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Myers Ask US Attorney Chris Christie to Investigate Anonymous Mailing Sent to Myers FEC Contributors Candidate says Adler campaign; Trenton and Camden Democrats are the prime suspects in “illegal, dirty tricks smear campaign”
For Immediate Release Contact: Chris Russell 609 731-0770 Mount Holly, June 19, 2008—Congressional candidate Chris Myers (NJ-3) today called on New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney, Chris Christie, to launch an official investigation into an anonymous mailing received by contributors to Myers for Congress. The mailing was obviously intended to discourage and dissuade Myers supporters in New Jersey, and across the country, and advance John Adler’s campaign for Congress. The mailing was sent in an unmarked envelope with a homemade label, first class stamp and a South Jersey postmark, and began arriving in mailboxes of Myers contributors last week. At first, it appeared to be isolated to just New Jersey, but since late last week the mailing began arriving in mailboxes of Myers donors in places as diverse as Maryland, California and Washington, DC, in addition to New Jersey. Reports continue to come in daily. The envelope contained three articles—one from the Star Ledger and two from The Hotline—about the 3rd Congressional District campaign. “John Adler and his cronies in Trenton and Camden are used to using underhanded tactics like this to push people around and not having them push back,” said Myers, a decorated combat veteran of the first Gulf War. “Well, I’m not going to stand for it. That’s why today I am asking the United States Attorney to investigate who sent these letters and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.” Myers Campaign Manager Chris Russell said that under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 2002, its illegal for a third party—in this case the prime suspects are Adler for Congress, the New Jersey Democratic State Committee and the Camden County Democratic Committee—to use Myers’ Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign finance reports for these purposes. Additionally, it violates FEC regulations to send printed communications without an official disclaimer stating who paid for it. Furthermore, Russell said the responsible party(s) use of the United States Mail to circumvent federal election law by mailing contributors who live across state lines gives jurisdiction over this matter to the United States Attorney. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who benefits from these illegal mailings—and that’s John Adler—and it doesn’t take a genius to realize that the people with the greatest stake in Adler’s success are immediately the prime suspects when it comes to these kinds of tactics,” said Russell, who cited the Democratic State Committee’s attempt to hijack the Republican primary when they took the extraordinary step of sending numerous mailings to GOP primary voters attacking Myers in his home county. “It’s clear that John Adler and his cronies don’t believe they can win this election fair and square, so it’s not surprising that we’ve seen one underhanded scheme after another trying to smear Chris Myers. Only this time, they went too far and broke the law,” said Russell. “Now they should pay the price.”
June 19, 2008
The Honorable Christopher J. Christie United States Attorney, New Jersey
Camden
Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse FAX: 856-968-4917
Dear Mr. Christie: I write to respectively request that your office open an investigation to determine the responsible party(s) for an illegal mailing that was recently sent to contributors to the Chris Myers for Congress Committee – a registered federal candidate committee. By way of background, some one recently sent an anonymous mailing of unsolicited materials, in unmarked envelopes, which was derogatory in content and nature with regard to congressional candidate Chris Myers. The mailing was sent to individual contributors whose names and addresses were obtained from Myers’ Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports. (Attachment 1, Photocopy of an Unmarked Envelope with Donor’s Name Retracted for Privacy Reasons, Photocopy of the page from The Hotline, and a Photocopy of a page from The Star Ledger). As explained in more detail below, this mailing appears to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act, as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (“the Act”) and FEC regulations, by using the names and addresses of contributors disclosed on Myers’ FEC reports, and by failing to include a “Paid for by” disclaimer on the mailing. Furthermore, we believe your offices have jurisdiction over this matter due the fact that the responsible party(s) utilized the U.S. mail to circumvent federal election law, as a number of the affected donors live across state lines. 1. Violation of “Sale and Use” Restriction The mail piece was received by a striking number of individual contributors reported on FEC disclosure reports filed by Myers for Congress. In fact, several out-of-state contributors contacted the Myers Campaign complaining that they received a mailing containing news articles critical of Myers and his campaign in an unmarked envelope. Individuals receiving the mailing included those from Washington D.C., Maryland and California. Clearly, those responsible for this mailing did not simply use a New Jersey voter file or other similar method to contact voters as it was not only directed at New Jersey Republican contributors or contributors in the 3rd Congressional District. How would one know to send a derogatory mailing about a congressional candidate in New Jersey to an individual living in California? The only possible explanation is that the names were obtained illegally from Myers’ FEC reports for the express purpose of damaging the candidacy of Chris Myers and benefiting the candidacy of John Adler. This is a clear violation of the Act and FEC regulations. The information included in a federal candidate’s financial disclosure reports "may not be sold or used by any person for the purpose of soliciting contributions or for commercial purposes..." 2 USC 438(a)(4) (2008). The Commission has noted in an advisory opinion that a candidate’s opponent may use the names and addresses of individual contributors to respond to alleged defamatory charges (See, FEC Advisory Opinion 1981-5); however, this is not applicable to the situation in question. It is our firm belief that the Adler for Congress Campaign, the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, and /or the Camden County Democratic Committee anonymously mailed these articles to the individual contributors listed on Myers for Congress FEC reports in clear and direct violation of the Act and FEC regulations. The anonymous mail piece was clearly intended to discourage or dissuade Myers’ supporters from continuing their support of his candidacy. The Act and FEC regulations are designed to provide full disclosure to the public, not a mailing database for political campaigns to use in an anonymous smear campaign. Members of the public who contribute to a candidate’s campaign should feel free to do so without fear of unsolicited mailings and intimidation tactics from those opposing that candidate’s campaign. In sending these mailings, the Adler for Congress Campaign, the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, and/or the Camden County Democratic Committee committed an egregious violation of the Act, FEC regulations, and their intent—which is to protect and inform the general public. 2. Failure to Follow FEC Requirements Regarding Disclaimers Federal committees are required to place disclaimers on public communications stating who actually paid for the communication. In printed communications, the disclaimer must be set off in a printed box, and the text must be of a sufficient size to be “clearly readable” to the recipient. There must also be a reasonable degree of color contrast between the text of the communication and the background. A disclaimer in 12 point font printed in black on a white background will meet the FEC’s safe harbor requirement. The mailing from the Adler for Congress Campaign, the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, and/or the Camden County Democratic Committee failed to include the “Paid for by” disclaimer in a printed box—or anywhere for that matter—as required by FEC regulations. The campaign’s mailing of anonymous hit-pieces and failing to include a disclaimer are in direct violation of the bright-line regulations governing disclaimers, and has been taken seriously by the FEC. 3. Conclusion The motivations of the party(s) responsible for this illegal mailing are crystal clear: to advance the congressional candidacy of John Adler. While we do not wish to prejudice your case, we suggest that may be a good place to begin any investigation into this matter. We stand ready to assist your offices in any way possible. Please feel free to contact us directly for any information which may advance your efforts. Respectfully,
_____________________________________________ Chris Russell Campaign Manager, Myers for Congress
PAID FOR BY MYERS
FOR
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