State Rep. Lance Harris, who was hell-bent on fighting Gov. John Bel Edwards’s executive order limiting nonessential businesses to 25 percent of normal capacity in response to the coronavirus pandemic, may have got a certain part of his anatomy caught in the federal campaign finance wringer.
Harris, of Alexandria, is one of nine candidates to fill the seat of lame-duck U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham in Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District in Tuesday’s election. He is also one of several Republican legislators who, for the life of them (literally), just couldn’t make the correlation between Edwards’s restrictions and Louisiana’s relatively favorable results in dealing with Covid-19.
But then, some things are just difficult for Republicans to grasp anyway if it doesn’t involve profiting themselves or their benefactors (read: corporate campaign contributors). Louisiana has consistently been one of the few states that have not experienced significant jumps in Covid infections even as states on all three of our borders have shown big jumps in their numbers.
That, in itself, would normally indicate that something Edwards is doing is working. But why let something positive stand in the way of partisan political grandstanding?
But back to our story:
Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a COMPLAINT with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Louisiana U.S. Congressional candidate Lance Harris violated the law by using his state campaign committee to fund a federal super PAC supporting his run for Congress and illegally coordinated with that same super PAC.
Harris is a Louisiana state legislator and a candidate in Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District. On Sept. 4, 2020, Harris’ state campaign committee transferred $120,000 to the Stand for Truth super PAC. Within days of receiving those funds, the once-dormant super PAC spent over $100,000 supporting Harris. Before receiving the transfer, Stand for Truth had less than $6,000 in cash-on-hand, so the infusion of funds from Harris almost entirely financed the super PAC’s pro-Harris spending.
“Lance Harris illegally funded a federal super PAC using his state campaign funds, and the super PAC then illegally spent that money supporting Harris’ run for Congress,” said Brendan Fischer, federal reform director for CLC. “State campaign funds cannot be used in federal elections, and super PACs must operate independently of candidates, but Harris engineered a scheme to violate both of those laws.”
Federal law prohibits Congressional candidates like Harris from using state campaign funds to support their federal run for office. State-level contributions are subject to different rules than federal-level contributions. When a candidate uses funds raised under state rules, they can evade federal laws designed to guard against corruption
In addition, the evidence indicates that the Harris campaign illegally coordinated with the super PAC that received the funds. Stand for Truth ran its pro-Harris ads just days after receiving the money from Harris and hired the same vendor as the Harris campaign to research and create the pro-Harris ads. The timing and circumstances of these transfers and expenditures strongly indicate that the super PAC ran the pro-Harris ads at the request or suggestion of Harris’ campaign, and in coordination with the campaign.
Campaign finance law allows super PACs to raise unlimited amounts of money, but only if they operate independently of the candidates they support. The FEC has rules prohibiting coordination between super PACs and campaigns, which include restrictions on how a vendor may work for both a candidate and an outside group supporting that candidate. If super PACs and campaigns coordinate, then big-money contributions to the super PAC function like direct contributions to the candidate and greatly increase opportunities for corruption. Voters should know who is trying to influence their vote and our government.
The FEC is charged with investigating and holding all parties accountable for any disregard for campaign finance laws.
Oh, and here is how your legislators voted on House Bill 4 that would have curtailed the governor’s power to take emergency action but which Edwards vetoed:
HB4:
Louisiana Voice 
Oh the irony: Stand for Truth PAC used by a #TrumpRIPublican.
Always doing their damndest to help #TrumpLegacy> while lying their behinds off: 234,500 DEAD Americans. Mostly elderly and disproportionately people of color.
The PAC had/has a good name. I wonder the extent to which it describes its mission? My House member (Adams) actually represents my and other garden variety residents of his district well and he voted correctly. My senator apparently represents people other than me because he has never voted the way I would like him to on anything I have followed. The fact he voted for this is, therefore, unsurprising. This has to be one of the stupidest things the Repubs have done to try to get Edwards and their constituents should be insulted – unless, of course, they prefer to see our numbers shoot up and then see us have to shut everything down to stop the spread – not to mention the illnesses and deaths. Hell, maybe that is what they want. Who knows?
Sorry to have digressed from the main theme of this piece. Anyhow, we no longer expect politicians to be ethical, so this is no surprise. Who, in their right mind, would expect Super PACS to be on the up and up? We have allowed our political process to become so corrupt candidates are considered stupid if they don’t take advantage of loopholes and generally get slaps on the wrist even if they unambiguously break the law. Common sense no longer prevails anywhere.
Mr. Winham, in light of everything you just posted above, I am tempted to ask: “Where do we have to go but back to common sense”….but, I fear the answer to this.
In his defense: He’s stupid. Seems to work for Tucker Carlson.