Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with far flung friends, but who knew it was a great way to spot potential campaign finance violations in real time?
The very talented Sacramento-based Democrat consultant Robin Swanson wrote on her Facebook page yesterday: “Random visitor of the day – Jerry Brown strolling into the office to meet with my office-mate, George Landers. With no entourage. And since he asked me to "like" him on Facebook, I figured I’d pass it on: http://www.facebook.com/jerrybrown”
George Landers, according to his LinkedIn, is the executive director for the UFCW western states council and their former political director. That organization has joined with and contributed nearly $300,000 to California Working Families, one of the union groups who have spent $15 million propping up Jerry Brown’s campaign. The law requires these expenditures to be done independent of a campaign, and they’re commonly referred to as “independent expenditures.”
Jerry Brown’s campaign can’t legally admit that they were talking about the election, even though I can’t imagine what else they may have been talking about 69 days before Nov. 2. I know the Brown people have their hands full keeping their Web server from crashing, so I thought I’d offer some ideas on what they can tell the media when they come calling about this meeting…
- Jerry and George were talking about Jersey Shore and how to get abs like The Situation.
- How ‘bout that hundred degree weather? About time summer came to Sacramento.
- Jerry wanted to borrow a calendar so he knows what day of the week it was.
Lest we forget, this isn’t the first time Jerry Brown has coordinated with the alleged union-backed “independent” expenditure groups. In March, he was caught on tape urging labor groups to attack the Republican nominee so he could concentrate on positive ads.