relatively consistent in taking the approach that whenever in doubt – register…
I was reminded of a series of instances in the 1986 campaigns in Baltimore County by our current governor, in which the question over registering political action committees was alleged and in that instance, the state pursued the matter, although, it was not clear to me as to the outcome of that example…
On September 8th, 2006, Westminster Eagle Editor penned an article which examined the claims made in the ads and a response by Carroll County government on behalf of Commissioners, Dean Minnich, Perry Jones and Julia Gouge. County government responded because the ads made claims which some would consider a cause for action on the part of county government…
The piece, “County refutes ads, mailers attacking commissioners” 09/08/06
By Jim Joyner, begins:
“Carroll County officials this week refuted several claims made in political ads this past week by a group called the Carroll County Republican Club, saying the bulk of the organization’s accusations are false or misleading.
The group has distributed mailers, placed paid advertising in county newspapers — including The Eagle — and is reportedly also operating an automated messaging campaign, phoning homes in the county.
The bulk of the campaign is aimed at unseating the incumbent Board of County Commissioners, and suggests that voters opt for challengers.
Various aspects of the ad campaign claim… […] Read the rest here.
The fallout?
In a straight-down-the-middle news article written by Kelsey Volkmann in the Baltimore Examiner on October 31st, 2006, entitled, “Zimmer, Beard face off in race for county commissioner seat,” she reported:
“For the first time in more than a decade, a Democrat has garnered support from Republicans for a Carroll County commissioners’ seat.
Dennis Beard, a Democrat with GOP support will face-off against Republican Michael Zimmer in next week’s election.”
Read the rest of the article here.
In conversation after conversation, the feedback that I continue to get from “folks in the grocery store check out line,” is enough already, we can’t wait for this election to over.
Amen.
Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA. E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org http://www.thetentacle.com/ Westminster Eagle Opinion and Winchester Report http://www.thewestminstereagle.com/ www.kevindayhoff.com has moved to http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/
