Federal officials who took payroll and other documents from the offices of prominent trial lawyer Geoffrey Fieger were seeking evidence of campaign finance violations from the 2004 presidential campaign, Fieger's attorney says.
The 10 FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents were looking for documents relating to political candidates, as well as personnel and employee compensation records, according to an inventory filed in federal court Thursday.
Fieger said subpoenas left by the agents, who conducted the search Wednesday evening, said they were looking into campaign contributions his staff made to Democratic presidential candidates John Edwards and John Kerry. Fieger attorney Richard Steinberg said the government claims there was a violation related to the Edwards campaign.
Federal officials said the U.S. Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, which focuses on public corruption and campaign finance violations, is leading the investigation, but they would not comment on the reason for the search.
Fieger contributed $2,000 to Edwards' primary campaign, the maximum allowed from an individual.
Of 14 employees of Fieger's law firm who gave money to candidates in the 2004 presidential election, 13 gave to Edwards, according to a search of Political Money Line, a nonpartisan campaign finance tracking system. All of them — including a building manager and a courier supervisor in addition to attorneys — gave $2,000, the maximum individual contribution allowed in that campaign.
Certainly the number of contributors from a small firm supporting the same candidate looks suspicious. It probably would not have been nearly as troublesome if the building manager and courier supervisor had not contributed that maximum amount, something that may be normally beyond their normal means.
The payroll files seized may tell the story of reimbursements. Making a political contribution in the name of another is illegal and reimbursing employees for making a contribution is also illegal.
This investigation is similar to a previous investigation of an Arkansas law firm that made significant contributions to John Edwards.
In 2003, a law clerk for Arkansas attorney Tab Turner told The Washington Post that her boss asked people to support Edwards and told them they would be reimbursed. After the story was published, Edwards' campaign returned $10,000 in campaign donations from the firm.
The DOJ and the FEC take seriously contributions in the name of another and reimbursing people for making contributions as they are rightfully seen as a way around contribution limits. Personally, I worry that asking employees to make a contribution and offering reimbursement smacks of coercion as well since an employee may feel that their job may be at stake if they don't make the contribution, even if they are reimbursed.
But the Feiger saga has more angles:
While Feiger is being investigated by the feds, he is also being investigated by the state of Michigan for state campaign finance violations, stemming from an allegation that Feiger financed a $457,000 ad against a state candidate last year.
Feiger, a Democrat, candidate for Michigan attorney general, and former candidate for governor, sees the Republican boogeyman everywhere:
Fieger ... characterized it as the latest blow in a campaign of political persecution against him by Republicans who control the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit and the attorneys general in Washington and Lansing.
"It's McCarthyism all over again," he said.
Nate Bailey, a spokesman for Michigan Republicans, waxed sarcastic over the notion of a conspiracy theory.
"It's top to bottom — Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. We're all plotting against trial attorney Geoffrey Fieger in Southfield, Mich.," he said.
Yeah, like Karl Rove has time to plot against a failed candidate in Michigan when he has to engineer conspiracies against sitting officeholders.
Linked to the Political Teen, Jo's Cafe, THM Bacon Bits
No comments:
Post a Comment