Campaign Legal Center insists that the “FEC Must Investigate Unprecedented Violations of Campaign Laws by Clinton, Trump.” The group announced today:
Campaign Legal Center Files FEC Complains Against Both Major Party Candidates and Their Supporting Super PACs.
Campaign Legal Center is run by former career Department of Justice official J. Gerald Hebert and former Republican appointee to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Trevor Potter.
The FEC has been under fire for just plain failing to support campaign funding laws.
We have been forced to file these complaints because a dysfunctional FEC has been sitting idly by as the campaigns of the presidential candidate of both major parties are involved in unprecedented coordination with super PACs in violation of the law,” said Larry Noble, general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center. “These are not minor or technical violations. According to the Supreme Court, unlimited campaign spending by wealthy interests can corrupt candidates unless totally independent of a campaign. Giving a large contribution to a super PAC that is coordinating with the Trump or Clinton campaign is the same as giving it directly to the campaign and buys the same direct access and influence over that candidate.
The non-partisan group has been active in opposing Super PAC funding of elections.
David Brock: “Our job is to help elect Hillary Clinton.”
Super PAC Correct the Record (CTR) run by partisan David Brock “asserts that it can coordinate directly with the Clinton campaign as long as it doesn’t run advertising.” CTR is “effectively an arm of the Clinton campaign.”
Meanwhile, Super PAC Rebuilding America Now employed former Trump campaign staff members “almost immediately after leaving the campaign.” The move violates the “120-day ‘cooling off’ period.” The Trump campaign claims that the rule does not matter because staffers were not “paid.”
Two presidents of Super PAC Make America Number 1 became top staff members of the Trump campaign. The two “reportedly were hired at the behest of Make America Number 1’s chair, Rebekah Mercer.” Both the Trump campaign and this Super PAC share a data analytics firm run by the Mercer family.