The state prosecutor?s office filed criminal charges Thursday against theCarroll County Republican Club for allegedly violating state election laws.
Club president Scott Hollenbeck, 40, of Westminster, and treasurer Suzanne Primoff, 56, of Woodbine and Loxahatchee, Fla., were charged with illegally engaging in campaign finance activity and publishing campaign literature without the line that the advertisements had “not been authorized by any candidate.”
Each faces up to two years in jail and $26,000 in fines for both offenses.
The group should have registered as a political action committee, said Thomas McDonough, deputy state prosecutor.
The club “strictly followed all of Maryland?s election laws and the attorney general?s opinions regarding those laws,” according to a statement from the club. “The club declined an offer last week by the state prosecutor for the club to say that we are a Political Action Committee, not a political club; if we would do so, there would be no prosecution nor a fine. Our club members unanimously voted not to accept this offer and to fight this prosecution… for all political clubs in Maryland.”
“Everything that we did was reviewed by competent legal counsel,” said club member Ed Primoff, Suzanne Primoff?s husband. Calls to Hollenbeck were not returned.
Commissioner Perry Jones Jr. blamed his Republican primary loss on the ads, which attacked incumbents and supported challenger Michael Zimmer.
The commissioners said the ads spun facts and falsely slammed Jones for not living in the county. He resides in Union Bridge. “[The charges] still don?t do me any good for my future because they already tarnished mine,” Jones said.
Zimmer said he won because he ran a better campaign, and the ads hurt him, too.
“[The club] traded in on my name,” he said. “Voters drew a negative association of me.”
Part of the Baltimore Examiner’s 2006 Election Coverage
