Kym Pine, Eric Ryan and a Curious Check for $3,150
07/22/2011
http://www.kympineisacrook.com/
UPDATED 7/23/11 9:35 a.m.
What began this spring as a dispute between a lawmaker and the man she hired to build her website has taken a new, possibly far more serious turn.
Eric Ryan has alleged publicly that state Rep. Kymberly Pine owes him "thousands of dollars" for producing campaign materials.
On Friday morning, Ryan put forth a new story.
He now argues on his KymPineIsACrook website that Pine, a Republican, paid him $3,150 to produce a sensationalist campaign mailer that attacked a prospective opponent in the 2010 Democratic primary — an act that might have violated campaign spending laws.
Candidates are not allowed to spend campaign money to oppose a candidate they're not facing. Ryan links to documents on his website that he believes back up his claim.
Yet, Ryan himself may also have violated state campaign spending laws. Ryan says the $3,150 went to a non-candidate committee controlled by Ryan called Save Ewa Beach. The group's name and address were printed on the campaign mailer. Nobody can give more than $1,000 to a non-candidate committee in an election. Instead of a donation from Studio Ryan or Friends of Kymberly Pine of $3,150, the committee received three $1,000 donations — from Ryan, his wife and his mother.
On Friday afternoon, Ryan told Civil Beat that the reports filed with the state Campaign Spending Commission are wrong. He says it was Pine or her campaign treasurer that did the reporting.
