| It looks like the mystery of who paid for the "Vote
Yes" signs all around town might be solved.
According to Lenoir City resident, Monty Ross, the Lenoir City school
board members paid for the signs themselves.
From Monty Ross' Nextdoor Post
3/26/24
You are probably seeing signs supporting
the 3/4 cent sales tax increase and some saying no.
The ones saying to please suppotrt are
paid for by the Lenoir City School Board members who all
pitched in from their own pockets suporting the
increase.
That is how much they believe in what it
will bring to Lenoir City. The "no" vote is brought to
you by an individual who does not live in the city and
does not have any children in the schools system. He
does have the right to voice his opinion. You have the
right to know the source. I am going to try and post
some pictures explaining what the funding will go to. If
I can't upload the pictues I will type in another post
what thefunding wil provide. Lenoir City Schools are
planning for growth and for our children. Please support
the sales tax.
I can not vouch for the truth to Ms. Ross' statement
above but she is certainly a close confidant of Lenoir City mayor, Tony
Aikens, and I'm sure she wouldn't tell something she didn't know to be
true. But, there is a little problem.
If Ms. Ross is correct, this would constitute a
Political Action Committee, better known as a PAC.
From
The State Of Tennessee
Political Action
Committees (PACs).
All political
campaign committees, popularly known
as PACs, that participate in any
state or local election are required
to file campaign financial
disclosure statements. A "political
campaign committee" is defined as
“any corporation or any other
organization making expenditures
to support or oppose a measure;
or any committee, club, corporation,
association, or other group of
persons which receives
contributions or makes expenditures
to support or oppose any candidate
for public office or measure
during a calendar year in an
aggregate amount exceeding one
thousand dollars ($1,000)”
Political Campaign
Treasurers and Officers.
Before any monies can
be received or spent, each PAC must
certify the name and address of its
political treasurer, officers, and
any individual with direct control
over expenditures (“responsible
individuals”) to the Registry of
Election Finance. This is
accomplished by completing and
filing the Appointment of Political
Treasurer and Officers form with the
Registry of Election Finance. T.C.A.
§ 2-10-105(e)(2022).
No doubt,
the Lenoir City School Board is an
"organization making expenditures to support or oppose a
measure". They obviously received contributions and made
expenditures to support or oppose any candidate for public
office or measure. They might even claim they didn't spend
$1,000.00.
I have
checked with the Loudon County Election Commission and
reviewed the state registered PAC's and can find no record
where their organization registered as a PAC. Then of
course, there's the failure of their group to post on their
signs, who paid for the signs as required by law.
And by the way, I bought and paid for all the signs I put
out myself and they all have my name on them, no mystery
here.
I
guess in summary, the regular election laws just don't apply
to the
Lenoir City School Board. Or, it's entirely possible Ms.
Ross just got her facts wrong.
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