Maybe all the rumormongers will read this and come to the conclusion that until they know the facts, maybe they should keep their mouths shut.
House rules on flying for candidates for Congress are different than for the US Senate.
Mark Souder and Brian Sikma from Hoosier Access are talking House rules. Stutzman flew during a Senate campaign under Senate campaign rules. Sikma should have checked his facts before spouting off in hopes of deflecting Sutzman support to his boss, Wes Culver. Sikma stated here:
The most important of those updated rules states that a candidate/campaign is now required to reimburse – at competitive commercial rates, or close to competitive commercial rates – all air travel service providers.
He then referenced a document he found on Barnes and Thornburg’s web site, but it was the wrong reference as it did not relate to Senate campaigns.
The Stutzman campaign today will be disclosing the invoices of the flights that are in-kind contributions by both pilots for a total of 5 flights between the two in the 2nd quarter report. Both are under the contribution limitations for donations of $4800 per couple, $2400 per individual. The Code of Federal Regulations, section 11CFR113.5 explains this (link – text file).
(d) In-kind contribution. Except as provided in 11 CFR 100.79, the unreimbursed value of transportation provided to any campaign traveler is an in-kind contribution from the service provider to the candidate or political committee on whose behalf, or with whom, the campaign traveler traveled. Such contributions are subject to the reporting requirements, limitations and prohibitions of the Act.
It is further explained in lay terms in the National Business Aviation Association’s, (NBBA) Carriage of Elected officials Handbook. Below are the relevant sections, click to enlarge the image to a readable size.
I could have broke the story some time ago, and I choose not to. I’m not a journalist. I’m a blogger, and I do not report to an editor. I thought long and hard about breaking the story, but to what end? 15 seconds of fame? Not for me.
This was a personal decision, and one I made because I did not want to hurt Mark Souder, his family or the party. I knew the national media would run with it sooner or later.
The MSM wants to take advantage of the opportunity before the opportunity expires. The Washington Post has been bugging me today for all of the salacious details. They’re not getting them. Mark admitted his transgression, and now he has to live with it while working on rebuilding the trust of his family, friends and associates. Opportunity expired.
There are a lot of pundits out there, and some suggest there was a GOP conspiracy to have Souder withhold his resignation until after the primary to keep Bob Thomas from winning. It’s not true.
Then you have the haters. For them, all I can do is quote this:
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
It’s time to move on. We have work to do. For me, that means calling every precinct committeeman in the 3rd district to garner support for Marlin Stutzman.
Phil Troyer is running for congress. Troyer, or someone in his organization signed up my “personal” email address to receive his electronic newsletter. It’s an email address that is not associated with this site, and one I rarely use. Hmmm.. come to think of it, the last time I used this particular address was to receive email from a certain mayoral campaign.
U.S. Rep. Mark Souder announced today that he is cosponsoring H.R. 4219, the National Commission on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which would set-up a ten member, bipartisan panel to provide oversight and accountability to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse relating to stimulus funds.
Last night was a nightmare come true, as house democrats turned their backs on their base and voted to approve Pelosi’s bullshit healthcare plan. They were goaded on by Obama, who told them, “You don’t want those extremist teabag people to win, do you?”
One Republican, Joe Cao, who replaced “Dollar Bill” Jefferson in a democrat district from Louisiana voted yes. 39 Democrats voted no.
Think of the chocolate bunny as your rights, and the heat source, well, you’ll get it. Chocolate Bunny Kill
It’s now in the hands of the senate. Evan Bayh, beware.
FWIW, the Stupak-Pitts amendment to strip abortion funding from the bill passed. Now we’ll have to wait and see if it can survive the conference committee with the Senate, or a Supreme Court challenge.
Dr. Tom Hayhurst former and future candidate for Congress, 3rd District
“I like the president’s emphasis on the character of our country. I went to medical school because I wanted to take care of people when they get sick. We have millions of people going bankrupt, and the death rate from breast cancer is greater if people don’t have health insurance. We need to somehow make sure all people have health care. The president laid out his plan. In many ways it was rational. He said he was willing to talk to legislators on both sides of the aisle. That’s very good. I hope they take that to heart and don’t keep saying no to any plan that may come along.”
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I have. This morning I got a monkey in my inbox.
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