FL Sen Mel Martinez under FEC scrutiny for multiple campaign violations

[seafan]

Inaccuracies Plague Martinez's Books

By KEITH EPSTEIN and WILLIAM MARCH The Tampa Tribune

Published: Nov 1, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Nearly a year after his election, Florida Sen. Mel Martinez has hired a new campaign treasurer to straighten out lingering discrepancies in the financial records of his 2004 campaign.

--snip

Since Martinez opened his campaign account in January 2004, the campaign has received 15 letters from the FEC requesting additional information, corrections or revisions in the reporting of contributions, expenditures and debt.

--snip

But the number (15) sent to the Martinez campaign, and the number of problems they cite, are unusual, according to Larry Noble, a former general counsel of the FEC and now head of the Committee for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group on campaign finance.

"At the very least, this is sloppiness that is very unusual for a Senate campaign. It's a real mess," Noble said.

Noble said the number of violations in the Martinez reports suggest the possibility of an FEC audit or enforcement action. The FEC doesn't disclose such actions until they are resolved.

http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBFQRVOHFE.html



And from another article:

Martinez's Missteps

Published: Nov 1, 2005

August 2005:
Martinez holds a two-day taxpayer financed retreat for his 56-member staff at the Royal Pacific Resort at the Universal Orlando Resort. Martinez defends the retreat as necessary, and worth the closing of his offices for a few days.

April 2005:
Martinez admits memo detailing how Republicans could use the Terri Schiavo case for political advantage over Democrats, was written by his legal counsel, Brian Darling. Martinez denies ever seeing the memo, or knowingly possessing it.

September 2004:
A Martinez campaign statement sent to Cuban-American radio stations refers to federal immigration agents who seized Elian Gonzalez in 2001 as "armed thugs." Martinez later claims the phrase was “inappropriate”, but that it was put out by someone in his office.

August 2004:
A Martinez campaign advertisement mailed to voters in North Florida calls Bill McCollum the “the new darling of the homosexual extremists". McCollum had voted for the federal hate-crime bill that included protection for homosexuals. Martinez later apologizes to McCollum after the primary.

http://news.tbo.com/news/MGB2GRU2IFE.html

[Straight Shooter]

1. Wheeeee! Happy Dance!

:woohoo:

[pdxmom]

2. These people are SOOOO corrupt. n/t

[gademocrat7]

3. The party of corruption just keeps getting bigger

Mad Mel in Florida, Libby Dole in North Carolina, Tom Delay, etc.

[babylonsister]

4. Unreal! He sounds like DeLay, always having to 'apologize'. nt