Finally--Bern’s FEC Registration Appears on the Web!

It’s been done! And, as I’d reported in an earlier post, the date of the application was February 24, 2006—one day before the Danville meeting where Bern told Bernard Baker of the Register & Bee that he didn’t know why his name wasn’t up there. While you’re on the FEC site, you can actually see the form that was filled out by the campaign and signed by Bern—just click on the “view image or PDF” link to see either choice. Who knows, maybe he really didn’t remember signing the form the previous day.

I looked at the second page of the PDF to find that the postmark on the envelope used to mail the form was illegible. Even that is not surprising considering how many different stories have been spread around since February 1, 2006, when Bern first said he had filed with the FEC. Now we’ll never know for sure when it was mailed—unless Bern produces his mailing documentation. According to page two of the PDF, the letter was registered/certified by the postal service (USPS). Wonder if the campaign paid for that mailing?

I also found his name on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) site again today, although his name did not appear on the FEC site either on Monday or early on Tuesday. While the DCCC Virginia page says:

“This website is updated the first business day of each week with the FEC filings,”

it appears that they did not follow their own stated policy. Not surprising, considering that Emily from the DCCC had previously said Bern made it to the list in the first place by sending an email to the committee telling them that he had filed with the FEC. Not anything official, mind you, just an email from the candidate.

In closing, that Register & Bee article mentioned above referenced Bern saying he had already raised $20,000 to $30,000. Since he announced his candidacy on December 3, 2005, in Charlottesville, Bedford and Danville, there was approximately a four-week period in December where he could have been receiving campaign donations. I refuse to believe that he received no donations to his campaign at any of the announcement locations or during the rest of the month. Therefore, I’ll be interested in seeing his December 31, 2005, report to the FEC as well as the one at the end of this month. Wonder how long he has to file that December report anyway? Al Weed’s filing is already on the web.