Former Ragsdale operative pleads guilty to Va. campaign violations

Harber

Remember Tyler Harber? Former Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale's political operative and overall screw-up? Yeah, well, go figure, looks like he's hit the big time. As in the feds are going to make an example out of him for violating a campaign law they don't usually enforce.

It's the kind of thing that happens when you're dumb enough to lie to FBI agents. But whatever.

According to the Washington Post:

An oft-quoted Republican political operative pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally directing a political action committee to buy ads to help a congressional candidate whose campaign he managed — a rare enforcement of federal law that bars candidates from spending money in conjunction with their independent allies.

Federal authorities said the plea deal reached with 34-year-old Tyler Harber — who managed the unsuccessful 2012 congressional campaign of Virginia Republican Chris Perkins — sends a warning to those in politics that they need to keep a separation between candidates and outside groups. Prosecutors hailed the case as the “first criminal prosecution in the United States based upon the coordination of campaign contributions between political committees,” and four legal experts said they could think of no other examples, despite an explosion of independent groups’ spending in political races in recent years.

His sentencing is set for June. You can read the full story RIGHT SMACK HERE.