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Gop calls liberal ads kerry illegal soft money { April 1 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40573-2004Mar31.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40573-2004Mar31.html
GOP Complaint Cites Pro-Democratic Groups
By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 1, 2004; Page A09
The Bush campaign and the Republican Party filed charges yesterday with the Federal Election Commission accusing the Kerry campaign and seven "independent" organizations of conducting a criminal conspiracy to inject large amounts of "soft money" into the 2004 election.
The Bush campaign, which this month has spent an unprecedented $41.8 million on television ads, many of them attacking Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), has become increasingly frustrated by the ability of Kerry and such "independent" groups as MoveOn.org and the Media Fund to counter with nearly $20 million in ads.
In a separate rule-making process expected to take months, the FEC is addressing many of the issues raised by the Bush-RNC complaint. The complaint filed yesterday is designed to force a much quicker decision on the legality of the activities of the Kerry campaign and allied groups. A ruling against the Democrats would cut off a major source of campaign support for Kerry.
In an unusual move for a party traditionally opposed to campaign finance laws and government regulation, the GOP has turned increasingly to the federal regulatory system, especially the FEC, to restrict, if not silence, Kerry allies.
Republican lawyer Benjamin L. Ginsberg, who is pursuing the complaint, charged that Kerry "has become the largest beneficiary of illegal soft money from wealthy special interests since the campaign finance reforms of the Watergate era."
Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan countered: "This frivolous complaint is not worth the paper it is written on. The same Republicans who rail against frivolous lawsuits are happy to have their lawyers fire away when their candidate drops in polls."
Bush's $41.8 million March ad buy was seven times as large as Kerry's $5.8 million purchase, according to sources who track media buys.
However, this huge Bush advantage is reduced to about 2 to 1 when the $10.1 million spent by the Media Fund and the $2.9 million spent by three MoveOn.org affiliates are factored in.
In an unusual bid to get fast action on the complaint, Ginsberg said the GOP plaintiffs want the FEC to immediately dismiss the charges. This would permit Bush and the Republican Party to appeal directly to the courts for quicker action.
A knowledgeable FEC staff member who did not want to be identified because he is not an official spokesman described the GOP request for immediate dismissal as "ridiculous."
The Republican chairman of the FEC, Bradley A. Smith, said, "we will consider the request" for immediate dismissal. But Smith cautioned that, even if the commission dismissed the complaint, "my gut instinct would be, 'Wouldn't the court just send it right back and say the statute requires you to investigate?' "
The Bush campaign and the RNC indicated that they are seeking prompt action because the FEC can take months to process a complaint, and the Nov. 2 election could arrive before there is a resolution.
Ginsberg said immediate court action is needed because the FEC is "ill-equipped to sanction such pervasive criminal conduct in a way that would be timely and meaningful."
Since passage of the McCain-Feingold law barring the parties from raising and spending soft-money contributions from corporations, unions and rich people, a network of pro-Democratic groups has formed to take such contributions and fill many of the functions historically performed by the Democratic National Committee and the state parties.
The groups have become known as the "shadow Democratic Party." In addition to the Media Fund run by former Clinton aide Harold Ickes, they include America Coming Together, which is run by former AFL-CIO political director Steve Rosenthal, and America Votes, which is run by Cecile Richards, former aide to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.).
At a morning news briefing, the RNC issued charts and diagrams linking with arrows pictures of Ickes, Rosenthal and others to the Kerry campaign, the network of independent groups and the DNC.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
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