| Just four days out from the IA-01 GOP primary, Mariannette Miller-Meeks has been hit with an FEC complaint by her Republican primary opponent David Pautsch alleging she sent “deliberate and fraudulent communication” about him to “160,000 registered Republicans.”
REMINDER: Pautsch received 44% of the vote against Miller-Meeks last cycle – even as she and Washington Republicans spent millions to drag her across the finish line.
NOW: This latest allegation, on top of Miller-Meeks spending more than $400,000 in primary television advertising, makes it even clearer she’s worried about losing to Pautsch.
DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Care to share what your internal polls are saying, Congresswoman?”
Read more:
KCRG: Iowa congressional candidate files FEC complaint over campaign text
- Pautsch claims someone close to the Miller-Meeks political organization sent a fraudulent text about him to 160,000 voters.
- According to the complaint, the text falsely implied a judge had recently sentenced Pautsch to jail time. He says this referenced something that happened in the year 2000 but was meant to deceive voters.
- Pautsch has requested a full investigation into the source of the message, if there was any coordinated effort, and whether it violated federal election laws.
Iowa Standard: Pautsch files formal FEC complaint due to ‘fraudulent’ mass text sent to 160,000 Republican voters
- David Pautsch, candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, announced on Thursday that he has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding what he describes as deliberate and fraudulent communication to approximately 160,000 registered Republicans across 20 counties by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’s allies.
- The complaint details a mass text broadcast that falsely implied a Scott County judge had recently sentenced Pautsch to jail. The message referenced a quarter-century-old court matter from the year 2000, but was written in a way that made voters believe the action had occurred within the last few days. Pautsch states that this was a calculated attempt to deceive voters and damage his candidacy.
- “This was not an accident. This was not a misunderstanding. This was a deliberate attempt to mislead the people of Iowa’s First District,” Pautsch said. “My opponent allowed an ally of their organization to send out a message crafted to sound like a breaking judicial action, even though they knew the matter was more than 25 years old. That is not campaigning. That is deception.”
Quad-City Times: Iowa 1st District congressional candidate files complaint over mass text
- Pautsch said in a news release Thursday that a mass text was sent to 160,000 people that falsely implied a Scott County judge had recently sentenced him to jail…The Quad-City Times received a copy of the text, which linked to an Iowa Field Report opinion piece critical of Pautsch.
- The text stated: “ALERT: A Scott County judge sentenced David Pautsch 30 days in jail for refusing child support for his 5 children, then denied him both work release and early release for good behavior. READ MORE:”
- The order to serve jail time came in 2001 as part of a divorce proceeding, according to Iowa court records. Pautsch and his then-wife had five school-age children at the time.
- In the complaint, Pautsch wrote that it occurred “during a difficult period involving a divorce and business crisis.”
- Miller-Meeks’ campaign said she had “absolutely no involvement” in the mass text.
|
