Paladin of Ice Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 This may wind up having an interesting ripple effect: Ricky Perry and other elected figures have been using free speech... er, bribe money... er, unlimited campaign contributions, to pay for legal defenses, especially for corruption. Yesterday an appeals court affirmed a lower court ruling that a former Newark mayor who had used $94,000 in campaign funds as part of his legal defense against corruption charges had done so illegally and had to pay it back. Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James and an associate improperly used about $94,000 in campaign funds to pay for legal fees surrounding James’ federal indictment in 2007, a state appeals court wrote in a decision published Friday.The panel’s ruling upheld a lower court’s ruling from 2012.The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission sued James in 2011 over $94,000 it claimed he and the associate took from campaign funds to pay for legal fees. James was indicted on federal corruption charges and was ultimately convicted in 2008 of illegally steering city-owned land to his mistress.The appeals court on Friday rejected the argument by James and Cheryl Johnson that legal expenses incurred before an indictment was handed up were an ordinary expense of holding public office.“Retaining an attorney to attempt to stave off an indictment or, if one appears inevitable, to prepare for the impending criminal charges is by no means an ordinary expense of holding public office,” the panel write. “There is no support for the claim that being under criminal investigation is a customary, usual, or normal occurrence when one holds public office.”Johnson, who was James’ campaign committee’s treasurer, wasn’t a target of the federal investigation but still wasn’t allowed to use campaign funds to pay for legal advice on how to respond to subpoenas, the court wrote.As this is a brief AP article I'm not sure from the article if that is a result of local laws, or if it's something that wold be applicable more widely in corruption cases, but if it's the latter I think that would be an excellent precedent and at least one way to curtail the less than honorable uses of unlimited bribe money... er, campaign contributions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commodore Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I fully plan on voting for Rand Paul in the primary, because I agree with his ideas a lot more than the rest of the Republican field so why not, plus it's not like the Democratic primary will be a contest at all. this is a great argument for closed primaries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnionAhaiReborn Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 this is a great argument for closed primaries Plenty of time to switch parties at this point anyway, even in a closed primary state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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