Posted on 03/02/2005 8:20:37 PM PST by Dan from Michigan
Origin of attack ad remains unknown 4 months after election
3/2/2005, 5:44 p.m. ET
By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Four months after the November election, the identity of whoever backed nearly $400,000 worth of attack ads against a Michigan Supreme Court justice remains a mystery.
A group that calls itself Citizens for Judicial Reform has yet to file a postelection report outlining its spending or disclosing its financial backers.
The department of state notified the group's treasurer Feb. 10 that it hadn't submitted a report due Jan. 31, and the group has been accruing late fees. The matter has since been referred to Attorney General Mike Cox.
The independent political action committee spent at least $392,000 to run a television ad bashing Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman, according to the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network, which surveyed TV stations. The ad urged viewers to "vote no on Markman" and called him an extremist who was appointed to the bench at the behest of insurers and large corporations.
Markman, a Republican nominee who won re-election, said Wednesday he preferred not to comment about the PAC's failure to file.
A campaign finance expert, meanwhile, said it's an indicator that Michigan's election laws are inadequate.
"It's a mystery," said Rich Robinson, director of the campaign finance group. "What if they never decide to come forward?"
According to papers filed with the state, the group's treasurer is Herb Charbenau, and the committee has a Detroit address. Calls placed to a phone number listed for the committee weren't returned. The answering machine says the caller has reached the Davis residence. A listing for Charbenau could not be found.
The maximum penalty for not filing a campaign finance report is $1,000 or 90 days in jail. Violators also face up to $1,000 in late fees.
Democratic Sen. Michael Switalski of Roseville, who has introduced a bill to stiffen the maximum fine to $5,000, said the current penalty doesn't deter those who refuse to file a report.
"I'm taken aback by someone spending that kind of money and not filing a report," he said.
Switalski acknowledged his proposal likely wouldn't deter PACs or candidates with large amounts of money but said it could get the attention of those with less cash.
Too often, he said, paying a small fine is just the cost of doing business.
"We can't let people not comply," Switalski said. "There's got to be some consequence."
Cox spokeswoman Allison Pierce said the attorney general's office will send a second letter to Citizens for Judicial Reform, urging it to comply with the law. If there's no response, another letter will be sent.
After that, Cox will consider prosecuting the group's treasurer, Pierce said.
But some wonder if the group ever will be located.
"Does the treasurer even exist?" Robinson said.
If I write 74 page reports to the secretary of state for a PAC I treasured at the time, they damn well better issue their reports as well.
This judge must be pretty good to piss off a liberal so much they'd spend that kind of cash
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