Jordan campaign sent $20,000 to Wyoming firm

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I hope someone pulls this string long and hard. 

BOISE — Two payments of $10,000 sent to a recently formed Wyoming company were for polling, consulting and voter registration work, a staffer for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Paulette Jordan’s campaign said.

The company registered in Wyoming as Roughneck Steering Inc. drew attention among Jordan’s hundreds of expense entries because Wyoming’s laws don’t require the officers of a company to be made public with the initial filing. That made it impossible to know from the finance report who was behind the company and why Jordan sent it $20,000.

Roughneck Steering also has a mail-forwarding address in the same building in Sheridan as a federal political action committee, or super PAC, called Strength and Progress. That entity was created to accept donations from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, of which Jordan is a member. The super PAC, which has said it will spend money on American Indian issues nationally, hasn’t yet reported money it has taken in or spent.

Watch the magician’s distraction: nothing to see here. All coincidental. Move along! 

Kelly said there’s no connection between Jordan’s campaign and the super PAC, and no money going from one to the other. “No money came from the campaign, and no money is going to the campaign,” he said. “Absolutely none.”

Kelly said the $20,000 Roughneck Steering paid for a poll that involved more than 10,000 calls, consulting for the campaign, and continued efforts behind getting people to vote.

Roughneck Steering was registered with the Wyoming secretary of state’s office on July 26. Jordan’s campaign sent $10,000 on Aug. 2 and another $10,000 Sept. 6. Jordan listed the payments as general operational expenses.

The address in Sheridan with the mail-forwarding service is also the address of a company called Registered Agents Inc., which specializes in getting companies registered in Wyoming. Registered Agents Inc. on Wednesday confirmed it registered Roughneck Steering and Strength and Progress but declined to provide additional details.

Right-Mind