News

So, it appears Wright McLeod, the local lawyer who lost the 2012 Republican primary for the 12th Congressional District, wasn’t such a bad guy after all.
During the final months of last year’s campaign, Republican rival Rick Allen and his camp hammered McLeod with an official complaint to the Federal Election Commission in Washington.
The complaint accused the McLeod campaign of stealing proprietary donor information from Rick W. Allen for Congress, accepting excessive contributions involving the Wright McLeod campaign office and failing to properly disclose expenditures by failing to itemize campaign expenses and reimbursements.
It was clear through the complaint filed last year that Allen was looking to hit McLeod’s campaign with a final knockout punch.
“Due to the volume and pattern of these violations, which suggest either incompetence or willful disregard for the law, we urge the Commission to take actions to investigate these matters fully and to carefully review all aspects of operations of the McLeod campaign for other potential violations,” the Allen campaign stated last year.
Soon after the story broke, the McLeod campaign shot back with a press release claiming McLeod was being attacked for being too frugal.
“Allen Campaign Calls on McLeod to Follow Their Example to Spend and Borrow,” the press release read. The McLeod campaign announced that it had spent less than the other viable candidates, including Allen.
But Allen didn’t back down. He followed up his attacks on McLeod by distributing an email linking to a commentary in the Savannah Morning News written by political reporter Larry Peterson claiming McLeod was ducking the Allen campaign’s claims that he broke federal election law.
McLeod representatives decided not to comment on the allegations, which resulted in Allen’s people to continue hammering away at him.
“While we’re continuing to spread Rick’s conservative message throughout the 12th District — we’re making every effort to follow the rules along the way,” wrote Allen’s campaign manager Scott Paradise, who brought the allegations to the Federal Election Commission. “It is imperative that Georgia Republicans nominate the right candidate to take on John Barrow this November and it can’t be just another politician who believes he’s above the law.”
Well, surprise, surprise.
This week, the Federal Election Commission dismissed all of the alleged violations filed by Allen against McLeod.
In a letter dated September 19, the FEC stated, “Upon further review of the allegations contained in the complaint, and information supplied by you, the Commission, on September 10th, 2013, voted to find no reason to believe with respect to certain allegations, dismissed the remaining allegations and closed the file.”
Specifically, Allen accused McLeod of five election violations: Illegally using proprietary information obtained from Allen’s campaign disclosure reports; illegally accepting excessive in-kind contributions; failing to properly report excessive in-kind contributions; illegally accepting contributions from a limited liability corporation; and failing to properly disclose in-kind contributions.
In the September 19 letter, FEC stated it did not believe Allen’s first two allegations and it completely dismissed the remaining three citing insignificance.
For McLeod, it was a victory, but an accusation that probably cost him the election.
“Justice prevailed,” McLeod stated in a press release. “This was an unnecessary and expensive legal fight in which the ethical allegations crossed the line, even by today’s standards. Instead of debating the issues, it became a fight over my integrity.
“The result, I was forced to defend my character, and the Republican Primary became a circular firing squad that caused the people of GA-12 to lose and John Barrow to win.”
Let’s just hope that other candidates around the Peach State don’t learn from Allen’s example and decide it’s good political strategy to file an official complaint against their opponent with the Federal Election Commission.
If so, the FEC is going to be very busy and all Georgia voters will lose in the end.