Former Herman Cain chief-of-staff Mark Block, accused of breaking campaign finance laws by having a corporation he founded cover the Cain campaign’s early expenses, has been named the treasurer of the Cain “super PAC” Cain Connections.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that Block replaced Anthony Holm as custodian of records and treasurer for Cain Connections on Friday. The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has a pending complaint with the FEC that alleges Block “personally violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by authorizing the illegal corporate contributions as president of Prosperity USA, and then by accepting the illegal contributions as treasurer of Friends of Herman Cain.” Prosperity USA allegedly footed the bill for everything from iPads for Cain staffers to travel costs in the early days fo the campaign.
Block told TPM last month that the internal investigation into whether he broke campaign finance laws (he wouldn’t say who’s leading it) would be over “soon.”
A call to the contact number listed for Block sent us to Tim Koch of the political accounting and compliance firm Koch and Hoos, LLC, who said he’d pass along our request for comment. As TPM has reported, Cain Connections had been funded by former New York Post publisher and real estate magnet Peter S. Kalikow.
FEC records now also list the separate Cain supporting super PAC called the 9-9-9 Fund as an “affiliated committee” of Cain Connections. The 9-9-9 Fund, which had to change its name because “Americans for Herman Cain” was illegal when Cain was a presidential candidate, is planning to send its remaining funds to Cain Connections.
