UPDATED: Mayoral Campaign Reports Raise Questions

Campaign-finance transparency has been a hot-button issue around the country, and Jackson appears to be a shining example of why reform—or enforcement—is needed.

Municipal records show that just two of the 14 candidates for the office of mayor, incumbent Harvey Johnson Jr. and Jonathan Lee, raised or spent money on their campaigns in 2012.

One of those candidates, attorney and developer Regina Quinn, had a non-profit incorporated with her name on it July 18, 2012. Quinn’s husband, John Richard May Jr., also an attorney, incorporated “Jackson United” to Elect Regina Quinn Mayor, for the purposes of “Political Advocacy and Public Education.”

Mississippi code prohibits incorporated committees, associations and companies from contributing more than $1,000 per year, directly or indirectly, to a candidate or the candidate’s committee. Those entities are also prohibited from contributing more than $1,000 annually to any political party. The penalty for such action is a fine of no less than $1,000 or more than $5,000 against the corporation.

Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, May disputed whether the law prevents the incorporated organization from serving as the fund-raising arm of Quinn’s campaign.

He said he received conflicting reports from the secretary of state’s office regarding the legality of the political maneuver, but added that he was confident that everything the campaign had done was legal.

“If you look at the statute, there is nothing there that prohibits the organization from raising money for Regina’s campaign,” May said. “It was set up as a non-profit so if we decided to drop out or the election turned out unfavorably we could give any excess money to charity.”

Of the two candidates who filed the reports required under state election laws, Johnson has a lead in fundraising by far. But Lee’s war chest is nothing to scoff at, even if he has only been raising funds since June 6.

The Democratic challenger raised $54,349 between June 4 and Nov. 29, 2012, through his political committee, Friends of Jonathan Lee. The campaign spent $41,766.88, including $12,700 to Hendrix and Dometz Solutions, the company of Lee’s campaign manager Tyrone Hendrix, and $9,500 to JW Turner Consulting.

But that’s where the clarity stops.

Another political-action committee, Jackson 20/20, raised $25,925 between Feb. 18 and April 17, 2012, and paid out a total of $17,600 to Hendrix and Dometz Solutions, and JW Turner Consulting between Feb. 21 and July 1.

The stoppage of payments from the PAC Jackson 20/20 and the beginning of those from Friends of Jonathan Lee seem to coincide, but Hendrix, both the sole proprietor of Hendrix and Dometz and campaign manager for Jonathan Lee, says the PAC and Lee’s campaign are not affiliated.

“We started the PAC earlier in the year because we saw Jackson headed in the wrong direction,” Hendrix said Tuesday. “We started raising money, and then when Jonathan announced his candidacy, I left the PAC and began raising contributions for him.”

The timeline fits, but the ties between Jackson 20/20 and Friends of Jonathan Lee appear to be close.

The biggest contributor to Jackson 20/20 in 2012 was prominent businessman and former Jackson State University professor William Cooley and his family, who gave $4,000, collectively, on March 21, 2012, according to the report. Cooley was also the biggest contributor to Friends of Jonathan Lee in 2012, giving $4,000 between July 18 and Sept. 16.

“Jackson 20/20 was started by a group of folks including a couple of guys who are now working for me,” Lee said Tuesday. “They put together a PAC to elect progressive politicians in municipal races in Jackson. As I understand it, not only are they making donations to mayoral candidates, but they are giving money to city council candidates as well.”

In all, four of Jackson 20/20’s 29 contributors showed up on Lee’s donor list, but those four made up more than 20 percent of all the money raised by the PAC in its short, two-month period of activity. Since Friends of Jonathan Lee was started, those same four contributors have given a total of $6,250 to his committee.

“I am one of the candidates they are going to endorse,” Lee said. “There’s no doubt about that, and I hope they contribute more money in the future. But the way I understand it, I am not the sole candidate at all. The idea is this group of folks wanted to get together to support progressive candidates.”

As of Jan. 31, 2013, the PAC had not donated to any candidate for the mayoral or city council races.

Other major donors to the PAC include well-known businessman Leland Speed and several prominent Jackson lawyers.

Hendrix said Tuesday he is no longer affiliated with Jackson 20/20, but there is no surprise there—it’s hard to find anyone who is.

Local realtor Mike Lewis is the treasurer listed on the campaign-finance report the PAC submitted Jan. 31, 2013. Reached by phone Tuesday morning, Lewis could not say whether or not he was still treasurer of the PAC, and referred questions to Democrat and attorney Dorsey Carson.

Carson was in Washington, D.C., Tuesday morning and did not immediately return multiple calls to his cell phone.

No law prohibits political action committees from raising or spending money on a particular candidate, but there is a law against not filing a report if a campaign raises or spends $200 or more in a calendar year.

Phone calls to the office of candidate Chokwe Lumumba, who announced his candidacy long before the mew year but has not filed a report, were not returned by Tuesday.

Aaron Banks, a spokesman for the campaign to elect Regina Quinn, said Monday that the paperwork for her report was being prepared to be submitted later this week.

“I think it speaks to the idea that there are serious candidates that are interested in transparency and operating in a way that complies with the law,” Lee said. “The law requires that you follow the rules, and I believe in following the rules. I was disappointed to find that certain other campaigns weren’t, but as I understand it, the law requires you to report if you raise money or spend money, and we have tried to comply with the law.”

Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. reported contributions of $108,969 to his political committee Friends of Harvey Johnson between Aug. 10 and Dec. 31, 2012, with $49,800 coming in December alone. His biggest donor of 2012 was Robert Agbede, president and CEO of Chester Engineers of Pittsburgh, Pa. Agbede contributed $4,000 on Dec. 26.

Johnson spent $16,220.62 in 2012, but reported a cash-on-hand total of $107,442.

The next round of campaign-finance reports are due Tuesday, April 30, and must include everything raised from Jan. 1, 2013, through April 27.

Read mayoral candidate interviews at jfp.ms/mayorsrace.

See campaign reports filed to date for Jackson City Council candidates in the JFP’s document morgue.

Read interviews to date with Jackson mayor candidates here and Jackson City Council candidates here.

Comment at www.jfp.ms. Email Tyler Cleveland at tyler@jacksonfreepress.com.

Previous Comments

I just want to be sure I’m getting this straight. So, both the Jonathan Lee and Harvey Johnson campaigns followed the rules and submitted their records, and upon further investigation, they all seem to be legit…despite the fact that Lee’s campaign manager founded a PAC to support quality candidates for city government then happened to find one (in Lee). Yet, all of the candidates (at least 8) who did not follow the rules and failed to submit their records barely have their names mentioned. I’m just trying to understand what this article is really trying to say.

#2184 | Author: swurveus | Date: Mar 19 2013

I swear when I read the title and looked at the picture you would think it is about Regina Quinn not filling her paperwork or even Councilman Lumumba, Bluntson, anybody else. Instead its about this Jackson 20/20 and Lee. A whole entire article dedicated to them. Why didn’t you just name it that and put his picture on it? Must be nothing else out there to write about. I mean you say “No law prohibits political action committees from raising or spending money on a particular candidate”but on the other hand here is long article about it. Again, must be nothing else out there to write about.

#2185 | Author: mcGowan | Date: Mar 19 2013

I don’t think it *necessarily* follows that 8 candidates are breaking the rules, since I don’t think you have to file if you didn’t raise or spend money in the timeframe for the report. The suggestion is that some of the other leading candidates might have raised and spent money and therefore be late, but that won’t be clear until they file. (That’s my understanding — I’m sure the Edit folks will chime in once they come up for a breath — today is press day for the weekly.)

#2186 | Author: Todd Stauffer | Date: Mar 19 2013

I am a bit perplexed why the author of this article spent an inordinate amount of time on whether the Jonathan Lee for Mayor campaign manager, Tyrone Hendrix, followed correct campaign finance regulations. I am perplexed because after the author seems to imply that there are improprieties between the Jonathan Lee for Mayor campaign and 20/20 group when it comes to fundraising, he continues by stating that “the timeline fits, but the ties between Jackson 20/20 and Friends of Jonathan Lee appear to be close.” I feel that with an article titled “Mayoral Campaign Reports Present Many Questions”, the author should have spent a considerable amount of writing space investigating why the other mayoral candidates other than Mayor Johnson and Jonathan Lee have not followed the law and turned in their campaign finance reports. The article seemed very disorganized and did not have a clear perspective on exactly what the author was intending to inform Jackson Free Press readers about.

#2188 | Author: timothysjackson | Date: Mar 19 2013

Sounds like some of y’all have a dog in the hunt! But no need to get all defensive. This article is a round-up of various issues in the campaign reports so far — starting with the fact that a bunch of candidates haven’t filed. Tyler is trying to get all the candidates to talk to him — including about what some candidates are alleging about other candidates. Stay tuned. It sounds like y’all are confused precisely because he is just reporting what he finds. The oddity, to me at least, about the PAC is that no one seemed to be ready for questions about it when they obviously would be asked. Beyond that, the purpose of this and future similar stories is to get as much information out there as possible about the campaigns and their support bases, and ding candidates who have not been transparent. You’ll note that Lee and Johnson get credit for that right at the top. Not to mention, Lee (or his supporters or whomever) get major credit for filling the PAC report. If you recall last mayoral election, the [Better Jackson PAC didn’t even bother to file][1] and reveal its donors until we publicly shamed them into doing it. Good on all those who have filed reports, and shame on those who haven’t. We will let you know as soon as we can sort if out who should have filed under the law. And this is only the first piece of the puzzle. Stay tuned. Bulldog Cleveland is sniffing out everything he can find as we speak. 😉 [1]: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=%22better+jackson+pac%22+jacksonfreepress.com&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

#2189 | Author: Donna Ladd | Date: Mar 19 2013

Todd’s right. If they didn’t raise money or spend money for their campaigns in 2012, they didn’t have to file a report. The key is figuring which did and didn’t in order to know who is actually in violation of the law. Anyone call email information to tyler@jacksonfreepress.com.

#2190 | Author: Donna Ladd | Date: Mar 19 2013

Tremendously exciting—especially the document morgue, which I’ve bookmarked and will be checking often. Did we ever find out who the officers/donors of Better Jackson PAC were, other than Wilson?

#2191 | Author: Tom_Head | Date: Mar 19 2013

Yes, Tom. I think our old PDFs haven’t transferred right to the new site (I’m trying to make it happen). I should find it and repost, considering that we’re talking about Better Jackson PAC a lot. From memory, though, I don’t recall any cross-pollination with this PAC, though. I think they’re completely different groups.

#2192 | Author: Donna Ladd | Date: Mar 19 2013

Yes, the document morgue is one of my favorite things about the new site. We expect to use the hell out of it during the city elections!

#2193 | Author: Donna Ladd | Date: Mar 19 2013

Also, Tyler just blogged about a non-profit set up to support Regina Quinn’s candidacy. A competing campaign told him about it this morning, and he got his hands on the incorporation document this afternoon. [It’s a PDF in the blog post here:][1] [1]: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/weblogs/politics-blog/2013/mar/19/jackson-lawyer-incorporated-non-profit-in-support-/

#2194 | Author: Donna Ladd | Date: Mar 19 2013

how come yall not covering that lumumbaa wants to black nation here in jackson. check out his website and his jackson plan. How come yall don’t talk about this stuff. look at his org mxgm.org and search for jackson plan http://mxgm.org/the-jackson-plan-a-struggle-for-self-determination-participatory-democracy-and-economic-justice/

#2207 | Author: stateright | Date: Mar 20 2013

Very interesting! The lesson to be learned here is that there aren’t any “sacred cows”. If you do not follow the laws for reporting and disbursment of your finances, you will be exposed. The most disturbing is for the 8 who did not bother to file by the January 31, 2013 deadline. What also gets my attention is the Quinn/May (Spouse) statement: It was set up (Jackson United – a non-profit) – with her name on it in July 18, 2012. Quinn’s husband, John Richard May Jr., also an attorney, incorporated “Jackson United” to elect Regina Quinn Mayor, for the purposes of “Political Advocacy and Public Education”. Quinn’s spouse further stated that “It was set up as a non-profit so if WE decided to drop out or the electtion turned out unfavorably, WE could give any excess money to chariy.” Is this a game? This election is approximately 5 weeks out; At what point will THEY decide that THEIR election is “turning out unfavorably” or the decision is made to “drop out”. Do these two possibilites have anything to do with past personal and business financial decisions? Just asking.

#2208 | Author: justjess | Date: Mar 20 2013

I’m shaking in my slippers just thinking of the possibility that this City could land in the hands of one with the appearance of questionable ethic/criminal violations just trying to manage small legal guidelines with very small sums of money. Can you imagine what will happen with the City’s millions? Now, I’m saying and asking?

#2209 | Author: justjess | Date: Mar 20 2013

This thread is about campaign funding, stateright, but there’s nothing objectionable in the Jackson Plan. It saddens me that so many white folks are so accustomed to being pandered to in the vocabulary of Old Dixie that phrases like “black self-determination” frighten them. Self-determination is a basic democratic principle, and whites should not hold a monopoly on it.

#2210 | Author: Tom_Head | Date: Mar 20 2013

Has there been word from the S.O.S office on this?

#2214 | Author: mcGowan | Date: Mar 20 2013