Friday, October 17, 2008

Fmr. Prosecutor Graves Files Ethics Complaint Against Page


Former U.S. Prosecutor Todd Graves has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Democratic candidate for Governor Sam Page for receiving a campaign contribution from a foreign national.

On October 4th, Page received a $10,000 contribution from Waverly Glen, a medical equipment company that's address was listed in Vaughan, Ontario Canada. Federal law bars candidates from accepting campaign contributions from non-citizens or other foreign groups.

In a letter to the FEC Friday, Graves, a Republican attorney, said that Page's acceptance of this contribution "presents a rare but serious violation of our country's long-standing ban on foreign contributions in U.S. elections."

"The subject donation appears to have been made with a check drawn on a foreign company's bank account (not any U.S. subsidiary)," wrote Graves. "Rep. Page's campaign apparently received it in an envelope bearing a Canadian address. Because Rep. Page nonetheless represents that the source of funds is not foreign, I believe this is a knowing and willful violation, and am sending a copy of this complaint to the United States Department of Justice for its concurrent investigation."

Thursday night, a person close to the Page campaign called it a clerical error and the campaign filed an amended report Friday. The report now lists the address as from St. Louis, not Canada.
Page is locked in an increasingly competitive race for Lieutenant Governor with incumbent Republican Peter Kinder.

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