The controversy surrounding a potentially illegal campaign rally at Stony Brook University in New York grew Wednesday night as attendees were given tickets for a “Get Out the Vote Rally,” despite the night’s line up of only Democrats.
Former President Bill Clinton headlined the rally to speak on behalf of Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop, who is running for re-election against State Senator Lee Zeldin. The rally was also attended by Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The rally first made waves Wednesday morning after Campus Reform reported that the university had likely violated federal election laws by promoting the rally through the schoolwide email.
The invitation sent out to the entire student body was paid for by the New York Democratic Committee, according to the email signature, but also featured a “Student Life” header on it because it came from an official university email account.
According to school officials and the Stony Brook College Republicans, “Student Life” emails are available to all organizations, but it is usually sent out as a big list of all events. This email was only for the one event, included a full invitation, and asked students to use their school email address to get tickets.
Cleta Mitchell, a political law attorney with Foley & Lardner LLP, told Campus Reform that the school is not supposed to show favoritism under the federal campaign finance laws and that Bishop’s campaign could also be found guilty of receiving an illegal contribution from the university.
The tickets given out to students could also prove problematic for the school. The ticket tries to make the event appear nonpartisan despite only including a slate of prominent Democratic figures.
While Clinton did speak briefly about making sure all eligible Stony Brook students vote, the primary topic of his 35-minute speech was Bishop, according to news reports of the event.
“Tim Bishop is proof that in good times and bad if you love your job and you believe in the people you represent and you focus on making the progress you can make and solving the problems you can solve you can make a huge difference,” he said.
“The work he’s done on the environment, to protect the water, the beaches, the shoreline, it matters a lot to me, and not just because I vacation here with my family every summer.”
The university also changed the way the even appeared on the school event calender after the Campus Reform story appeared online, according to screenshots of the website provided to Red Alert Politics.
It was originally called the “SBU College Democrats Rally in Support of Congressman Tim Bishop.” After the story appeared, it was changed to say, “SB College Democrats to host former President Bill Clinton.”
Laura Doukas, president of Stony Brook’s College Republicans, told Red Alert Politics that her chapter is in the process of filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission as a result of the event and is also considering filing a complaint with the IRS.
Red Alert Politics has reached out the Stony Brook University for further comment on the rally. We will update as more information becomes available.
