Sen. Dean Heller paid son at least $52,500 in campaign cash for social media consulting

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reno Gazette Journal


James DeHaven, [e-mail] Published 11:39 a.m. PT May 18, 2018 | Updated 12:06 p.m. PT May 18, 2018

U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., paid his son’s company at least $52,500 in campaign funds over the past two years, according to a Reno Gazette Journal review of election filings.

Reports filed by Nevada’s senior senator show Heller Enterprises LLC — a little-known music production company started by Harrison Heller in 2013 — was the Heller campaign’s second-highest-paid social and digital media consultant since July 2016.

The Utah-based business has no other employees. It is not listed as a paid vendor for any other federal election campaign.

Yet an RGJ analysis of thousands of campaign finance disclosures reveals the company was among the 20 best-paid social media consultants hired by a federal campaign committee over the past decade. It was the fourth-highest-paid such vendor across 11 Western states over the same time period.

Read more: https://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/18/campaign-payments-hellers-son-draw-scrutiny/616533002/

[kimbutgar]

1. Ho hum

Anyone with a (r) behind his/her name will be automatically be a vote from a Twitler supporter,

[msongs]

2. politician hires media consultant. is it illegal then? sounds routine if legal nt

[karynnj]

7. Heller could end this quickly just by explaining what the firm did over those two years

Clearly it was a boon to this small "company" with one employee, but I would bet that many Senator's offices have someone dealing with their presence on the internet - including facebook, twitter and their own campaign web site.

In an era of permanent campaigns, paying for someone to do internet research for your campaign is not unreasonable. This is $25,000 a year. I would bet that many Senators in the year before their election and election year have someone similar on their campaign staff. Choosing his sons' company needs to be defended in terms of how much others pay and what they get from other companies.

[dembotoz]

8. i get calls all the time for companies to handle my social media they ain't cheap either

if the amount includes payments to facebook, google et al for message boost and placement might be actually reasonable

[RockRaven]

3. They don't call him "Dirty Dean" for nothing

and isn't his mom in charge of his campaign finances? No, wait, that is Devin Nunes. God-dammit, it is hard to keep these GOP crooks straight.

[Grassy Knoll]

4. I Live In Reno, And Uptighty Rightys Aren't Happy With "RINO" To Begin With..

...Possible EZ Dem Pick Off!!

[truthisfreedom]

5. Age of nepotism

[keithbvadu2]

6. Politics - business as usual

[politicaljunkie41910]

9. No different than Trump. During the campaign it was reported that he had all these Trump owned

businesses (recently established) supplying the campaign with all these campaign supplies; and I'm not talking about any of the old defunct Trump businesses like Trump Water, Trump Wine, etc that had previously gone out of business, that he lied about during that debate with Little Marco. Anything to make a buck, or to keep campaign donated bucks within the Trump Org with a markup, he will or has done it.

[DoctorJoJo]

10. Just Call It An Allowance!