'Zombie Campaign' Gets New Treasurer
The son of former South Carolina Congressman Robin Tallon is no longer the treasurer for his father’s decades old campaign account.
A letter to the Federal Election Commission announced the change. It was filed alongside Tallon’s most recent Report of Receipts and Disbursements. His son’s resignation became effective July 16, 2018, according to the letter. Wilson MacEwen, a certified public accountant based in Sumter, will take over the position. He has worked with the Tallons before, according to FEC filings. In May 2017, Wilson MacEwen and Co. was paid $3,500 for tax preparation.
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In our story in May, the Campaign Legal Center, a federal watchdog group that supports strong enforcement of finance laws, called Robin Tallon the poster child for the problems they see with what’s called zombie campaigns. They believed Tallon’s spending over the last quarter of a century could be a recipe for corruption.
“The challenge when we are talking about a former officeholder like Robin Tallon, when he is no longer mounting an active campaign, it’s difficult to see what the justification is for paying thousands of dollars to a family member for treasurer duties or compliance purposes,” said Brendan Fischer, a representative of the Campaign Legal Center. The Federal Election Campaign Act requires all political committees to have a designated treasurer. WMBF News reached out to Robin Tallon and Wilson MacEwen for comment on the recent change. They have not responded at this time.