Candidate profile: Jeffrey Brommer

“The mudslinging started Week 1,” Jeffrey Brommer tells me.

The Republican candidate for NC Senate District 28 is recounting the campaign thus far for me at Panera Bread on a stretch of Eastchester Drive dotted with gleaming corporate campuses.

Exhibit 1 in the mudslinging is the revelation that Brommer paid a hefty fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, two years ago to settle a claim of stock fraud – information that the candidate suspects was fed to reporters by the opposition. The disclosure has prompted a bit of discussion within Republican circles.

The headline on a February 2008 SEC press release states, “SEC alleges ‘pump and dump’ market manipulation by Strategic Management & Opportunity Corporation, CEO Robert Pratt, and promoter Jeffrey Brommer.”

The SEC filed a civil suit against Strategic Management & Opportunity Corporation, Pratt and Brommer in federal court in Washington state.

Read more of the SEC press release, and the details come into relief:

The complaint alleges that from February to August 2004, SMPP issued a series of materially false and misleading press releases concerning the market readiness of SMPP’s kiosk systems and its capital raising efforts. According to the complaint, those misrepresentations included touting a series of bogus funding agreements claiming SMPP would distribute 50 million restricted shares to four entities in exchange for $41.8 million. The complaint alleges that SMPP did not have a market-ready product and had received a mere $1.25 million of the $41.8 million touted in the press releases. According to the complaint, these misrepresentations drove up SMPP’s stock price from $.10 per share on February 2 to a high of $4.50 on June 10. The complaint also alleges that the distribution of those restricted shares significantly increased the total number of outstanding shares, enabling Pratt to sell much more stock than he otherwise would have been permitted under the securities regulations. The complaint alleges that Pratt sold over 320,000 shares into the artificially-inflated market for a total profit of $628,947. The complaint also alleges that Brommer, who was hired to provide investor relations services for SMPP, made misleading statements vouching for SMPP and Pratt. The complaint alleges that Brommer had no independent basis in vouching for SMPP, but rather had a significant, undisclosed financial motive for his support of SMPP — his own receipt of 50,000 shares as compensation. The complaint alleges that Brommer profited nearly $25,000 by selling SMPP shares during this time….

Brommer, without admitting or denying the allegations in the commission’s complaint, consented to the entry of a final judgment that would order Brommer to pay $24,916 in disgorgement and $1,084 in prejudgment interest, together with a civil money penalty in the amount of $40,000.

“There’s a gag order,” Brommer says. “I’m not allowed to talk about it in detail.”

That said, the candidate’s run-in with the SEC has a lot to do with why he’s running for office.

On March 25, Brommer stood before a group of Republicans in north High Point and explained, “I needed some help a few years back from the state government and the federal government, and there was no one there to step up and help me. I want to be your guy in government if you need anything.”

The second reason for his candidacy, he said, relates to his embrace of the Tea Party movement and the small government principles it espouses. “Lastly, our state’s in bad condition,” he said. “That’s probably the top reason why I’m running.”

During our interview at Panera Bread, Brommer confirms to me that the SEC run-in was the incident to which he was referring when he said no elected official would help him.

“I needed the help of someone in government to step up for me and to go to bat for me,” Brommer says. “I couldn’t find anyone who would do anything but pay lip service.”

I mention to Brommer that agencies such as the SEC are supposed to be insulated against political interference, and ask him what an elected official could do in such a situation that would not overstep appropriate bounds.

“I wouldn’t ask them to tell them anything, but to ask questions,” Brommer replies. “I wouldn’t see anything wrong with that.”

And that’s what he pledges to do for District 28 constituents if they elect him to the seat.

“I want to step in and be there for someone if they have a problem with a governmental agency,” Brommer says. “I want to be their representative to assist in any way I can. If they’re guilty, then fine, show me the specifics of why they’re guilty.”

The candidate says he believes the electorate in District 28 is united across party lines in its concern about high taxes and corruption in state and federal government. His hair is cut short in a crew cut, and he wears a lapel pin bearing his name and the slogan “Tea Party principled.”

After the mudslinging, Brommer lists his second major impression from the campaign experience: “The number of people that want to get in your back pocket.”

“I receive every day two to three letters from political action committees wanting me to be on their team and vote their way,” he says. The lobbying groups range from gun owner rights, to education and the environment.

“The gun rights people, they want to educate people who are gun rights proponents,” he says. “They also make it known that they’re a large organization that funds candidates nationally. Many of these letters have language that implies that they will back you financially if you vote for their agenda. I can see where someone has a big debt is ready to take a few bucks from a PAC.”

I ask Brommer what the Tea Party movement means to him.

“People going back to our constitutional roots,” he tells me. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and people not having government in their lives, like in the 1700s. More freedom, that’s something that’s lacking today.”

The candidate focuses on economic freedoms, as opposed to the social freedoms espoused by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“In the healthcare bill, student loans were thrown in with that,” Brommer says. “The only way you can borrow money is through the government. Private banks are not involved.”

Brommer outlined the Tea Party ethos as small and limited government, and a balanced budget, which precludes entitlements and ambitious, transformative federal initiatives, in general.

“I believe in essentially keeping government out as much as possible,” he told me. “Everything government has put its hands on has had problems. Look at the Post Office, Medicare and now, healthcare.”

Brommer added that he would not be in favor of abolishing Social Security, because so many senior citizens have come to depend on it.

If elected, Brommer will have to translate his Tea Party ideals into the particular role and demands of state government. The candidate feels that gasoline taxes and income taxes are too high in North Carolina. He is also opposed to the idea of paying for roads with tolls.

The candidate would not be in favor cutting spending on roads, which are maintained through revenue produced by the gas tax.

“The roads are in terrible shape with all these potholes,” he says. “I’m in favor of improving roads and driving conditions.”

I ask him what expenditures he would cut in order to maintain a balanced budget.

“There’s a lot of waste,” he says. “What exactly that is, without looking at the budget, I’d have to get in there and look at it. I’m not privy to all of the information in the budget.”

I steer the conversation back to the revenue side of the equation, and ask him what he thinks about alternative methods such as taxing video gambling. He thinks it over for a moment.

“You know what, I’m going to say I’m for it,” he says. “The reason is, video gambling is in place anyway. It’s in convenience stores and bars. It’s already creating revenue for the convenience store operator and the bar operator. Let’s have the state regulate it and tax it. I know I’m not supposed to be for more regulation.”

Our conversation lasts almost two hours. Before we part, Brommer wants to conclude with one final statement.

“I’m active with Green Street Baptist Church,” he says. “I consider my life as a Christian to be my foremost priority in life. That, of course, and my family.”

UPDATE: It's been something of an open secret that Bill Burckley, a political consultant retained by District 28 candidate Trudy Wade, has been goading reporters to write about Brommer's troubles with the SEC and about a record of traffic violations by NC House District 60 candidate Marcus Brandon, who is running against Earl Jones. I wanted to avoid burning a source so I held off on publishing Burckley's name, but the consultant told me today that it is fine to mention that he has been "shopping stories."