LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra’s campaign filed a complaint Tuesday with the Federal Elections Commission over what it says was deceptive campaign finance reporting by an independent political action committee running TV attack ads against him in the final weeks before the Aug. 7 primary election.
Hoekstra campaign attorney Charlie Spies told reporters in a conference call that the complaint was filed after Prosperity for Michigan filed a July 13 campaign finance report showing no donors or spending, then filed an amended report 10 days later showing $188,500 in donations going back to April. The report covered April 1 to June 30.
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The Hoekstra campaign’s complaint alleges the group “knowingly filed false and misleading reports with the commission in order to conceal the identity of their donors,” Spies said. If the FEC finds Prosperity for Michigan intentionally filed misleading reports, it could punish the super PAC and its officers with fines and-or imprisonment.
The FEC’s response isn’t expected before the Aug. 7 election.
Prosperity for Michigan appears to be funded mainly by Detroit-area business executives who support Hoekstra’s GOP rival, Detroit charter school executive Clark Durant of Grosse Pointe. The group in in the midst of purchasing $500,000 in air time to run ads, mostly in the Grand Rapids and Traverse City media markets where Hoekstra hopes to attract strong support after representing west Michigan in Congress for 18 years.
The group’s treasurer, Jennifer Satterlee, is a Michigan State University student who’s doing a summer internship with Lansing attorney and longtime GOP activist Richard McLellan. A call Tuesday to McLellan’s office wasn’t returned.
Hoekstra, Durant and former Kent County Judge Randy Hekman are competing in the Republican primary for the chance to take on Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow in November. No other outside group so far has gotten involved in the GOP campaign, although some have begun running ads against Stabenow.
The filing of Prosperity for Michigan’s amended report came Monday, the day the group began airing ads criticizing the Holland Republican for voting to award earmarks and raise the debt ceiling before leaving Congress in 2011. The Durant campaign began running a similar ad Monday.
Durant campaign spokesman Joe Koss dismissed the ads’ similarities, noting Durant has criticized Hoekstra on those very votes during campaign speeches. He didn’t have an immediate answer for why the super PAC filed two such different reports.
“We don’t comment on independent groups,” Doss said in a statement. “But it is apparent that Congressman Hoekstra is trying to distract the voters from his own votes.”
Spies said Prosperity for Michigan’s secrecy was intended to help the Durant campaign.
“They wanted their media buy and the fact that they had their resources to be a surprise,” Spies said of the super PAC. “Had the Hoekstra campaign known that there were these sort of resources that were going to be thrown against them … then that might have changed how the absentee ballot program was run or it might have changed the timing or content of (Hoekstra’s) advertising.”
Among the super PAC’s biggest donors were Royal Oak Industries CEO Daniel Carroll of Oakland County’s Bloomfield Township, who gave $62,500, and J.M. Jung of Southfield and Robert Thompson of Plymouth, who gave $25,000 apiece. Eight other donors contributed $1,500 to $15,000 each.
Hoekstra was the target of third-party attack ads that might have hurt his chances in the 2010 governor’s race. He came in second in the GOP primary to businessman Rick Snyder, who went on to win the seat.
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Follow Kathy Barks Hoffman on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kathybhoffman .
