In a head-scratching moment, Republican candidate Mark Harris said he was not aware that campaigns can’t coordinate with independent political action committees during Thursday’s hearing before the North Carolina board of elections.
Board of Elections Director Kim Strach showed Harris checks he had signed to the PAC Patriots for Progress, which he said he filled out to pay political operative McCrae Dowless and get him on his campaign.
Strach pointed out that it is illegal for an “independent expenditure PAC” to work with a campaign.
Harris said that he wasn’t aware of that. It’s unlikely that Harris would be ignorant of a fairly basic tenet of campaign finance law as a candidate for federal office.
