MN01 candidates: the case of Engstrand's unauthorized committee

First District Independence Party candidate Steve Wilson's filings for office are now available online at the FEC site. It's the standard fare: the primary committee here and the statement of candidacy here. The candidate's party affiliation and other information are straightforard.

Entries related to Jim Engstrand have also appeared, but the relationship to the candidate himself are unclear. At this link (see screenshot taken at 1:45 p.m. today). Copied from the site:

ENGSTRAND, JIM

Office Sought:	House
Election Year:	2010
State:	Minnesota
District:	01
Party:	UNK (Unknown)

Note that there's no link to a statement of candidacy and no party affiliation.

Perhaps the other Engstrand-related document  could provide a careful reader with an explanation. It's not a primary, authorized committee, but rather an unauthorized committee, The Committee To Draft Jim Engstrand For US Congress District 1 MN (pdf here)

The definitions for each type are found here in the Code of Federal Regulations that cover the Federal Election Commission:

(f) A political committee is either an authorized committee or an unauthorized committee.
        (1) Authorized committee. An authorized committee means the principal campaign committee or any other political committee authorized by a candidate under 11 CFR 102.13 to receive contributions or make expenditures on behalf of such candidate, or which has not been disavowed pursuant to 11 CFR 100.3(a)(3).
        (2) Unauthorized committee. An unauthorized committee is a political committee which has not been authorized in writing by a candidate to solicit or receive contributions or make expenditures on behalf of such candidate, or which has been disavowed pursuant to 11 CFR 100.3(a)(3).

No party affiliation is given for the unauthorized committee, which "supports/opposes" one candidate, Jim Engstrand.

"Unauthorized" must be allowed to be very loosely defined by the FEC, because Jim Engstrand is listed on page 4 of the document as the committee's assistant treasurer. Perhaps it is some other Jim Engstrand. The treasurer is Emma J Paul, who appears in be from St. Charles--where the committee banks--and the address is that of the home Engstrand has moved to from the Second, according to information Engstrand provided to me in a brief phone interview.

The committee's email address is listed as cj-texas@hotmail.com. A google search of "cj-texas@hotmail.com" indicates that this is an email address used by Cynthia Werner. Back on February 3, I post about Werner's background in Eyes of Texas are upon us; or, Werner comes from Lone Star to North Star for Engstrand.

The google search also yielded the fact that Werner had been  campaign manager for Pastor Stephen Broden, who is seeking the Republican endorsement for Texas Congressional District 30 in that state's March primary. Werner received a $1000 consulting fee last year, but doesn't turn up in Broden's pre-primary report.

Who is Stephen Broden? Check out two items below the fold. Could the Youtube clip of the benediction from Congresswoman Bachmann's November "House Call" rally is an interesting use of prayer.

On September 1st, Raw Story reported in Beck guest warns of ‘black genocide’ from health care reform:

It appears Fox News host Glenn Beck has found an unlikely ally — an African-American preacher who peddles conspiracy theories about a white plot to exterminate black people.

Beck gave airtime Monday to Dallas-area pastor Stephen Broden, who argued that the health reform bill being debated in Congress will lead to a campaign to exterminate black people in America.

 Make sure to click on the link above and watch the clip of the Beck-Broden exchange. Here's the video of Broden's militant prayer: