On Anniversary of Sunshine Lawsuit, Emails Once Again Land Martin in Hot Water

St. Louis – Exactly three years ago today, the Post Dispatch filed an open records request seeking emails that eventually proved Ed Martin used his government account to further Matt Blunt’s political agenda. Today, a new complaint has been filed that once again raises questions about Martin’s illegal use of emails – this time, to further his own political goals.

On Monday, the Russ Carnahan Campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding evidence that Martin illegally used emails collected for the non-profit organization SaveAB.com.   According to the Associated Press, Ed Martin used the SaveAB Web site and email account as a springboard for his upcoming Congressional campaign, a direct violation of Missouri and federal election law.

“Ed Martin has a long history of trying to bend or break the rules for his own political gain,” said Angela Guyadeen, Communications Director for the Russ Carnahan in Congress Campaign.  “It is time for him to be held accountable for his actions.”

Despite promising not to use the names and personal information of petition signers for anything other than non-profit purposes, Martin republished the Save AB website as he was launching his run for Congress and directed the 40,000 members on the email list to his campaign website. Paul Ryan, an associate legal counsel for the Campaign Law Center, a non-partisan organization that analyzes campaign finance and election law issues,stated that the Web site and email “appears to be express advocacy” for Martin, which is illegal according to campaign finance law.

The FEC complaint filed today states, in part, that:  “[a]lthough its Articles of Incorporation required it to give all of its assets to charity upon dissolution, SaveAB.com appears to have simply transferred everything it had to Martin's campaign.  Martin and his Committee are usingSaveAB.com's domain name and its valuable mailing list, reportedly consisting of nearly 85,000 names, in support of Martin's campaign without making any payment for them.  The fact that SaveAB.com was recently dissolved is inapposite; a candidate cannot raid a corporation that he controls for his federal campaign, and then circumvent 2 U.S.C. § 441b by then simply dissolving it.” 

This is just the latest in a series of ethical and legal problems that have plagued Martin’s political career, most notably his scandal-ridden tenure as former Governor Matt Blunt’s Chief of Staff.  On November 1, 2007, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch issued a Sunshine Law request for emails as part of an ongoing investigation. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nov. 16, 2008  Martin attempted to orchestrate a massive cover-up, even firing a whistleblower who tried to stop him from destroying public documents, eventually costing taxpayers $2.4 million. 

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