A Hamilton County Republican official apparently went rogue when he filed a complaint asking the district attorney to investigate a Democratic candidate for the District 8 County Commission seat.
Harold Coker, vice chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party, filed the complaint Tuesday against candidate Kenny Smith.
The complaint was presented as a Hamilton County Republican Party request, but party Chairwoman Delores Vinson said Mr. Coker filed it without her knowledge or party approval.
The complaint, filed at the Hamilton County Election Commission Office, says Mr. Smith might have violated state and federal financial reporting laws by changing the address of a $5,000 campaign contribution from the Washington, D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Ms. Vinson said she believed Mr. Smith made a mistake on his forms and she did not think it amounted to a legal violation.
Records dated Jan. 15 show the money came from the union’s national office in Washington, but on April 24 Mr. Smith filed a revised campaign financial document identifying the union’s Chattanooga headquarters as the check’s source.
Mr. Coker said his concern was the unions are spending so much money in the County Commission races.
“It appears that unions are trying to place pro-union forces on this governing body in our county,” Mr. Coker said in an e-mail.
Charlotte Mullis-Morgan, administrator of elections, said her office does not think Mr. Smith violated any law. She said she forwarded the complaint to the state Registry of Election Finance.
Mr. Smith said he made an “honest mistake” that was corrected.
His Republican challenger, Tim Boyd, said he was glad the complaint cleared the air about the contribution.
“I guess it’s good that everybody has decided he didn’t do anything wrong,” Mr. Boyd said.
Continue reading by following these links to related stories:
Article: GOP asks DA to investigate Smith finance report
PDF: Complaint against Kenny Smith
Article: Candidates to boycott Hamilton County GOP event Saturday