Aiyer vs. Lovell

From the Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/3469467

<snip>
WITH the general election behind, six Houston City Council candidates meeting in Dec. 10 runoffs are seeking the slight edge that can make a difference in such typically low-turnout events. The races are hard to handicap.
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For at-large Position 2, Sue Lovell and Jay Aiyer advanced to the runoff from a field of five. Lovell took 32 percent of the vote to Aiyer's 25 percent....

...But Aiyer maintains that Lovell had outside help.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) contributed $10,000 to Lovell's campaign and sent three mailings on her behalf. Aiyer said the mailings and automated phone calls by SEIU violate a city ordinance prohibiting "coordinated campaign expenditures" — direct work on behalf of a candidate by an organization whose expenditures aren't listed on the candidate's campaign finance reports.

Lovell's campaign didn't send any direct mail and she said it was not expecting SEIU to send mailings on her behalf.

"We were just as surprised as anyone else," she said. "They wrote a check for $10,000 and that was the last communication we had."</snip>

City Council Candidate Files Ethics Complaint Against Sue Lovell, SEIU


For Immediate Release
November 18, 2005

Contact: Keir Murray
713-553-8348

Jay Aiyer, candidate for Houston City Council At-Large, Position #2 filed a complaint yesterday with the City of Houston Ethics Commission against candidate Sue Lovell and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

The complaint accuses Lovell, a longtime activist, and SEIU, a Washington D.C. national union of illegally coordinating tens of thousands of dollars of campaign expenditures before the November 8th election, in violation of City law.

SEIU gave a $10,000 contribution directly to Lovell, which is the legal limit for a political action committee in a City of Houston election. The union then additionally produced and sent over $70,000 of coordinated direct mail on her behalf, a violation of City Ordinance 18.38 (c). SEIU's contribution nearly amounted to Lovell's own expenditures for her entire campaign.

The mail was produced by SEIU in San Francisco and mailed to Houston voters. The payment for the mail was never disclosed in a City of Houston campaign finance report, but was instead traced to a separate SEIU disclosure to the Federal Election Commission.

"Sue Lovell and SEIU have violated both the letter and the spirit of the law", Aiyer said. "Campaign contribution limits are in place to prevent any one individual or organization from having too much influence over a candidate or an election. The mail produced by SEIU is clearly a contribution to Ms. Lovell's campaign that is substantially over the $10,000 limit for a PAC."

"Our city requires transparency in the election process," Aiyer continued. "One organization funneling tens of thousands of dollars into a single candidate's campaign is prohibited, unacceptable to Houstonians and just plain wrong. Furthermore, now that Ms. Lovell is in a runoff, why shouldn't we expect SEIU will do the same thing again? Candidates and contributors must play by the rules and be held accountable when they don't."

Jay Aiyer, a Houston Community College Trustee, attorney and management consultant is running for Houston City Council At-Large, Position #2, an open seat being vacated by Gordon Quan, who is term limited and has endorsed Aiyer. Jay grew up in Houston and attended area public schools. He holds degrees from UT-Austin, the LBJ School of Public Affairs and South Texas College of Law. Jay is married and has two children.

The City Council runoff is scheduled for Saturday, December 10th.

To learn more about Jay Aiyer and his ideas for Houston, please visit www.jayforhouston.com.



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