Rep. Buchanan Faces Allegations of Breaking Campaign Finance Laws

19 Aug 2008 // Several former employees of a Florida Republican lawmaker’s car dealerships allege they were forced to donate campaign funds to him in 2005, according to sworn statements filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.

Carlo A. Bell and D.J. Padilla say supervisors at Vern Buchanan’s dealerships pressured them into writing checks to the campaign.

Bell alleges that a general manager gave $1,000 in cash to several employees in exchange for their contributing that amount of money to Buchanan’s campaign; Bell asked if doing so was illegal.

The manager “did not answer my question, instead asking me if I was on the team or not. . . . Afraid that I might lose my job if I refused, I replied yes, I was part of the team and agreed to write the check,” Bell stated.

Ethics watchdog agency Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed an official complaint with the FEC on Tuesday, charging Buchanan with violating three campaign finance laws.

They allege Buchanan threatened employees with “reprisals to coerce them to make campaign donations, making contributions in the name of another, and making corporate contributions.”

The watchdog group does not intend to file charges with the House ethics committee however, because the alleged acts occurred before Buchanan was elected.

An aide said the ethics panel could contend that the violations fall under the FEC’s jurisdiction and not the committee’s purview.