For those who like original source documents, here's some detail about a little bit of irony surrounding FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub being the lawyer who probably cleared Bob Menendez's lease in Union City. We touched on this briefly in a story today.
In an exchange of emails Tuesday seeking the Kean campaign's response to Weintraub essentially defending Menendez in an interview, Kean spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker suggested I look at a blog for "a little background on Ellen Weintraub." The blog questioned Weintraub's fitness to serve on the FEC because her husband was Sen. Russ Feingold's legislative director when she was appointed (he now works for the Democratic caucus office).
Over at bluejersey.com, they saw this as the damning evidence that Hazelbaker was posting under the pseudonym "cleanupnj."
I'll let that fire blaze elsewhere. But what's also interesting is that a little more web research would have showed that Weintraub sided with Kean in his complaint over a brochure that attacked him in the 2000 campaign for the House that he lost to Rep. Mike Ferguson.
For campaign finance geeks who want to read the FEC docs on that dispute (MUR 5024 and 5024R), here's a rundown:
- Weintraub and two other commissioners take Kean's side in 2003.
- Three other FEC commissioners take the opposite position a month later, creating a deadlock that means Kean loses.
- Kean sues, and U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denies the FEC's motion to dismiss the suit. Among the reasons cited are a recent Supreme Court ruling uphold the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform.
- The court gives the FEC 60 days to take another look at the case, and commission lawyers recommend a finding there was a violation. The Council for Responsible Government, which paid for the borchures, is fined $5,500 and must disclose where it got its money. It turns out it was the group US Term Limits.
