Republicans file complaint against Shaheen
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The New Hampshire Republican Party is accusing Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheens campaign of coordinating with a political action committee on an ad targeting Republican Scott Brown.
Republicans on Monday asked the Federal Elections Commission to investigate whether information posted on Shaheens campaign website amounts to illegal coordination with the Senate Majority PAC, which has released an ad using similar language. Both accuse Brown, who hopes to challenge Shaheen in November, of being beholden to Big Oil and Wall Street.
Republicans call it an obvious and brazen attempt to coordinate with independent groups, which is barred by campaign law.
It is essential that the FEC thoroughly investigate Shaheens shady Super PAC coordination scheme to ensure public confidence in our election laws, Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Horn said.
Shaheens spokesman Harrell Kirstein said the complaint has no merit and noted that the criticism leveled at Brown is nothing new.
The truth is Scott Brown has been under attack for years for coddling Big Oil and Wall Street and cashing in on those connections, he said.
Reflecting the fierce competition of this years elections, outside groups have lifted video from campaign websites in several U.S. Senate races around the country. The Kentucky Opportunity Coalitions is using public footage of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, and in North Carolina, both Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and her Republican rival have uploaded digital files for allies to use.
The Campaign Legal Center has filed numerous complaints with the FEC arguing that such ads amount to republication of campaign materials and thus are illegal campaign donations. But Paul Ryan, the watchdog groups senior legal counsel, said Monday that the Senate Majority PAC appears to have stayed within the rules.
Theyre big time players with really smart lawyers, he said. It sounds like they are trying to thread the needle here and take their cues from the candidate while avoiding the republication rule as well as the coordination rule.
Under the coordination rule, candidates cant tell super PACs or other outside groups what to do. But Ryan said his group is considering filing a complaint arguing that posting material that apparently serves no other purpose than facilitating outside ads is at least an implicit suggestion that violates the law. And, he said, regardless of whether campaigns and PACs are violating the law, theres sometimes a difference between legal and right.