Tampa Bay Times: Zombie Campaigns
Times/WTSP reporters analyzed more than 1 million records detailing the spending of former U.S. lawmakers and federal candidates. They found roughly 100 of these zombie campaigns, still spending even though their candidate’s political career had been laid to rest.
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“It’s hard to imagine how some of this is not illegal,” said Larry Noble, a former FEC attorney and senior director of ethics for the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center. “If you’re not in office and you aren’t running, there aren’t a lot of expenditures you should be having.”
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Since Tallon was no longer campaigning, some of his spending looks like personal use of campaign funds, said Adav Noti, a former attorney for the FEC who is now a senior director at the Campaign Legal Center. “It’s almost inconceivable that spending is legal,” Noti said. “That’s 25 years after he left office.”
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Noble, the former FEC attorney and CLC ethics director, said the FEC should investigate Beesley’s spending. “I’ve not heard of a situation where, after the death of the office holder or candidate, that the committee keeps on paying people,” Noble said. “He can’t keep it going indefinitely while he spends money on himself.”
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“The FEC was designed to gridlock,” said Meredith McGeehee, executive director of Issue One, a nonpartisan political reform group. In Congress, the few attempts to address these campaigns have stalled. Lawmakers are reluctant to put additional restrictions on themselves, said Noti, the former FEC attorney.