Originally Posted - July 19, 2006

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Michael Schiavo appeared in Colorado last week to raise money for former state legislator Peggy Lamm, a former member of the the Hemlock society and now Democratic candidate for the 7th Congressional District in Colorado.

Schiavo and his political director, Derek Newton may not be contributing money to anyone's political campaign in the coming months as according to the quarterly report filed with the Federal Election Commission for TerriPAC for the second quarter, the political action committee has only $1,405 on hand.

In fact, according to the report, Schiavo and his PAC spent more in the last quarter than they took in.

In May, Schiavo sent out an email claiming that his political action committee had received "tens of thousands of dollars from supporters literally from all across America and we've given thousands of dollars to progressive candidates".
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/053106PACPlea.html

Well, kind of.

According to the report, from April 1 through June 30, Schiavo and Newton could count individual contributors to TerriPAC on one hand, three from Florida and two from California, with individual contributions totaling $1,800, hardly the success that Schiavo and Newton proclaim. Overall, during 2006, TerriPAC has received only $7,204 in individual contributions, significantly below the "tens of thousands" that Schiavo had claimed.
http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00417576

For the second quarter, Brian Schiavo, PAC treasurer, lists $1,831.12 in unitemized contributions and the Jim Stork for Congress committee of Fort Lauderdale, now defunct, is listed as contributing $2,500 to TerriPAC for total second quarter receipts of $6,131. Total receipts for TerriPAC for 2006 are listed at $14,255.33.

Disbursements for the second quarter are listed at $9,830.53, including a $1,000 donation to Lamm and total disbursements for the year are $15,914.

In Colorado, Schiavo said he may also get involved in races in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Missouri and vowed to be involved in the 2008 presidential race. According to the FEC report, with only $1,405 on hand, it doesn't look he'll be contributing much to any campaign. While he claims on an amendment filed with the FEC on July 15 that he has contributed to the Angie Paccione Congressional campaign in Colorado, that contribution isn't listed in his second quarter report so in actuality, it appears that TerriPAC may have under $1,000 in its war chest that Schiavo is using to vent his anger at legislators who "drug his name through the mud".
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/071406PoliticalExploitation.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/071706GoAway.html

In his June TerriPAC report sent to his claimed 3,000 members, Schiavo and PAC director Newton say that Schiavo made a 26-hour "whirlwind trip to Las Vegas to speak at the annual KOS convention lauding Democrats. According to the FEC report, Newton received the bulk of the $8,830 in disbursements from the PAC, excluding Lamm's money, for the second quarter, claiming $2,191.90 for travel expenses to Las Vegas and $$584.19 in travel expenses to Fort Lauderdale for an event campaign for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis.

The alleged purpose of TerriPAC is to "raise and spend funds to educate voters on where their elected officials stood when they had a choice between individual freedom and personal privacy and overreaching government action". It appears America isn't interested in funding Michael Schiavo's personal vendetta against legislators who voted to err on the side of life and to try and save the life of his disabled wife.

It doesn't appear that TerriPAC will be doing much educating of anyone.

TerriPAC has endorsed only one state candidate, Davis for Florida Governor while supporting congressional candidates Kathy Castor, FL-ll; Phyllis Busanky, FL-9, Peggy Lamm CO-7; Angie Paccione, CO-4 and Ciro Rodriguez, TX-28 with contributions totaling $3,500 excluding Paccione.

In the first quarter report, Schiavo claimed a $1,000 disbursement for "video production" and this quarter, claims another $2,000 disbursed to Junco Partners of Miami for video production. So far, although $3,000 has supposedly been spent in producing video, it doesn't appear that any video of TerriPAC has aired anywhere. Schiavo is also claiming that two payments of $1,750 each have been disbursed to Sarah Miles of Evansville, IL for "finance". Last quarter, money was paid to Danielle Black for "office work" and "travel expense" which would seem to serve as "in-kind" donations to the Jim Davis for Governor campaign. Black is listed in connection with the Davis campaign committee as "southern region political director". Florida election law limits the amount donated per candidate to $500 which Schiavo has already donated to Davis.

Derek Newton's November Group isn't incorporated with the state of Florida or registered with the Department of State, according to the public records filed at sunbiz.org. According to state business records, Newton was the registered agent and president of the November Group Inc. which was initially filed in February 2002 but administratively dissolved in September 2003 for failing to file an annual report. Newton filed November Group Consultants Inc. in October 2003, dissolved for failure to file, reinstated in December 2004 and then permanently dissolved for failure to report to the state in September 2005.

According to the FEC website, TerriPAC treasurer Brian Schiavo still hasn't filed a response to a letter sent to him on Dec. 21 requesting clarification regarding whether the political committee had any affiliated committees or connected organizations. Schaivo and the PAC were given until Jan. 20 by the FEC to file a response under a warning that failure to make an adequate response could be a factor the FEC would weigh in a decision about whether or not to audit TerriPAC.

"Requests for extensions of time will not be considered" Daniel T. Buckley, campaign finance analyst of the Reports Analysis Division told Schiavo. "Failure to comply with the provisions of the Act may also result in an enforcement action against the committee. 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". 7-19-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette