Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)

Representative Vern Buchanan (R-FL) is a two-term member of Congress representing Florida’s 13th district. His ethics issues stem from pressuring his employees to make contributions to his campaign committee and improper use of corporate resources for campaign purposes. Rep. Buchanan was included in CREW’s 2008 report on congressional corruption.

Conduit Contributions

Rep. Buchanan owns several car dealerships in Florida and after he began his congressional campaign in 2005, in one seven-day period, he raised $110,000 from employees of his numerous car dealerships. Several employees have since alleged that Rep. Buchanan pressured them to make contributions to his campaign committee.

According to the sworn affidavits of Carlo A. Bell and David J. Padilla, employees of Rep. Buchanan's automobile dealerships, including employees of Venice Nissan Dodge and Sarasota Ford, were either reimbursed with corporate funds for making $1,000 contributions to Rep. Buchanan’s 2006 congressional campaign, or were coerced into making contributions.

Joe Kezer, an employee of Sarasota Ford, also alleges that he was pressured to make a contribution and that as a further reward, Rep. Buchanan offered him the use of his vacation house in Vail, Colorado. Aware that it might not be legal, but fearing for his job, Mr. Kezer made a contribution of $2,000 to Rep. Buchanan’s campaign committee.

Terry Keith Howell, a registered Democrat, claims he too was reimbursed for donations he had made to Rep. Buchanan. According to a deposition he gave in a lawsuit, Mr. Howell claimed the $8,800 contribution he made to Rep. Buchanan and the $10,000 he gave to the Republican Party of Florida were paid by his business partner, Timothy Mobley, “a Tampa developer whose relatives and employees were the single largest group of contributors to Buchanan.”

The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits corporations from making threats of reprisal to force employees to make political contributions.

Additionally, FECA prohibits making a contribution in the name of a person other than the true source of the contribution.

CREW has a pending FEC complaint against Rep. Buchanan.

Corporate Donations

Another former employee, Richard Thomas, who was the director of fixed operations for one of Rep. Buchanan’s dealerships, claims that Rep. Buchanan repeatedly used dealership cars for campaign purposes. Mr. Thomas has alleged that vehicles were taken out of inventory for use by the campaign and when returned, would frequently contain campaign materials such as literature and posters, which would be cleaned out, and the cars detailed by dealership staff before the cars were made available to customers. The dealership may not have been paid fair market value for the use of the vehicles. Rep. Buchanan also stored campaign materials at the dealership.

Using corporate vehicles for campaign purposes without paying fair market value may violate federal elections law.

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