CHILDERS
IURP SDJH
Top Contributors* Thad Cochran (R) CONTRIBUTOR
Telapex Inc. . . . . . . . . General Atomics . . . . . Baker, Donelson et al . . . Tenax Aerospace . . . . . Votesane PAC. . . . . . . Northrop Grumman . . . Balch & Bingham. . . . . Raytheon Co. . . . . . . . Southern Co. . . . . . . . Huntington Ingalls Industries . . . . . . . . . Entergy Corp.. . . . . . . Seemann Composites. . . Boeing Co. . . . . . . . . Sanderson Farms . . . . . Sierra Nevada Corp. . . . Butler Snow LLP . . . . . Cornerstone Government Affairs . . . . . . . . . . . Podesta Group . . . . . . Airbus Group . . . . . . . Altria Group. . . . . . . . CME Group . . . . . . .
TOTAL
. $71,350 . $57,100 . $47,450 . $41,500 . $35,500 . $34,000 . $32,950 . $30,000 . $24,000 . $22,700 . $22,600 . $21,500 . $21,300 . $20,600 . $20,500 . $20,300 . $20,200 . $19,950 . $18,600 . $17,600 . $17,600
October 22 - 28, 2014 • jfp.ms
CONTRIBUTOR
24
TOTAL
Langston & Lott . . . . . . $11,400 Moderate Democrats PAC $10,000 Operating Engineers Union $10,000 Langston Law Firm. . . . . $5,200 Common Sense Colorado . $5,000 Empire PAC. . . . . . . . . $5,000 Great Land PAC . . . . . . $5,000 Hoosiers First PAC . . . . . $5,000 Searchlight Leadership Fund . $5,000 Jr Broadcasting . . . . . . . $2,600 Morton Construction . . . $2,600 Advanced Healthcare Management . . . . . . . . $2,500 America’s Leadership PAC . $2,500 American Assn for Justice. . $2,500 AmeriPAC: The Fund for a Greater America. . . . . . . $2,500 First American Financial Corp . $2,500 First State PAC . . . . . . . $2,500 Jones & Jones CPA . . . . . $2,500 Lobo PAC. . . . . . . . . . $2,500 Peak PAC . . . . . . . . . . $2,500 Rosewood Residence . . . . $2,500 *Through June 30, 2014
SOURCE: CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS
should be spelling out in no certain terms why those seemingly divergent strategies are compatible, Hill argues. “Two weeks before the election, we should be engaged in a sharp debate around the issue areas Childers have laid out, but we haven’t seen that,” Hill said. A Golden Opportunity
The FAIR pledge touched off a spate of criticism from Democratic voters, including Natalie Maynor, who took to social media to disavow Childers. But Grant Sowell, head of the Tupelo Tea Party and a constituent of Childers’ former district, believes Childers’ move might actually have the desired effect of appealing to for-
mer McDaniel acolytes. Sowell said he could not personally support Childers because he voted for Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker, and he believes that raising the minimum wage will hurt the bottom wage earners. Still, Sowell said fellow tea-party members who believe that they don’t have a conservative in the race to support are taking a long, hard look at Childers. “I think he has the opportunity to peel off some of the McDaniel voters,” Sowell said. “Most people I know who were McDaniel supporters, there is no way they’re going to vote for Thad Cochran.” Comment www.jfp.ms. Email R.L. Nave at rlnave@jacksonfreepress.com.
Pro-Cochran PAC Sheds Light on GOP Primary by Anna Wolfe
R
ecent federal-campaign finance reports shed new light into spending that took place in the final days of the grueling Republican primary in June. The report, from super PAC All Citizens for Mississippi, came on the heels of an announcement from the organization’s founder, Bishop Ronnie Crudup of New Horizon Church International, would visit Africa the same week. Included in the report are donations from a super PAC, Mississippi Conservatives, founded by former Gov. Haley Barbour and his nephew, Henry Barbour, in the amount of $10,000 and one outstanding debt to American Media & Advocacy Group for the amount of $20,577.81. All Citizens drew attention both locally and from international media for influencing the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate election between incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and state Sen. Chris McDaniel in June, which Cochran won by 7,667 votes. All Citizens, which is a pro-Cochran committee, is best known for distributing racially charged radio advertisements telling African Americans to vote for the incumbent. The bishop, who founded the super PAC, came under fire for not reporting all his donations and expenses in July after the McDaniel-Cochran run-off June 24. The Barbour super PAC is the only contributor that appears on the Oct. 15 filing. The additional $10,000 contribution brings the total contributions from Mississippi Conservatives to All Citizens for Mississippi to $152,000. Crudup’s super PAC has raised a total of $164,340 since its creation and spent a total of $155,280.54, including the debt to American Media.
American Media & Advocacy Group, a media-buying firm, placed advertisements on radio stations across the state in June that suggested McDaniel would be detrimental to race relations in the state and that a win for McDaniel would be a loss for black Mississippians. In July, Crudup said the expenditures for radio ads did not appear on the PAC’s
counting and consulting. All Citizens also racked up a $1,604.83 American Express bill for the purpose of “campaign material” and paid Crudup’s church $1,675 for rent of office space in its building. Crudup’s trip to Africa to help two churches in southern areas of the continent has been planned since before the Ebola virus hit the news, and his plans TRIP BURNS
Travis Childers (D)
receives anywhere from 20- to 30 percent African American support in his elections. The last time Mississippi had a U.S. Senate election in a mid-term election, thenSen. Trent Lott beat then-state Rep. Erik Fleming by 30 percentage points. In subsequent elections, in 2008 and 2012, both presidential election years with Obama on the ballot, the Democratic Senate nominees—Fleming again in 2008 and Albert N. Gore Jr. in 2012—did just as poorly. Essentially, Childers is asking conservative Republicans to support a Democrat, and he is asking black Democrats to support a conservative who is making overtures to the tea party. With so little time remaining before the election, Childers
Bishop Ronnie Crudup didn’t let a trip to Africa during an ebola scare stop him from filing finance reports for his pro-Thad Cochran super PAC, All Citizens for Mississippi.
FEC filings because American Media “extended some credit” to Crudup and his PAC. It appears from the filings that All Citizens has not yet paid the debt to the media buying firm, despite the fact that the super PAC’s donations exceed the needed funds to do so. Jacqueline Vann, All Citizens for Mississippi treasurer and New Horizon’s chief financial officer, said last week that the super PAC paid American Media in July, but she was not able to clarify why the purchase was filed under “debts and obligations.” The Oct. 15 report also shows disbursements to nine individuals totaling $14,300 for a variety of purposes from door-to-door get-out-the vote-efforts to ac-
to help around 100 Africans remains intact. Ebola has had widespread transmission in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone—thousands of miles from where Crudup will be. “I’m feeling pretty good about the trip. I don’t expect any problems. Certainly I expect that there’s going to be a lot more security, health-related checks. I’m expecting that. I’m even hopeful,” Bishop Crudup told WJTV before he left. Bishop Crudup’s donations do not stop at elections. Crudup’s church is giving $2,000 every week for the next three months to the group We Make it Better— a Jackson-based foundation that Crudup also founded, which will help fund projects in Africa.