Earlier this summer, we wrote about GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan getting hit with a consumer fraud lawsuit by ex-employees of his various auto dealerships in Florida. Things have gotten even more interesting in recent days, as two ex-employees behind the lawsuit are detailing additional allegations that they faced pressure to donate to Buchanan's congressional campaign in 2006, and were offered cash gifts and other favors as inducements:
Bell, the former finance director at Venice Nissan Dodge, said the day he made a $1,000 donation to the Buchanan campaign, he was given $1,000 in cash from his boss at the auto dealership.
Bell gave the Herald-Tribune bank records, which included copies of a canceled check dated Sept. 17, 2005, to the Buchanan campaign for $1,000 and a cash deposit made to his account the same day for $960. He said he took the rest as spending money.
"I was told I was going to be reimbursed," Bell said. "I either had to do this, or I was told I wouldn't be considered a team player. I took it as a threat. There was no gray area."
This sort of thing is, of course, very illegal:
Federal election law prohibits "using coercion, such as the threat of a detrimental job action, the threat of any other financial reprisal, or the threat of force, to urge any individual to make a contribution or engage in fundraising activities on behalf of a candidate or political committee."
The law also prohibits a candidate's giving cash or other reimbursements to a donor in exchange for a contribution.
There's more:
Kezer, the former finance director at another Buchanan dealership, Sarasota Ford, wrote a $2,000 check to the Buchanan campaign after he said he was told it was important to support the candidate. In exchange for the donation, Kezer said, Buchanan personally promised him a week at Buchanan's Vail, Colo., resort home. Buchanan sold the home last month for $6.5 million.
"He put his arm around me and promised I could use his house in Vail if I donated," Kezer said.
Kezer, 50, said he never went to Buchanan's Colorado home because he feared it was a violation.
Buchanan's camp is pushing back aggressively against the chargest, but it's unclear what, if anything, will come of all this. One thing is certain: this isn't exactly the kind of press that Buchanan wants to have as he heads into the final months of his first re-election campaign.
SSP currently rates this race as Likely Republican. |
