Ex-huckabee backer in 2008 race indicted

WASHINGTON — A Florida supporter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s failed 2008 presidential bid has been indicted on federal campaignfinance charges, according to a document that was unsealed Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The indictment, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division, charged Jay Odom, 56, a realestate developer in Destin, Fla., with routing $23,000 in contributions to Huckabee’s 2008 presidential campaign through other people. In funneling his money to other people who then made contributions in their names, Odom attempted to skirt federal campaign-donation limits, the indictment said.

In doing so, the indictment charged, Odom caused the Huckabee campaign to file false campaign reports.

Odom has pleaded innocent, and a trial has been set for March 4, according to The Associated Press.

The court document did not mention Huckabee by name, calling the beneficiary of the donations “Candidate A”. However, a review of Odom’s 2008 campaign donations makes it clear that Huckabee was the recipient.

The indictment said that Odom and his wife, Hayley Odom, each contributed $ 2,300 — the maximum contribution allowed under federal election law— during the 2008 primary race, to “Candidate A.”

Jay Odom contributed $2,300 each to Huckabee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, according to Federal Election Commission records tabulated by the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington group that tracks money in politics. Hayley Odom contributed only to Huckabee’s campaign, according to the center.

In 2010, Huckabee moved to Blue Mountain Beach, Fla., an unincorporated area near Destin, to a beachfront home that cost $2.2 million to construct, according to local building permits.

A woman reached at Cyrstal Beach Development who described herself as Odom’s assistant declined to comment Wednesday.

Huckabee did not return calls and e- mails left at HuckPAC, his political action committee.

The indictment said Odom “knowingly devised a scheme whereby he used employees of his business entities and their family members, along with associates, among others, as conduits through which to funnel his own money to the authorized campaign of Federal Candidate A under the guise of lawful campaign contributions.”

The indictment says Odom “caused individuals to solicit and reimburse contributions from third parties … then orchestrated the reimbursement of those individuals.”