Anderson: ‘Not the time’ on ’14 Congressional Race in LA-6

BATON ROUGE, La. - Jan. 31, 2014 - PRLog -- BATON ROUGE, La. — Following multiple media reports identifying fundraiser and Baton Rouge native Quentin Anthony Anderson as a congressional candidate this fall for the Louisiana congressional seat being vacated by incumbent and Republican Senate candidate Bill Cassidy, the Democrat released a statement Monday via his official website to the contrary, confirming that Anderson’s campaign committee, Quentin Anthony Anderson for Congress, had been inactive since June 2013.

“As intriguing as the prospect of engaging with the unique diversity of voters in the Louisiana 6^th Congressional District was and is, now is simply not the time and we came to that decision very early in the process,” Anderson, 25, said in his statement. “We looked at the landscape at the end of 2012 and beginning of 2013, but after careful consideration and prayer, my team and I decided there were better ways I could effectively serve my East Baton Rouge community.”

FEC Filing Snafu
In his statement Monday, Anderson detailed the cause of the confusion behind his being identified as an active candidate for Congress, pointing out a unique interpretation his campaign took of Federal Election Committee regulations concerning the dissolution of an active campaign committee.

“We initially interpreted the FEC language requiring a named campaign treasurer as an avenue to dissolving the campaign by removing the treasurer’s name on an amended FEC Statement of Organization form,” said Anderson. “We heard back from the FEC and the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Ethics last fall asking for a formal letter of intent instead, which we immediately supplied them with. Our interpretation was wrong.”

The language Anderson’s statement makes reference to is located in the Federal Election Commission Campaign Guide on Congressional Candidates and Committees under the duties and responsibilities of a campaign committee treasurer. The pertinent language indicates that “because a committee cannot raise or spend funds without a treasurer, from that date forward the Commission deems the committee dormant until a new treasurer is named.”

Anderson’s statement goes on to say that following a conversation with an FEC representative, he followed up his amended filing in August with a simple statement of his intent to terminate the campaign.

Anderson, who possesses a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Louisiana Tech University and a Juris Doctor from Louisiana State University, previously had worked at the Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless and was a field organizer in 2007 and 2008 for then-Senator Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign.