Donovan Campaign Outspends

Donovan campaign outspends ... itself

Republican candidate uses fuzzy math

NASHVILLE, TN

By any standard, Tennessee politics are full of strange twists.

A low-budget, write-in, conservative, independent challenger — trying to unseat a wealthy, Democratic, long-time incumbent — has set his sights upon ... the Republican challenger. But, this is not merely a case of the flea biting the elephant.

Tom Kovach is the state chairman of the new America's Independent Party. He was on the 2006 ballot, for the same US House seat, on the Republican line. And, late last year, he filed a lawsuit against the Democratic governor of the state, in an attempt to block the construction of an underground party hall (estimated cost: $19-million) at the Governor's Mansion. The project has been nicknamed Bredesen's Bunker. Perhaps not coincidentally, last week he was notified that the IRS will audit his 2006 tax returns. It seems that Mr. Kovach is fighting a political war on multiple fronts. Does this underdog stand a chance?

There is a story behind the story, and it hinges upon Republican internal politics. Two years ago, Kovach was the state PR coordinator for ... the Constitution Party. (After this year's April CP convention, Kovach was one of the party officials that left, because of the CP's shameful treatment of Dr. Alan Keyes at the convention. They left the CP, formed the new America's Independent Party, and then named Keyes as their candidate.) But, when Kovach ran in the Republican primary, while a CP official, nobody opposed him. Once he was on a big-party line for the 2006 general election ballot to challenge Congressman Jim Cooper, members of the state Republican committee went around the district to encourage Republicans not to vote for Kovach! "If they didn't want me on their ballot line," asks Kovach, "then why did they sign the papers? And, why didn't anyone oppose me in the primary?"

In the Spring of 2007, a strange thing happened. Kovach received several phone calls from a businessman named John Gerard Donovan, who is now the Republican candidate to challenge Cooper for that same US House seat. Donovan said that he had been referred to Kovach by local State Rep. Susan Lynn, who told Donovan that Kovach could "coach him on the issues". Lynn made that suggestion without ever contacting Kovach to ask if he was planning to run again, nor to ask if Kovach wanted to help Donovan. Kovach fielded three calls from Donovan, and concluded that Donovan was not candidate material. But, Donovan owns his own company, and was willing to fund his own campaign, so he got the Republican nod.

As if the above were not odd enough, there is an added twist. Lynn Kovach, the wife of Tom Kovach, is an administrative employee at the TN General Assembly. Therefore, when Rep. Susan Lynn sent her assistant, Michelle, to escort Donovan to Mrs. Kovach's office, there was a tacit application of pressure. Employees of the legislature are required to stop whatever they are doing, and to respond immediately to any "member request". That includes requests transmitted by a proxy, such as the elected official's administrative assistant. So, Lynn Kovach was sitting in her office — while Donovan stood in front of her, asking for her home telephone number, accompanied by Susan Lynn's assistant — being pressured to help someone run against her own husband. Although the Spring of 2007 was too early to file any paperwork, Tom Kovach had already told his wife that he was planning to run again. But, Lynn Kovach was required to provide the information to rival Donovan, because of the implicit pressure from Rep. Susan Lynn.

Having sought the advice of one already referred to him as better educated on the issues, did Donovan offer Kovach any type of position on his campaign, as recompense for such an insult? No. But, who is better qualified to run for the 5th Congressional District of Tennessee — the student, or the teacher?

"I've spoken with Donovan on the phone a few times, and have seen him speak at a candidate event," Kovach explained. "He is a nice enough person. This is still a free country, so he has a right to run. And, I respect his service in the Marine Corps. But, as a candidate, he is an empty suit."

Donovan did one four-year Marine enlistment in aviation logistics, a desk job. Kovach was a career Air Force NCO, and led a counter-terrorist team overseas. Kovach also served on a protection detail for President Ronald Reagan, and designed the physical security for a top-rated Air Force wargaming facility. So, while both claim the title "military veteran", the two candidates have widely different qualifications in that area. Kovach also has a disability rating from injuries sustained in a high-speed parachute malfunction. Kovach made dozens of jumps — most of them freefall — from military helicopters. After more that 16 years in uniform, Kovach was suddenly "downsized" in 1991, after Operation Desert Storm.

Receipts $8,263 Individual $889 Donovan FEC PAC $0 Individual filings Party $0 PAC Candidate $1,564 Party as of 17 July Other $5,810 Candidate 2008 Other

Donovan's "fuzzy math" shows no source for qualifying money (Source: latest data from Federal Election Commission) In order for a candidate to "get on the radar" of the political action committees (PACs), the campaign must be regarded as "viable". The threshold of viability is reporting $5,000 in campaign funds to the Federal Election Commission. But, if a candidate reports money that doesn't exist, in order to give the appearance of viability, then is that a form of election fraud? And, even if no FEC rules or laws have been violated, wouldn't such a non-viable campaign be guilty of bilking the PACs out of any endorsement money?

As the above chart shows, John Gerard Donovan's campaign lists its major source of funding as "other". There are four major sources of campaign funding: the candidate himself, the candidate's political party, various PACs, and individual contributions. Those four sources could be described as "The Four Ps": People, the Party, the PACs, and the candidate's own Pocket. In the case of the Donovan campaign, the total of those four sources comes to only $2,453, which is far below the level of viability. (In fact, it's also less money than spent by the 2006 low-budget Kovach campaign.) The bulk of his contributions (a whopping 70 percent) – conveniently, enough to get him on the radar – came from none of The Four P sources.

The above is not the only irregularity in Donovan's campaign finance reports. According to this FEC detail page, Donovan had $4,571 in operating expenses, and zero in other expenditures. Yet, his total disbursements are reported as $7,369. How does zero equal $2,798 in mystery expenses? And, if Donovan can misplace that amount (33.8 percent of his campaign funds!), then why would anyone want to send him to Congress?

Donovan's campaign has mystery money coming in, and mystery money going out. Two-thirds of the money coming in, and one-third of the money going out, cannot be explained. Oddly enough, Donovan has benefited from an endorsement by Fred Thompson — former senator and presidential candidate, and a member of the globalist Council on Foreign Relations. It was Thompson that famously asked the question, during the 1973 Watergate hearings, "What did you know, and when did you know it?" Someone should ask Donovan the same thing about his campaign funds.

Although he doesn't have nearly enough money to outspend the Democratic incumbent, it seems that the Republican challenger's campaign has managed to outspend ... itself.

Tom Kovach is qualified in Tennessee as an independent write-in candidate. He is an author, inventor, activist, and a former USAF Blue Beret. In 2006, Tennessee converted to electronic voting machines statewide. The state Division of Elections has said that any qualified write-in candidate's votes will be counted, even if the voter misspells the candidate's name. The simple way to remember the name is "Kovach – rhymes with 'watch'." Voters can learn more about his campaign at: www.Tom Kovach.US.