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Sushant Sidh and David Carroll sent a letter to the Maryland State Board of Elections that asks the state BOE to investigate Elrich, Berliner and Progressive Maryland for coordination.
Sushant Sidh and David Carroll sent a letter to the Maryland State Board of Elections that asks the state BOE to investigate Elrich, Berliner and Progressive Maryland for coordination.
Sushant Sidh and David Carroll sent a letter to the Maryland State Board of Elections that asks the state BOE to investigate Elrich, Berliner and Progressive Maryland for coordination.
June 22, 2018
Administrator Linda H. Lamone
Maryland State Board of Elections
151 West Street, Suite 200
Annapolis, MD 21401
DELIVERED VIA EMAIL
Dear Administrator Lamone:
We are writing to request the Maryland State Board of Elections init/ate an investigation in the activities
of Progressive Maryland and the campaigns of Roger Berliner and Marc Elrich. As long time followers
and participants in Maryland campaigns and elections and in large part based upon media reports of
activities that all three entities have engaged, we believe there is reason to suspect the coordination
between the two campaigns and Progressive Maryland Liberation Alliance PAC in violation of Maryland
campaign finance laws.
The March 2017 revision to the Summary Guide, Maryland Candidacy and Campaign Finance Laws
outlines the distinction between Independent Expenditures and In-Kind Contributions. It expressly
prohibits campaigns from explicitly coordinating activities that are reported as independent
expenditures rather than in-kind contributions for the purposes of circumventing the campaign finance
limits contribution amounts.
‘The Summary Guide states:
Factors to be considered by the State Board in determining whether a candidate and a person making
independent expenditures are acting, organizing, or operating in coordination and cooperation with
each other for an expenditure, include evidence of.
# Sharing campaign material, strategies, or information that is not generally available to the public,
such as information about advertising, messaging, strategy, polling, research, o allocation of
resources.
‘Publishing or distributing campaign material prepared by the candidate.
‘An agreement with another candidate or person on the payment of expenses or receipt of
contributions, for example designs or schemes to evade Election Law disclosure requirements or
contribution limits.
Whether the candidate is substantially involved in, or had more than incidental discussions with
respect to, decisions regarding the content, targeted or intended audience, means or mode of a public
communication, specific media outlet used, the timing or frequency or size or prominence of @
communication or fundraising event for another candidate or organization participating in theelection. # Sharing operations, responsible officers, staff, consultants and other third party vendors
with another candidate or person.
With respect to the relationship between the Progressive Maryland Liberation Alliance PAC and the
Elrich campaign, the group has endorsed the candidacy of Marc Elrich and according to the web-site, A
‘Miner Detail, the group planned to run pro-Elrich and anti-David Blair advertisements. The article
continued to detail that several Progressive Maryland staffers “are actively aiding Elrich’s campaign.”
In essence, Progressive Maryland has directed its staffers to serve on the Elrich campaign while at the
‘same time it claims that its efforts to publicly smear a political opponent of Elrich aren’t being
coordinated. Itis difficult to imagine a scenario where personnel actively aiding a campaign haven't
discussed activities meant to benefit a candidate at the expense of another.
Turning to the suspected coordination between the Berliner and Elrich campaigns, given the similarities
in messaging strategies, it is reasonable to assume that the two campaigns have coordinated, sharing
Information, messaging and strategy. Such coordination is unethical if not illegal, especially if done with
the expectation of receiving political favors. Should Mr. Elrich or Mir. Berliner prevail, | believe an
investigation should remain open until such time that the next Executive in Montgomery County has
selected their top level staff.
Sincerely,