FEC complaint filed against PAC
By Klaus Marre

Citing a “pattern of flagrantly violating campaign finance laws,” a watchdog group yesterday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against the political action committee (PAC) of rum maker Bacardi.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonpartisan and nonprofit watchdog group, filed the complaint against the PAC and its Treasurer Robert Higdon, for failing to provide campaign finance reports and for not disclosing contributions made to lawmakers.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) are among the lawmakers to receive money from the Bacardi PAC.

CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said: “How many times can one company make secret contributions to Tom DeLay before the government steps in?”

In March, the group filed a similar complaint, and last year it asked the IRS to audit DeLay’s Americans for a Republican Majority PAC (ARMPAC) because it did not disclose that Bacardi gave free liquor and hats to attendees of an ARMPAC fundraiser.

Sloan said it is “pretty unusual” that a PAC would just decide not to file an FEC report, adding that Bacardi’s inaction “completely violates everything about the [campaign finance] law” and that “inevitably, the FEC will do something about it.”

The PAC did not file an electronic year-end report for 2003 although it has been advised by the FEC that it is required to do so.

According to Bacardi’s paper submission, the PAC made contributions of $8,500 in the second half of last year but the filing did not indicate to whom the money was given, CREW alleges.

The group also claims that Bacardi also made at least three contributions in the first quarter of this year that were not disclosed to the FEC, including a $2,500 contribution to ARMPAC, a $1,000 contribution to Nelson and a $1,000 contribution to the campaign of Connie Mack, a Republican candidate for Florida’s 14th Congressional District and son of former Sen. Connie Mack (R-Fla.), who now lobbies for Bacardi.

Recipients of the undisclosed contributions have all supported Cuban trademark legislation, which critics say would only benefit Bacardi.

Sloan said she hopes that the FEC would have found the undisclosed contributions by itself. She added that the campaign donations “were easy to find” because the recipients, other than DeLay, all have signed on to the legislation.

Although not a co-sponsor this year, DeLay tried to insert the trademark language into a defense authorization bill. Critics of the legislation say it would help Bacardi in a trademark dispute over the popular “Havana Club” label with the Cuban government. They add that if it was signed into law, the bill could negatively affect U.S. companies if Cuba retaliated by not honoring American trademarks.

According to FEC’s website, because of the PAC’s limited activity, the fines for not filing the reports on time would be limited, although they increase with each prior violation. Bacardi has no prior violations with the FEC.

However, if the FEC determines that the failure to disclose contributions was a “knowing and willful” violation of campaign finance laws, it could impose stiffer penalties oft $10,000 per violation.

Calls to Bacardi’s PAC and DeLay’s office were not returned by press time.

Top Perry Aide Was Mastermind Behind TAB Efforts In '02 Election

AUSTIN--Mike Toomey, now chief of staff to Texas Governor Rick Perry was the mastermind behind the Texas Association of Business' $1.9 million advertising campaign during the final weeks of the 2002 elections.

According to published reports, Toomey, a TAB director, gathered corporate execs for meetings to finance and execute the massive direct-mailing advertising campaign that is now the center of an investigation by the Travis County District Attorney's Office, according to the Austin American Statesman.

A grand jury is presently meeting to determine whether or not the undisclosed corporate spending violated Texas campaign finance laws.

According to the Statesman, AT&T and insurance companies Aetna and Cigna were three of the companies that helped pay for the direct mailing effort.

Toomey's meetings reportedly included business association lobbyists, PR professionals, representatives from Texans for Lawsuit Reform, and John Colyandro of Texans for a Republican Majority, the political committee that is the brainchild of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Sugar Land).

TRL and TRMPAC contributed more than $3 million to various campaigns during the 2002 election cycle.

Until the revalations by the Statesman, it was assumed Toomey's role had been limited to a brief "walk-on" appearance in two or three meetings with PR specailsts to help design advertising.

The Statesman, however, reports that a source claims Toomey supervised meetings and worked on fund-raising mailers.

The full scope of the business group's effort was uncovered shortly after the Republicans swept the November 2002 election, when the organization's president, Bill Hammond, boasted that the $1.9 million effort "blew the doors off" the election.