Chairman Franks speaks on Barbour, Pickering probe

JACKSON - Chairman Jamie Franks released the following statement concerning allegations that Gov. Haley Barbour conspired with former Congressman Chip Pickering to circumvent federal campaign finance laws:

"This is a serious allegation, and the facts are pretty clear. It does not take a rocket scientist to see there is no coincidence in what happened. It appears clear that Gov. Barbour tried to hide a campaign donation from Pickering to Louisiana Sen. David Vitter.

"This is nothing new for Barbour or Mississippi Republicans who routinely use shadow PACs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and innocuous-sounding groups to hide their political money or to attack Democratic candidates so they can look like they are above the fray," Franks said. "However, this is something a bit more serious. What appears to have happened here actually violates federal law and is a serious offense for a governor who not only represents Mississippi but all Republican governors nationwide.

"If Gov. Barbour did nothing wrong, he should simply come forward and say so. He should tell the people of Mississippi that he has not been involved with Pickering in any way when it comes to raising money for Vitter. Short of such a claim, it is hard to believe these accusations are anything but true."

The Louisiana Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission this week alleging that Barbour, Pickering and Vitter engaged in an illegal conduit scheme to hide a $5,000 contribution from Pickering to Vitter's campaign.

From the Louisiana Democratic Party:

In August, Barbour’s political action committee, Haley’s PAC, received a $5,000 contribution from Pickering four days after making a contribution in the same amount to David Vitter’s campaign. Louisiana Democrats say there is strong evidence that David Vitter accepted a campaign contribution made in the name of another, a violation of federal law.

The $5,000 transaction was the only activity reported by Haley’s PAC and the Commerce, Hope, Innovation and Progress (CHIP), Pickering’s committee, in August. CHIP PAC has not reported any other transactions for 2009 and Haley’s PAC has made only one.

“When you lay out the facts, it’s clear that it is not simply a coincidence that in a four day period these two dormant PAC’s suddenly passed around an identical amount of money that ultimately ends up in David Vitter’s hands,” said Louisiana Democratic Party Chair Chris Whittington. “Most people who break the law manage to cover their tracks a little better than Vitter, Pickering and Barbour seem to have.”

CQ Politics reported this suspicious serious of transactions between Vitter, Barbour and Pickering last month, noting that “Pickering, like Vitter is a conservative Christian Republican accused of having an extramarital affair linked to the ‘C Street’ townhouse in Southeast Washington that is at the center of a spate of GOP sex scandals.” CQ Politics labeled the suspicious transactions a “$5K ‘C Street Relay.”

Their mutual scandals and their association with the ‘C Street’ group may explain why Vitter and Pickering would want to hide the contribution, Whittington says.

“Clearly, a direct and publicly disclosed contribution from Pickering to Vitter would bring unwanted attention to both scandal-plagued men and to the Republican Party as a whole,” Whittington said.

Miss. Dem Presser