NASCAR Driver Admonished For Bush Campaign Sticker

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) sent an “admonishment letter” to Kirk Shelmerdine Racing after Kirk Shelmerdine, “an unsuccessful, underfunded and undersponsored driver,” placed a “Bush-Cheney ’04” decal on his rear quarter panel during four races in ’04, according to Dufour & Gavin of the Washington EXAMINER. Democratic activist Sydnor Thompson “complained to the FEC, and the agency found that Shelmerdine ‘may have made an unreported independent expenditure or a prohibited corporate expenditure’” (Washington EXAMINER, 12/28). Shelmerdine “told the FEC that he had heard rumors that President Bush was going to be at the first race and figured the $50 decal would bring ‘publicity for me and the car’” (WASHINGTON POST, 12/29).