Right before the Seventh Congressional District Republican Convention at end of March, John Hugh Gilmore's Minnesota Conservatives blog asked whether the Byberg Campaign was buy Scott Hennen's endorsement. The evidence presented in Byberg Buys Endorsements? Hennen Deceives? Past payments by the Willmar business executive's campaign to Freedom Force Communications LLC, a limited liability company that Hennen leads.
Byberg was endorsed on the first ballot that weekend for a second bid against Blue Dog Democrat Collin Peterson.
Bluestem didn't believe that the endorsement was bought, but we did wonder what sort of disclosure might be required by Hennen of the lucrative arrangement between his business and the Byberg campaign. Hennen is a radio talk show and serves as a frequent speaker at Republican and Tea Party events. A bit of transparency might help listeners evaluate Hennen's remarks.
The question remains a valid one. Gilmore noted that " Scott Hennen has been paid over $35,000 by candidate Lee Byberg over the last two years."
Lee Byberg's Q1 2012 FEC report lists new payments to Freedom Forum Communications. The campaign paid FFC $10,000 for a new website design, with $4000 monthly web services fees ($12,000 total) following the design, $7000 for fundraising and $7000 for administration/salary/overhead. That's $36,000 in three months; the campaign spent a total of $91276.64 for the quarter.
Thus, we see that 2012 payments over the course of three months eclipsed those spread over two years. But were these payments out of line in any way for a congressional campaign?
By way of comparison, the Chip Cravaack committee paid former Republican Party of Minnesota social media Susan Closmore staffer $750.00 in three $250.00 payments for multimedia services. Westbrock Design received two payments totaling $565.00 for website services. Golnik Strategies netted $7500 in management services. The Cravaack campaign did pay more for fundraising-- six payments of $18,736.98 to Purcell Consulting LLC, run by former MNGOP major donor fundraiser Jeannette Purcell--but these payments are not out of line given the amount of money raised for the quarter: $244,662.74
Byberg's fundraising costs aren't remarkable either. It's the website fees and costs that seem whack.
The disbursements to FFC from Byberg's 2012 Q1 Schedule B:
| Freedom Force Communications LLC PO Box 351 Perham, Minnesota 56573 |
01/01/2012 | |
| New Website Development | 10000.00 | |
| Freedom Force Communications LLC PO Box 351 Perham, Minnesota 56573 |
01/09/2012 | |
| Monthly Web Service Fees | 4000.00 | |
| Freedom Force Communications LLC PO Box 351 Perham, Minnesota 56573 |
01/27/2012 | |
| Described by: Administrative/Salary/Overhead Expenses |
7000.00 | |
| Freedom Force Communications LLC PO Box 351 Perham, Minnesota 56573 |
02/01/2012 | |
| Montly Website Service Fees | 4000.00 | |
| Freedom Force Communications LLC PO Box 351 Perham, Minnesota 56573 |
02/24/2012 | |
| Fundraising | 7000.00 | |
| Freedom Force Communications LLC PO Box 351 Perham, Minnesota 56573 |
03/01/2012 | |
| Monthly Website Services | 4000.00 | |
Photo: Scott Hennen, Byberg endorser and vendor.
Related post: Is sauce for the gander sauce for the goose? A look at consultants & a key Hoffman endorsement
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