Election Complaints Filed Against Stewart in VA GOP Race

Election Complaints Filed Against Stewart in VA GOP Race

A spokesperson for the Virginia State Board of Elections (SBE) told Breitbart News on Wednesday that it has received two complaints alleging that Corey Stewart, a candidate for the Republican Party’s nomination for Lieutenant Governor, violated Virginia election law. 

Breitbart News reported on Friday that Stewart admitted that he was “connected to” the mysterious Virginians for Limited Government (VLG) group that filed independent reports last week with the Virginia SBE showing that it spent $23,000 on mailers supporting Stewart’s candidacy.

The spokeperson stated that “the SBE is reviewing two complaints received on this matter and will respond in kind.”

Meanwhile, Breitbart News has learned that VLG filed four new independent expenditure reports with the Virginia SBE on Wednesday that detail an additional $23,000 in spending on additional mailers supporting Corey Stewart and opposing several of his opponents in the hotly contested race to secure the Republican Party nomination for Lieutenant Governor. This brings the total reported spending by VLG in support of Stewart’s candidacy so far to $46,000.

That number may rise, however, as there are still three days until the 13,000 delegates attending the Republican Party convention in Richmond on Saturday select the party’s nominee for Lieutenant Governor.

It would not be surprising if the complaints allege that VLG violated Virginia election law by failing to register as a Political Action Committee with the Virginia SBE and failing to file quarterly financial reports.

If so, Virginia SBE’s response to the complaints could hinge on whether it relies upon the current statutory definition of a “political action committee” as determined by the Virginia SBE in the updated election statutory code officially promulgated by the Virginia SBE in April 2013.

That promulgation changed the statutory definition of a political action committee to the following:

Political Action Committee (PAC) – Any organization, person, or group of persons, established or maintained in whole or in part to receive and expend contributions for the purpose of influencing the outcome of any election. The term shall not include a campaign committee, federal political action committee, out-of-state political committee, political party committee, referendum committee, or inaugural committee. Note: May also be referred to as Political Committee.

The previous, now obsolete, statutory definition of a political action committee was much narrower:

“Political action committee” means any organization, person, or group of persons, established or maintained to receive and expend contributions for the primary purpose of expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate. The term shall not include a campaign committee, federal political action committee, out-of-state political committee, political party committee, referendum committee, or inaugural committee.

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