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Fec sues republican political group on 2004 elections { September 19 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1155&slug=FEC%20Political%20Lawsuithttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1155&slug=FEC%20Political%20Lawsuit
Monday, September 19, 2005 · Last updated 3:09 p.m. PT
FEC sues pro-Republican political group
By SHARON THEIMER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Federal election officials on Monday sued a political group to try to force it to comply with campaign finance limits, the first lawsuit of its kind to arise from controversial big-money fundraising during the 2004 elections.
The Federal Election Commission filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Washington against the Club for Growth. The pro-Republican group spent at least $21 million in the 2003-04 election cycle.
The FEC contends the Club spent enough in federal races to require it to file with the commission as a political committee and abide by contribution and spending limits. It wants the court to fine the group and to order it to comply with campaign finance rules.
Club for Growth President Pat Toomey called the FEC lawsuit "a bizarre interpretation of the Club's mission, the Constitution, the laws adopted by Congress and their own regulations governing nonprofit organizations."
"The Club's principal purpose is to advocate for and defend pro-growth policies," Toomey said in a written statement. "We have consulted with counsel every step of the way and have followed the law and regulations that govern our work."
FEC Vice Chairman Michael Toner called the case "one of the most important suits the commission has brought in recent years."
"At stake is whether Club for Growth will be able to continue raising and spending millions of dollars in soft money for activities influencing federal elections," said Toner, a Republican.
The lawsuit is the first to result from several complaints filed against pro-Republican and pro-Democratic "soft money groups," and could serve as a test case to see if the commission can rein in the groups without new congressional legislation or FEC rules.
Campaign finance watchdogs contend the groups spent millions of dollars in corporate, union and unlimited contributions in the 2004 election despite a law banning the use of such money in presidential and congressional races.
The FEC investigated Club for Growth fundraising and spending after the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee complained to the commission about it.
The DSCC complaint stemmed from an ad the Club ran in the 2003-04 election cycle against then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., over his opposition to a tax-cut proposal. Daschle lost to a Republican in last November's election.
President Bush's re-election campaign and the sponsors of the 2002 campaign finance law sued the FEC last year, accusing it of failing to enforce the law and crack down on soft money spending, particularly in the presidential race. Those cases are pending in federal court.
The 2004 election saw the emergence of several partisan groups created by political activists to continue spending five- and even six- and seven-figure contributions after the law imposed tough donation limits on national party committees and congressional and presidential candidates.
Under the law, the national parties and federal candidates can no longer raise corporate and union donations in any amount or unlimited donations from any source. Such money isn't supposed to be used by anyone trying to influence a federal race.
The commission's lawsuit accuses the Club for Growth of failing to comply with federal fundraising and spending rules as far back as 2000.
The complaint says the group told prospective donors their money would be used to help elect or defeat specific candidates, and that it raised more than $4 million last year alone from donors who exceeded the $5,000 federal contribution limit. Of that, roughly $3 million came from just 14 donors.
The group spent more than $1 million in the past three elections on ads targeting specific campaigns, often going so far as urging voters to elect or defeat candidates, and raised more than $9 million during that time that exceeded federal limits, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit could be the first in a parade of cases brought against soft money groups by the FEC, said Larry Noble, head of the Center for Responsive Politics campaign watchdog group and a former commission general counsel.
"We've all been waiting to see what they do with those complaints, and I think it's positive that they have brought suit," Noble said.
However, the lawsuit seems to focus on spending that urged voters to elect or defeat candidates, Noble said. That leaves open the question of how the FEC will deal with partisan groups that intended to influence federal races but didn't go quite as far as the Club did, he said.
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On the Net:
FEC: http://www.fec.gov/
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