Formal Complaint Alleges Johnson Campaign Illegally Coordinated With Several PACs During 2022 Primaries

Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –

Last week, Gary Humble, former State Senate Candidate, was given an extension by the Registry for Campaign Finance until October to provide documents that prove his campaign did not coordinate with the non-profit organization he operates, Tennessee Stands. An act that would violate Tennessee state campaign finance law. 

Humble’s campaign is being investigated because a member of the registry, Tom Lawless, a Nashville attorney, based on a single campaign mailer, and some event dates that seemed suspect to him, encouraged the registry to “dig into it” because he sensed there was “smoke”. Or, to get technical using the language in Tennessee code, take it upon themselves to instigate an audit, “upon their own motion.”

No complaints had been or have ever been filed. Just the hunch of Lawless was all that was required for the registry to demand every campaign document for the entirety of the campaign be turned over for audit. 

Many felt that this was a personal crusade on behalf of Mr. Lawless, a fishing expedition to hobble Gary Humble from ever effectively running for public office in the future in the state of Tennessee. 

On June 8^th, a formal complaint was filed by a registered voter of Williamson County, and based on what appears to be substantial evidence, the campaign of Senator Jack Johnson and the manager of that campaign, Ward Baker, allegedly illegally coordinated with several PACS during the 2022 primaries this past July.

During this time, a virtual blitzkrieg of scathingly negative mailers was sent out against then candidate Gary Humble. Such a coordination without disclosure is, as mentioned above, a violation of Tennessee state campaign finance laws. 

Tennessee State Campaign Finance Rules stipulate: “When registering as a multicandidate political campaign committee (PAC), a committee must disclose its affiliation with any other PACs and provide the names and addresses of those PACs. Such affiliations must be disclosed in the PAC’s appointment of political treasurer statement. A committee must notify the Registry if it later becomes affiliated with any other PACs and provide the names and addresses of those PACs within thirty (30) days of the affiliation occurring.”

In layman’s terms, it is illegal for a campaign to coordinate with a PAC without disclosing the affiliation. 

The Tennessee Conservative filed a public records request and received a copy of the complaint with its allegations and evidence of coordination by Senator Johnson and Ward Baker, Johnson’s campaign manager. 

You can read the complaint here, which shows the evidence of affiliation and could very possibly land Senator Johnson and Baker in front of the registry for their own hearing. 

For example, all of the PACS that are responsible for the negative mailer campaign against Humble, share the same office space as Baker’s political consulting firm. Additionally, the complaint includes the relationships of those affiliated with the PACs and Senator Johnson make the idea that coordination did not indeed happen somewhat implausible.

As stated in the complaint: “With respect to the mailers sent out by Lt. Governor Randy McNally’s personal PAC, (McPAC), it is unreasonable to believe that Lt. Governor McNally never spoke to Senator Jack Johnson about using his personal PAC to run attack ads against Mr. Johnson’s opponent”.

The complaint also lists that a former boss of Senator Johnson sits on the board for one of the other PACs, TeamKid PAC.

There are also personal relationships Senator Johnson has with some of the other names that are affiliated with the PACs in question. For example, an associate whose name comes up in the complaint helped operate one of the PACs, had a son who was a volunteer in Senator Johnson’s office. 

Finally, the complaint states that similar allegations have been leveled at Ward Baker in the past, with other campaigns he has managed. Although he managed to come out from those experiences unscathed. 

The Tennessee Conservative reported on the hearing for Gary Humble last week, including a quote from the Executive Director of Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance Bill Young, when he was queried about Mr. Humble’s case at a recent GOP gathering. The question was asked, how is it that the registry chooses the cases it audits? 

Mr. Young responded, “There are two types of audits that the registry board can do – by statute or by ethics commission.  By statute, we’re required to do a certain number of candidate audits (I think it’s 4% – 4 or 5% for lobbyists as well) – we have to draw those every year.  There’s a process where we have the Attorney General come over and witness the drawing to make sure it’s done fairly.  In addition to that, the registry board has the power to order an audit. In the one you mentioned, they have ordered an audit.” 

Now, with this official complaint being filed, we will see whether there will be at least as much scrutiny focused on Senator Johnson’s campaign, all those affiliated, and the evidence presented.

As always, we will follow this story as it develops and report those facts to our readers. 

About the Author: Kelly Jackson is a recent escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers. She has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member.  Outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty. Kelly can be reached at kelly@tennesseeconservativenews.com.