Shouldn't Marty Knollenberg Know the Rules?

All that time employed as a career politician, you'd think that Marty Knollenberg would know the rules.

Either he knows the rules or he doesn't care.

In 2012, Marty Knollenberg introduced House Bill 5058. The express purpose of this this bill was to regulate campaign financing. Marty wanted to restrict campaign contributions and expenditures, require campaign statements and reports; regulate anonymous contributions, regulate campaign advertising and literature, and provide for segregated funds for political purposes.

Marty introduced this bill because he wanted to ensure that elected officials used campaign funds for their “intended purpose." Marty was inspired to introduce this legislation because of Kwame Kilpatrick.

And that wasn't the the first time Knollenberg was on the prowl, searching for misuses of campaign funds.

Back in 2004, Marty Knollenberg attacked Mike Bosnic for accepting an illegal $2,500 contribution from the “Heroes of Public Education,” a political action committee subject to campaign contribution limits. Because Marty Knollenberg brought the allegation to light, Bosnic had to repay $2,000 dollars of the donations. Because it exceeded campaign limits.

With all this expertise in campaign finance, you would think that Knollenberg would be fastidious in how he runs his campaign for Mayor.

If you thought that, you'd be wrong.

On Friday, May 03, The Oakland County Elections Division sent a letter to Troy mayoral candidate Marty Knollenberg to “refund campaign money...improperly transferred to his campaign committee.”

According to the Elections Division, “a candidate running for any countywide election can have campaign committee contributions of $3,400 per individual.” But for a race the size of Troy, a candidate can only accept a maximum contribution of $500.

The most amazing thing about this campaign violation? Knollenberg moved funds between two committees, both of which he controlled! So Knollenberg is using money solicited from his county treasurer run to campaign for the job of Mayor of Troy!  And it's against the law!

So Marty Knollenberg, reformer of campaign finance laws and stalwart guardian of proper polticial donations has broken the rules. 

Which leaves us with a choice: Does Marty Knollenberg know the campaign finance laws and ignores them when it suits his purpose? Or does he only bring up the subject to score cheap political points?

I'd go with latter. Because Marty Knollenberg is a career politician.