Tolbert: Grasping At Straws – Allegations Of ‘Mystery’ Payment From Cotton Campaign

In the final days of a campaign, opposition research dumps can get a bit silly.  I have previously written about some of the more dirty oppo research efforts, but the latest from Democrats in support of Mark Pryor’s campaign is not offensive but instead laughably bad.

On Tuesday, Democrats on twitter were abuzz with what they thought was a problem they discovered in Tom Cotton’s latest financial filing – even calling it the “October Surprise.”  It began with a blog post on the New York Times website by Jonathan Martin that questioned if one of the vendors of the Cotton campaign  – Right Solutions Partners LLC – actually existed.  Wrote Martin…

But here’s the catch: It’s not clear that such an entity actually exists. It has no presence on the Internet, it appears that no other campaign is paying it this year, and it has no office at the Washington address listed on the articles of organization filed with the city last year.

However, the address, 1717 K Street Northwest, is where the Washington office of the law firm Arent Fox is located, and a Republican campaign finance lawyer at the firm signed the organizing papers with the city. When I called that lawyer, Craig Engle, he initially said he did not set up Right Solutions Partners. Then he amended that, saying, “I remember being part of the organizing of it.”

Martin says he tried to contact the Cotton campaign, but did not hear back.  I contacted them and I quickly did hear back.  It turns out that the group Right Solutions Partners LLC does exist and is owned by a well-known Republican fundraiser, Erika Sather.

“Our fundraising consultant is named Erika Sather. It’s been public knowledge for sometime that she works with us. She is an experienced fundraiser with a proven track record, and has worked with notable clients like Sens. Pat Toomey and Rand Paul. As I’m sure you know, every legitimate Senate candidate in the country uses a fundraising consultant,” said Cotton spokesman David Ray.

The Cotton campaign forwarded a copy of Right Solutions Partners LLC which you can see at this link.  It is nothing unusual for a consultant to set up a LLC for their business. In fact, it is pretty standard business practice for most independent consultants to do so not only in politics, but in other types of businesses as well.

As far as the idea that anything here is secretive, that’s not the case either.  For example, here is a popular political blog in Oklahoma showing Sather organizing a fundraiser for Cotton with Oklahoma Congressmen Frank Lucas, Tom Cole, James Lankford, and Markwayne Mullin.  Sather’s name and contact information is listed on the fundraiser invitation.

“The New York Times seems to be mystified that Erika doesn’t have a website, but neither does Pryor’s fundraising consultant,” noted Ray.

This is all pretty standard stuff, but somehow Pryor supporters believed they had something on Cotton. Who knows what they will come up with next.