Devolites Davis campaign money shenanigans under investigation

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[size=-1]Wash Timesd 4 NOV 07: "Probe sought into Davis' donations to wife," at http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071103/METRO/111030037/1004. [/size]

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[size=-1]Washington Post Reports on 3 NOV 07: http://tinyurl.com/2onfjm [/size]

[font=Arial,Helvetica][size=-1]Devolites Davis Ads Are Targeted[/size][/font]

The Virginia Democratic Party has asked the State Board of Elections and the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R-Fairfax) and her husband, U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), violated election laws by using his political money to pay for her TV and direct-mail ads.

According to Devolites Davis's most recent campaign finance reports, her husband's political committee paid for airtime for her TV ad and for several of her mailers, even though Devolites Davis claimed in the ads to have paid for them.

Democrats said the ads should have stated that they were paid for by a congressional political committee. Devolites Davis said she disclosed her husband's contributions on her finance reports and wasn't trying to hide anything. She said her own campaign paid for the production of her TV ad and the initial purchase of airtime.

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The arrogance of this pair rivals (but does not eclipse) the Clintons. If I had contributed to T. Davis' campaign I would be very angry about the transfer to his wifes' campaign and would ask for the contrbution to be returned.

I am sure that once the money is in his campaigns' account Davis considers it to be "his" money to use as he damn well pleases . Go pack sand if you don't like it. I am not accountable to anyone but myself.

I hope the Republican Party will put someone up aganst him in a primary ruoff next year, although I doubt they will.

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UPDATE - The Washington Democratic Party of Virginia has made a formal complaint to both FEC and the Virginia State Board of Elections that Devolites Davis has not just played fast and loose with the money controlled by her husband Congressman Tom Davis, but she has violated many federal and state election laws, including even the Virginia Stand By Your Ad Act of 2002, which then Delegate Devolites [not yet Davis] voted for! See vote at [url]http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?021+bil+HB0558[/url]
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071103/METRO/111030037/1004/METRO&template=printart

Article published Nov 3, 2007
Probe sought into Davis' donations to wife

November 3, 2007


By Bob Lewis - RICHMOND — Virginia Democrats asked federal and state election authorities yesterday to investigate cash donations that Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, a Republican, gave to the re-election campaign of his wife, state Sen. Jeannemarie A. Devolites Davis.

C. Richard Cranwell, chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission and the State Board of Elections that Mr. Davis paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars in television ads and mailings for his wife's campaign.

Mrs. Davis, Fairfax County Republican, is battling Democrat Chap Petersen in what both parties view as a race critical to determining which party will rule the state Senate after Tuesday's elections for all 140 legislative seats.

The complaint charges that by not disclosing in the ads that the congressman's committee paid for them, the state senator broke state and federal laws.

"The television ads and mailings not only fail to disclose the true source of the financing for these communications, but also falsely convey the impression that they were paid for entirely by Ms. Devolites Davis' campaign committee," Mr. Cranwell, a Roanoke lawyer and former state House member, wrote. "This activity violates both state of Virginia and federal 'stand by your ad' laws."

Mr. Davis, in a telephone interview, denounced the complaint as a desperate election-eve effort by Democrats to distract voters.

"If they were serious, they would have filed for an injunction, but they didn't because they know the whole issue is without merit and because they don't want to talk about issues," Mr. Davis said.

"All they want to do is talk about process. As a practical matter, they're just trying to change the subject," he said.

Mr. Davis said his in-kind payments for television advertising were only to extend an existing television run that the Devolites Davis campaign had initially purchased.

Democrats targeted Mrs. Davis, 51, in one of this year's most expensive and bitter races. As of Oct. 24, her campaign had raised nearly $1.5 million, not counting a $250,000 check from Mr. Davis on Tuesday. Mr. Petersen, 39, raised $1.2 million by the same point, not counting a $140,000 donation from the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus.

Mr. Cranwell's complaint contends that Mrs. Davis, in her most recent state campaign finance filing on Monday, reported nearly $400,000 worth of in-kind contributions from the congressman's campaign committee to air television spots and mail campaign literature.

While Mrs. Davis reported some print media expenditures, the complaint says, "it does not report any significant expenditures for television communications from its own funds over the past several months."

Included with the filing are printouts from the Board of Elections Web site showing 12 contributions from the "Tom Davis for Congress Campaign" from Oct. 1 through Oct. 24. The checks ranged from $66 for copier costs to $183,465 to Steven Reed Curcio & Potholm, a Republican media company, for what the filing lists as "Ad — Actual Cost."

The complaint also contains photocopies of a mailer bearing the disclaimer, "Paid for and Authorized by Jeannemarie Devolites Davis for State Senate."

Virginia's "stand by your ad" law, passed in 2002, requires that all ads accurately disclose who pays for them. Federal election laws make similar requirements.