Terry Stephens, David Williams' Father In Law, Acknowledges He's A Contributor To Restoring America PAC, As Group Seeks To Amend Campaign Finance Filing After Kentucky Judge Bared Group From Running Ads Against Steve Beshear.

Father-in-law of David Williams says he gave to group whose ads have been banned
By Beth Musgrave

FRANKFORT — The father-in-law of Republican gubernatorial nominee David Williams acknowledged on Wednesday that he is a financial backer of an independent political group whose ads have been barred from airing in Kentucky.

Terry Stephens, Williams' father-in-law and owner of Stephens pipe and Steel in Russell Springs, disclosed his support of Restoring America only minutes after the group said it would amend its campaign finance report in an effort to get its ads back on television.

Restoring America — in a letter addressed to television station managers — said it would disclose more information to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance to "removing the pretext for the order prohibiting it from continuing to speak."

Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate issued a restraining order against the group on Monday, saying that it had violated the state's campaign finance laws by not disclosing the names of its donors. Wingate issued the order at the request of the Kentucky Democratic Party.

Documents filed by Restoring America with the state Wednesday afternoon only included updated information about how much the group spent on advertising. It did not provide any additional information about who has donated to the campaign.

Stephens, in the email released by Restoring America, said he supported the group because he opposes President Obama and believed in conservative values.

Stephens said he and Restoring America have not coordinated their efforts with any candidate's campaign, which would violate Kentucky campaign finance laws.

Stephens has already given $1 million to the Republican Governor's Association.

Restoring America previously listed Restoring America Inc., a 527 organization, as its only donor on a report filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.

Dale Bring, a lawyer for Restoring America, said in his letter that the group would not let the Kentucky Democratic Party "deny its First Amendment rights or ... distract from its message by litigating elections in the courts, rather than among the voters."

Bring did not immediately return phone calls asking for comment. Bring said in his letter that once the amended campaign finance report was filed, "we expect the restraining order to be lifted immediately."

Restoring America had filed an appeal with the state Court of Appeals on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal, saying Franklin Circuit Court was the appropriate venue to address concerns about the restraining order.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/10/19/1927124/political-group-discloses-more.html#ixzz1bGGpKH54