McCormick misses another FEC deadline

Shadowy perennial candidate Lisa McCormick, vanquished against last week when Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) crushed her in the 12th district Democratic primary by a 90%-10% margin, still hasn’t filed as a congressional candidate with the Federal Election Commission.

Except for a change of address, McCormick has not field a single report with the FEC since filing a statement of organization as a U.S. Senate candidate six months after she lost the 2018 primary.

McCormick never field with the FEC for her run against Coleman, and missed last night’s deadline to file a 2nd Quarter report.

Two treasurers listed on the 2018 reports, Janice Loop and Janet Carter, both use a post office box and telephone number connected to Jim Devine, McCormick’s life partner and an often controversial political consultant.

In three successive campaigns for public office – Senate in 2018, Union County Surrogate in 2019, and Congress in 2020 – McCormick has not disclosed a single contributor or expenditure.

There had to be at least one: she is still running an ad on a news site that lists McCormick as the publisher.  The ad, with a “Paid for by EFO of Lisa McCormick” would need to be charged to the campaign or it could constitute an illegal corporate campaign contribution.”

New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission records show that McCormick never reported a campaign contribution or expenditure for her unsuccessful primary bids for Union County Clerk in 2010 and Rahway Council in 2014.

Foreshadowing a potential complaint, a lawyer for the Watson Coleman campaign, Raj Parikh, told McCormick earlier this month to preserve documents related to her campaign.

By sending the letter, Parikh put McCormick and Devine on notice that they must “maintain all documents, communications and information that may be relevant to future legal proceedings” – a move typically made in preparation for a civil lawsuit.

That means McCormick and Devine may not delete anything from their computers, including cell phone records, text messages and internet search history.

If Devine failed to raise the minimum threshold to file FEC reports, federal regulations still require her to file documentation attesting to that.

In 2018, a political action committee run by Devine was fined $120,000 for failing to report PAC donors and expenses.

The Central Jersey Democratic Leadership Committee, which was chaired by Jim Devine, failed to file contributions and expenditures for four years between 2005 and 2010.

The PAC is dormant, which makes collecting the fine nearly impossible.