Race for 4th Congressional District heats up

Democratic candidate Andrew Concannon and incumbent Dave Camp

With only five days until Election Day, the battle for the 4th Congressional District seat is getting into claims and counterclaims.

On Tuesday night, during a candidates forum, Eric Friedman, deputy chief of staff for incumbent Republican Dave Camp, alleged that Camp’s Democratic challenger , Andrew Concannon, was under serious investigation by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). However, documents from the FEC show that complaints filed by Republican operatives earlier this year were unanimously dismissed by the FEC on Oct. 1, weeks before Friedman lobbed the allegation. None of the claims rose to a level of a criminal investigation, the FEC records show.

The complaint had been filed by Jeffrey Timmer, executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, and alleged that Concannon had improperly filed paperwork for the creation of his exploratory committee and that he had failed to disclose just over $500 in in-kind donations to his campaign. The FEC found that the exploratory committee was just that and was properly filed.

It did admonish Concannon for failing to disclose a $350 in-kind contribution to his campaign — a digital sign bearing his likeness used in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Clare. The FEC warned him not to make the same mistake again. Democrat Concannon said he had thought the sign did not have to be counted as an in-kind contribution because it had been given as part of the owner’s “free speech” rights. The donation was explained in the campaign’s response to the FEC.

Firing back with his own allegations, Concannon says that Rep. Camp violated House ethics rules prohibiting the use of congressional offices and staffers for campaign-related activities. Concannon alleges that because Camp’s staffer Friedman appeared on Tuesday for Camp at the candidates forum, which is an election activity, and presented himself as deputy chief of staff, he was acting in his capacity of being on the federal payroll. Such a move would be illegal under House rules.

“It’s ironic and, frankly, disturbing, that the Camp campaign seized on minor and technical alleged FEC violations and has now seen fit to present them as a criminal matter, but is further abusing the campaign process by exploiting the resources of a congressional office by using a paid staffer– under the cloak of office — to defame me,” Concannon said in an interview with Michigan Messenger.

The Democratic candidate said he was unsure if he would pursue an ethics claim in this case.

“In terms of an ethics investigation, I would like to focus on the issues, but it appears the actions of this staffer are so egregious , it may well be something we need to do,” Concannon said. “The onus is on the Camp campaign to show Mr. Friedman was not on the congressional payroll at the time of this slander.”

House rules permit employees of congressional offices to work on campaigns — but only if they take time off from their jobs, whether in unpaid administrative leave or simply taking a day off work.

It is clear from campaign filings that Friedman has been doing a lot of driving for the campaign. On Sept. 22, he received a check in the amount of $1,748.57 to reimburse him for mileage he had driven for the campaign. In addition, public records show Friedman earns a salary of about $80,000 a year from his position in the congressman’s office.

Calls to Rep. Camp’s Washington office revealed Friedman works out of the congressman’s Midland office. Multiple calls to Friedman went unreturned, and a staffer answering the phones at the Midland office said that only Friedman could comment on his allegations.