Diane Young is a long, longshot candidate for state House, a Democrat running against a Republican incumbent in Macomb County’s deep red 36th District.
So, when Young issued a press release this morning that said she had filed a complaint with federal and state authorities alleging financial irregularities by her opponent, Rep. Pete Lucido, I expected a typical campaign-style rant — heavy on the mudslinging, light on the details.
Instead, the press release is just the opposite. In fact, it may be one of the most unusual campaign releases I have ever read.
The president of The Athena Financial Group, an independent financial planning firm in Rochester, Young goes into great detail about the several violations of finance industry regulations in which she alleges Lucido took part.
Young
Near the end of the release, she says this: “It is my hope that the regulators will clear him of any wrongdoing.” Any campaign consultants with the slightest bit of killer instinct would read that and cringe, roll their eyes and give themselves a palm slap to the forehead.
According to Young, of Shelby Township, the complaint was filed with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the Michigan Department of Financial and Insurance Services.
Some of the 774-word release is basic: “Some of the alleged infractions involve marketing a non-existent Registered Investment Advisory Firm and failure to report outside business activities, including a non-profit, to regulators as required.”
Some of it is minutiae: “(Young) holds a series 6,7,24,53,63 and 65 securities license. Previously, she was a compliance officer for a regional broker/dealer in New York. Lucido, in addition to being a lawyer, holds series 6 and 63 securities licenses and works with his brother’s financial services firm in Clinton Township.”
She concludes with a statement that is nearly a flourish, but in kind of a nice way:
If Lucido, a Shelby Township Republican, does not become the subject of an investigation, “I hope he fixes his Outside Business Activities disclosure, stops operating a non-profit out of his state rep office, and becomes a little more transparent. If it turns out he hasn’t done anything wrong, I hope he will at least operate not only at the edge of the law, but truly honor the spirit of the law.”
We shall see what Lucido has to say about all this.
