Key Source In Cochran Vote-Buying Report Points Finger At McDaniel Spokesman

Source: TPM

By DANIEL STRAUSS Published AUGUST 6, 2014, 11:00 AM EDT

The man who said he was paid $2,000 to falsely accuse Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) of a vote-buying scheme to get African-Americans to vote for him in the runoff election of the Mississippi race for U.S. Senate is now saying state Sen. Chris McDaniel's (R) spokesman, Noel Fritsch, was the one who paid him to do the interview, according to the Clarion-Ledger and WJTV.

The man, Stevie Fielder, was the main source in a report by conservative blogger Charles Johnson that said Cochran's campaign promised to pay African-Americans $15 a pop to vote for the incumbent senator in the runoff, which Cochran won by beating McDaniel.

Last Wednesday Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood (D) said his office was investigating whether Johnson himself paid Fielder to point the finger at Cochran. At the time Hood said he did not know who paid Fielder. On Monday evening Hood spokeswoman Jan Schaefer confirmed to the newspaper that Fielder said it was Fritsch who paid him.

Fritsch...denied Fielder's accusation in an email to TPM and, instead, pointed the blame at Johnson and Saleem Baired, who has served as the Cochran campaign's minority outreach director.

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