Political Consultant CAMP Associated With Democrat-Turned-Republican in the HD39 Election (December 12th) And Peterson Attack Mailer

As those of you who have followed my Dark Money posts know, Campaign Management Professionals (CAMP), run by longtime political consultant Fount Holland and his partner Mathew Parker, have worked for numerous campaigns over the years here in Oklahoma. Certainly, Mr. Holland and his colleagues have the right to work for anyone they choose here in Oklahoma, but we also have the right to publish information about candidates and their paid political consultants.

Recently, Miles Rahimi posted an amazing piece of research about Edmond HD39 District candidate Erick Harris. Clearly, the man was not only a DEMOCRAT within the recent past, but was an ACTIVE DEMOCRAT in the recent past. The photo of a smiling Mr. Harris and Nancy Pelosi at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 at the top of Rahimi’s post is a spectacular confirmation of this fact.

In the article, however, I couldn’t find anything about Harris’ political consultant, so I went to the Guardian system to check out his candidate filing.

Note, Mr. Harris is his own Treasurer and Chairperson. No one else is reportedly involved in his campaign. This is concerning as a named treasurer (other than the candidate) speaks to transparency and should help put voters at ease when donating to the candidate’s account.

In fact, there’s nothing on Harris’ website that claims anything other than it is paid for by Friends of Erick Harris 2024.

So what in the world? This guy is running his own campaign; clearly grassroots, right? Not so fast. Here are a few mailers run in the district.

Uh-oh. What’s that I see for the indicia? Yup, you guessed it, “presort std U.S. postage PAID, CAMP”.

At a campaign event, Michael Grande (Board Member) asked Mr. Harris if CAMP was running his campaign. His comment was something akin to ‘I’m my own man. I’m not beholden to anyone.’ Well, ok. Now that we have your word on that…

But, wait – there’s more.

Because she’s sweet and wouldn’t be a pushover for anyone’s agenda, an attack mailer has surfaced against Ronda Lee Peterson.

First of all, it does crack me up! The tagline LOLOLOL. Who’s US? The DISTRICT? The political consultant class? But look at the return address – what in the world is 1907 PAC?

If you haven’t seen my Dark Money presentation, here you go. That will help you understand the screenshots I’m about to post.

The phone number for the 1907 PAC is associated with the “Free Runner Macc’s Place” a campground in Tecumseh, OK, according to an internet search. I tried the phone number – which tagged as Yukon when I placed it – and there was no specifically listed business named, just a message saying I could leave a message.

I searched the PAC’s address and – LOW AND BEHOLD – it came up at a FedEx in Nichols Hills. Below is a screenshot of the Table I created for my (still in progress) paper to include all the information listed in my video. Does anything seem familiar?

Note also that Advance Oklahoma PAC is found at the same address.

I don’t think it takes a resurrected Sherlock Holmes to see that the 1907 PAC is associated with CAMP and other organizations that have been identified within the Dark Money ring in Oklahoma. Note the disbursements from the PAC earlier this year.

Now, note the initial AND ONLY deposit to the newly-formed PAC for the year.

It’s another favorite! The American Exceptionalism Institute C-4 DARK MONEY group. You’ll note them in the upper left-hand corner in pink. This C-4 is VERY BUSY running money in and out to different PACS that operate in Oklahoma elections but which NEVER file with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission as PACs, they only file at the federal level with the FEC.

You can look at Open Secrets to find out how much and where American Exceptionalism money goes, but again, CAMP is associated with more than one of the PACs to which they donate.

In closing, there are FOUR things we asked of legislators last session to help STOP the dark money interfering in Oklahoma elections. ROPE asks you to jot down these four and make sure YOUR legislator knows you want legislation run to stop these FOUR things – all exampled in this article.

1. PACS can be set up with a PO box and a Google telephone number which prevents any transparency at all for the PAC – both at the federal and state level. Many PACS that operate in Oklahoma are used by the same political consultant groups such that a political consultant is paid out of the same PAC where independent expenditures for his clients are made.  PACs in Oklahoma should have to have a legitimate street address and phone number where someone can be reached during regular business hours.
2. I have not been able to locate any internet evidence of life for at least 2 treasurers on PACS operating in Oklahoma at the federal and state level – Dustin McIntyre and John Jude. Treasurers must be residents of Oklahoma with a valid street address and telephone number where he/she can be reached during normal business hours.
3. PACS can give each other unlimited funds – much of which are provided by 501C4s that don’t have to provide the names of their donors. In the ‘real’ world, this could be confused with money laundering. In addition, federal law prevents foreigners from donating funds to ANY election or candidate in America. When you don’t know who donates the money to a campaign, how do you know it isn’t foreign money? Oklahoma should stop allowing DARK MONEY donations to local Oklahoma campaigns.
4. PACS operating in Oklahoma must be registered in Oklahoma with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission period. There should be no loophole in the Ethics rules that allow PACS operating in Oklahoma elections to register with the FEC instead of the Ethics Commission. Right now, the rules say that if a PAC is registered with the FEC it doesn’t have to register with the Ethics Commission. That’s bogus as an FEC PAC is supposed to support federal candidates, not state or local candidates, which is what is happening now. This again prevents transparency.