Complaint against Bobby Harshbarger campaign still under review by Attorney General

JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL) — Election day might be over, but an ethics complaint opened during the race between incumbent State Senator Jon Lundberg and now primary winner Bobby Harshbarger is still active.

State Sen. Ken Yager filed a complaint against Harshbarger’s campaign in April, citing concerns about “collusion” between Harshbarger’s campaign, the reelection campaign for his mother, Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger (R-Kingsport) and the East Tennessee Conservatives PAC.

Later that month, Tennessee’s Registry of Election Finance board opted to send the complaint to Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti for investigation.

Monday, Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance Executive Director Bill Young told News Channel 11 Skrmetti’s office is still investigating the complaint.

“Basically what they do is an investigation of the facts,” Young said. “They don’t make a decision on the law. They investigate the facts, provide us a written report.”

Once the bureau receives that report, Young said, the 6-person Registry of Election Finance board will determine whether a violation of campaign finance law has occurred.

“We’re very different from any other board in the state,” Young said. “We’re required to have 50% from both parties.”

The board, including local members David Golden of Kingsport and Tom Morton of Bristol, has the power to issue a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation to be paid by the person responsible for the expenditures.

“In this case, I think it’s actually a political campaign committee,” Young told News Channel 11. “So it would be the person who’s responsible for the expenditures of that campaign committee that would be responsible for paying the civil penalty.”

Young said the board is not empowered to exact political consequences on a campaign that’s found to violate campaign finance law, whether or not they won the race.

News Channel 11 reached out to the Attorney General’s office for comment, but has not received a response.

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