Fedele Announces He Will Be Able To Go Toe-to-Toe With Foley: Applies for Public Financing

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3 Responses

  1. EdMfromBranford says:

    Another thing to think about how wrong this whole fiasco is:

    Look at Boughton’s contributors then look at Fedele’s contributors, MOST OF THEM ARE THE SAME PEOPLE.

    So here’s basically what happened, Fedele had maxed out his donors at $100.00 SO he tells them to contribute to Boughton. This is double-dipping plain and simple. It’s Fedele’s way around the $100.00 max per person. By telling them to give to Boughton, then add Boughton’s money to his to reach the 250K level, that means each person who gave to both candidate committees now has contributed TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS to Fedele!

    If the SEEC allows this and gives Fedele his millions in taxpayer dollars when he essentially gamed the system, there is something seriously wrong because Fedele obviously does not have enough of a base of support to run for Governor under the CEP program since he doesn’t have enough uniquely different contributors to his campaign. The rules are for Governor, you need to raise 250K total, 225K has to come from inside the state and the maximum contribution is $100.00 per person. Oh and Commissioners like Brenda Sisco & Jerry Farrell who gave $100.00 to Fedele then another $100.00 to Boughton are in huge trouble because 9-612(j)(2)(A) limits these people to “one hundred dollars for each such campaign”

    Not only does this “violate the spirit” of the CEP as fuzzy said, it’s a blatant violation of the law. The SEEC absolutely has to disqualify all those double dippers and if they do that then Fedele doesn’t have anywhere near the 250K and probably not the mandatory 225K “in-state” contributions either.

    Absolutely incredible.

  2. EdMfromBranford says:

    I really don’t see how Fedele and Boughton think they can “team up” under the law. The relevant statute is 9-709(a) and the pertinent part reads as follows:

    “The party-endorsed candidate for nomination or election to the office of Lieutenant Governor and the party-endorsed candidate for nomination or election to the office of Governor shall be deemed to be aiding or promoting the success of both candidates jointly upon the earliest of the following: (1) The primary, whether held for the office of Governor, the office of Lieutenant Governor, or both; (2) if no primary is held for the office of Governor or Lieutenant Governor, the fourteenth day following the close of the convention; or (3) a declaration by the party-endorsed candidates that they will campaign jointly. Any other candidate for nomination or election to the office of Lieutenant Governor shall be deemed to be aiding or promoting the success of such candidacy for the office of Lieutenant Governor and the success of a candidate for nomination or election to the office of Governor jointly upon a declaration by the candidates that they shall campaign jointly.”

    The law is clear here “earliest of the following” for three scenarios:
    (1) After the primary
    (2) If no primary (does not apply in this case)
    (3) a declaration by the PARTY ENDORSED CANDIDATES

    That means we look at (3) where you find the words “party endorsed candidates” which makes this non applicable to the situation here because Fedele is not party endorsed. Okay, you have the “Any other candidate “ words in the next sentence which also doesn’t apply here because Boughton isn’t just “any other candidate” (like challenger Lisa Wilson-Foley), Boughton is PARTY ENDORSED which means this part of the statute does not apply in this case either. Therefore, Fedele and Boughton cannot team up under any of the three scenarios allowed in 9-709(a) which means they cannot combine their contributions under 9-704(a)(1) by adding Fedele’s 229K to Boughton’s 45K and reach the magic number. If you think about this for a minute, this is cheating the system. Fedele missed his $250K threshold and he had plenty of time to raise the money. There really is no excuse for him not raising the 250K on time, none at all. Fedele told us all that he’d reach the 250K “within days after the convention.” When he missed that date, he said “by the end of May”. When the end of May came and went , the new “story” was “by the end of June.” Now it’s July 1st and he’s only at 229K. I don’t know about the rest of you but I think that doesn’t say much for his integrity or his ability to keep his word.

    The SEEC claims to have and “Advisory Opinion” 2010-04 (which is not a law or a regulation and is therefore meaningless) which rewords the law into something it does not say and gives the reader the impression that a non-party endorsed candidate for Governor and a party endorsed candidate for Lt. Gov can team up which as I said is not what the law says. This is the typical modus operandi for the SEEC, if they don’t like what they law says, they make up their own version (either an advisory opinion, and declaratory ruling or whatever) and truly believe they have the power to do that under the law but they absolutely, positively do not.

    Fedele and Boughton both knew this and were both raising money separately and both missed their thresholds by a considerable margin. Fedele needed 250K and only wound up with 229K. Boughton needed 75K and only wound up with 45K.

    Since they both missed their thresholds, they’re making a huge leap of faith and seem to think that 229 + 45 = 274 which is greater than the 250 that Fedele needs. As we discussed earlier, sorry guys, it doesn’t work that way. My worry is that the SEEC will try and pull their “Advisory Opinion” out of their backsides so Foley should file a complaint immediately before they hand millions of taxpayer dollars to Fedele illegally because there is no basis in law that allows Fedele to get his millions in public funds unless he raises 250K ON HIS OWN which he didn’t do.

    This little charade by Fedele and Boughton is quite the stunt but I think that even they both know it won’t work.

  3. EdMfromBranford says:

    If Fedele says he’s raised 250K then why does his grant application only show that he’s raised 229K?

    Look here:

    http://seec.ct.gov/ecrisreporting/Data/Attachment/Unassigned/SEEC30_Itemized_Statement_accompanying_application_for_Public_Grant_6104.PDF