Two weeks after missing the deadline, Jackson Lahmeyer’s campaign has failed to respond to the Federal Election Commission’s request for more information about alleged violations of campaign finance rules.
An Owasso pastor and businessman, Lahmeyer has launched a Republican primary challenge to U.S. Sen. James Lankford. Lahmeyer has positioned himself as a more conservative alternative to Lankford, who has served in the Senate since 2015.
The FEC noted three major violations in the Lahmeyer campaign’s July quarterly finance report, according to an Aug. 23 letter that the FEC sent to the campaign. Those violations were:
• One or more individual contributions apparently exceeded the legal limit of $2,900 per election.
• Cash contributions exceeded the legal limit of $100.
• The July report provided only incomplete information for donors who contributed more than $200 to the campaign. FEC regulations require campaigns to provide the donor’s full name, mailing address, occupation and employer’s name for anyone who donates more than $200.
The FEC gave Lahmeyer’s campaign until Sept. 27 to provide additional information or face possible enforcement action, according to the letter.
“Any response submitted by your committee will be placed on the public record and will be considered by the Commission prior to taking enforcement action,” Michael Dobi, senior campaign finance and reviewing analyst for the commission, said in the letter. “Requests for extensions of time in which to respond will not be considered.”
FEC spokesperson Judith Ingram said Friday the public record did not show a response from Lahmeyer’s campaign or an amended report.
On Sept. 28, The Norman Transcript reported that Lahmeyer’s campaign had supplied the newspaper with proof that one of the alleged violations stemmed from an input error. However, the newspaper reported, the campaign did not submit its proof to the FEC by the deadline.
When the FEC sends a letter to a campaign listing violation, the campaign typically responds with a correction, the Transcript reported. The FEC takes that information into account when deciding whether the commission will pursue enforcement action.
But since Lahmeyer’s campaign missed the deadline for providing additional information for the FEC to consider, the commission will not take any corrections the campaign submits into account.
The commission does not announce any enforcement actions publicly until after the case is resolved.
Lahmeyer’s campaign did not respond to emails from a Southwest Ledger reporter seeking comment by press time Wednesday.
In July, the FEC notified incumbent Sen. James Lankford about an alleged violation on his April quarterly report. In Lankford’s case, the FEC said he had received contributions from a political action committee that were over the legal limit of $2,900 per election.
Lankford’s campaign corrected the problem quickly, according to the Transcript. The campaign responded the next day, telling the FEC that the contribution from the Let’s Get To Work PAC was posted under the wrong committee ID number and that the error had been fixed.
Lahmeyer and Lankford are not the only two candidates competing in the Republican primary race for the U.S. Senate seat. State Sen. Nathan Dahm of Broken Arrow and Joan Farr of Tulsa have also joined the race.
Two Democrats — Bevon Rogers of Hugo and Jason Bollinger of Oklahoma City – will compete in the Democratic primary election for Lankford’s seat. The winner of that race will square off against the Republican primary winner in the November 2022 general election.