The letter is addressed to Maynard F. Thomson, Carroll County Republican Committee. There is no salutation. It begins:
Re: Cease and Desist Order
Warning for violation of RSA 664:6
It seems that the AG's office received a complaint that the Carroll County GOP failed to properly itemize receipts and expenditures on the forms submitted to the Sec. of State's office, during the time leading up to the General Election.
As many of us know, political committees, just like candidates, must file expenditure reports as soon as they have taken in more than $500 before an election. Those reports must contain itemized receipts and expenditures.
According to the AG's investigation, Maynard Thomson's first report was filed on Sept. 22, 2010. It reported $10, 842.90 in receipts and $3,218.70 in expenditures. Unless they had a sudden windfall, Thomson was rather tardy in filing this form. About $1200 worth of tardy, in fact. None of the receipts or expenditures in the report were itemized.
The AG's office also learned that Thomson (on behalf of the CC GOP Committee) signed agreements with 2 radio stations to air political ads. He spent $879.75 at both stations. The bill went on Thomson's credit card, dated October 13, 2010. The fiscal reports from Thomson to the state on October 13th and 27th, 2010 do not list the expenditures.
The November 10, 2010 shows a lump expenditure of $6,215.30 for the CC GOP cable bill, advertisements in the Conway Daily Sun newspaper, and the advertisements on Mt. Washington Radio. No itemized anything. No receipts. The AG's office refers to this as "conscious decision" to fail to report this until after the election. The AG then warns that
Maynard Thomson and any individual acting on behalf of the Carroll County Republican Committee are hereby ordered to Cease and Desist from filing receipt and expenditure statements with the Secretary of State's Office that do not conform to the requirements set forth in RSA 664:6. Failure to comply with this Cease and Desist Order may result in an enforcement action and/or prosecution in NH Superior Court.
The CC GOP has until October 17, 2011 to correct those statements.
Tom Fahey mentioned this briefly in his most recent column. It was also reported in the Oct. 5 Conway Daily Sun, where Thomson is quoted as saying how seriously he takes the filing of those reports, and how he had "no inkling" that anything was wrong with his reports. It behooves me to mention that Thomson is an attorney. The forms are pretty straightforward, and very clear. They call for itemizations and receipts. Surely a guy who passed the bar exam can read a simple reporting form? I managed, when I was a candidate, despite my lack of post-secondary education.
From the story in the Sun:
Carroll County Democrat Committee treasurer Tom Buco said reporting requirements aren't onerous when records are kept. Buco said he never received a cease-and-desist letter to the Attorney General.
The topping on the rancid sundae of NH GOP corruption and lawlessness? Thomson claims that it's "coincidence" that he resigned his chairman's position with the CC GOP the same day the letter was sent. This is the same Carroll County GOP that got a little attention from the media after Republican Ray Shakir was profiled in Mother Jones magazine for calling President Obama a "jungle alien." This remark went out via email to the CC GOP email list. Ray's fellow local Republicans ran away from their association with him as fast as their lying little legs could carry them. The Carroll County Republican Committee is in desperate need of a good housecleaning. Maynard Thomson seems to have left a slime trail behind him.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must point out that Maynard Thomson once threatened to sue me.
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