Mr. Rove or Mr. Rogers?

This opinion piece appeared in the Townsman, July 31, 2008 edition

"The power of money is the soul of democracy."

Doesn't that statement appearing in Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, published in the early 1920's, annoy you? Like many annoying statements it has an inconsolable ring of truth. How many of you already have been pestered by the Obama and McCain campaigns for money? And who gives them all that money, and why? Fortunately, we have election laws that require candidates for public office to disclose major sources of the money funneled into their campaigns. The purpose of these laws is to inform us voters on what special interests are contributing to what candidates and to what extent, and then to let us draw our own conclusions. Occasionally we hear of a candidate who fudged election law being fined or jailed or both.

I had occasion recently to review campaign financial disclosure statements submitted by Craig Barber, David Lewis and Jay Wenk.

Barber and Lewis, you may recall, had teamed up briefly in Spring '07 with councilwoman Liz Simonson to form the Sustainable Woodstock Party, which then afterward dissolved with the speed of a "spinned" newspaper left in a pelting rain. They then went on to seek the Democratic nod for councilman (Barber) and town supervisor (Lewis), but came up short.

In June of '07, before the August Democratic caucus, there was a political fundraiser, an auction as it were, held at the Colony Café sponsored by the Committee for Woodstock's Future (CWF).

According to a financial disclosure statement by Lewis to the New York State Board of Elections (NYSBOE), on July 1, '07 his campaign received a $1000.00 contribution (check # 1003) from the CWF, whose address he listed as "PO Box 729."

Barber reported receiving on July 12, '07 $1000.00 from the CWF (check # 1004) whose address he listed as "PO Box 729."

Jay Wenk reported receiving on July 6, '07 $1000.00 from the CWF (check # 1005) in both his NYSBOE disclosure statement (with no address), and on his disclosure statement to the Ulster County Board of Elections, where he listed the CWF address as "186 Meads Mountain Road.

Nice fundraiser!

But who was or is this mysterious CWF? My curiosity only intensified when I discovered that "186 Meads Mountain Road" does not exist in Town records.

Let the following e-mails between Jay Wenk and me try to unravel the mystery.

July 28, 2008
Dear Jay
If you have a second, perhaps you could answer a simple question concerning the campaign financial reports you filed both with the County and NYS Boards of Election (UCBOE and NYSBOE) in your capacity as the treasurer of Friends of Jay Wenk.

1) The hand written copy you submitted to the UCBOE did not include a verification signature, or date (although the BOE did stamp an August, 2007 date). Was this an oversight?

2) Of the $1830.00 in contributions you reported to the UCBOE, $1000.00 came from a "Committee for Woodstock's Future." The address you listed, 186 Meads Mountain Road, does not exist. Could you please provide the correct address?

3) Of the $4536.00 in contributions you filed electronically with the NYSBOE you itemized $1000.00 as an un-itemized contribution with the explanation "Committee WDSTK Future Fundraised." You gave no address for the Committee.

4) In the electronically filed financial disclosure statements from David Lewis and Craig Barber, who you may recall were running for the Democratic nomination for town supervisor and town councilman respectively at the same time you were running for nomination as councilman, they each reported a $1000.00 contribution from the Committee for Woodstock's Future, and gave PO Box 729, Woodstock as an address for the organization. Is this, to your knowledge, the same Committee for Woodstock's Future that you listed as residing at 186 Meads Mountain Road?

5) In your NYSBOE electronic filing you list "Committee C. Barber" as a contributor of $400.00. Did this $400.00 originate from the Committee for Woodstock's Future?

6) As of today, July 28 the NYSBOE has no record (Form CF-02) of a Committee for Woodstock's Future. Were you aware the committee may have had no legal status for the collection and disbursement of campaign contributions?

7) Assuming all this was a harmless mistake, are you willing to disclose to the voting public the principals of the Committee for Woodstock's Future, and require them to make the proper filings? Of particular interest would be the report on the June, 2007 auction at the Colony Cafe, which according to election law, "Items received for an auction must be reported as In-Kind contributions at fair market value. The entire amount received for an item will then be reported as a contribution on Schedule A, B or C." Also, it appears that you received check # 1004 from the Committee for Woodstock's Future, Mr. Barber received check # 1005 and Mr. Lewis received check # 1003. One may infer check #'s 1000, 1001 and 1002 had existed, and by law one should know how they were dispersed. Also, by law one should know if there were any subsequent expenditures after check # 1005.

I'm running the story this week and hope that you can get back to me soon with your response.
Jeremy Wilber, Townsman

July 29 Jay responded:
These were all oversights, and wherever the two BOE's required updates, they were provided. If any info was not listed it was because the BOE's and I missed it. At this point I think the PO address is the correct one, and that Committee was asked to make the proper report. You will have to ask Craig and David your other questions. The $400 was from Craig's campaign

July 29 I wrote Jay again, repeating his letter to me and inquiring:

To your point "that Committee was asked to make the proper report," asked by whom, you? Who did you ask? Who is the treasurer of this Committee for Woodstock's Future?

To your point, "I think the PO address is the correct one," this does nothing to identify the Committee. The Post Office will not release the name of the box renter. Again, could you please just let me know who the principals of the committee are?

To your point "wherever the two BOE's required updates, they were provided;" as of this moment there is no filing of this political committee with the NYSBOE or the UCBOE. None, even though more than a year has passed since the Committee raised (at least) $3000.00 for political races. Also, unless you were closely associated with this Committee, how would you know the "required updates were provided?" Did you personally make the filings? If not, who assured you that they had been filed?

In discussing this matter with an UCBOE employee this whole matter was described as "very fishy."

What are you, the recipient of at least $1000.00 (and possibly $1400.00) from this unknown, unregistered entity going to do to disclose to the voting public the principals of the Committee for Woodstock's Future, and require them to make the proper filings?

Jeremy Wilber, Townsman

As the hours tick there has been no response, so we can't unravel the mystery yet. No doubt, considering Jay's history of rectitude there is a simple explanation.