Barack Obama's campaign urged federal regulators yesterday to investigate whether a pro-Hillary Clinton advocacy group is breaking campaign finance laws.
The American Leadership Project, one of the growing number of quasi-independent groups involved in the presidential race, was started by Clinton allies, and its major funding comes from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union that has endorsed Clinton.
On Tuesday, it began airing a TV ad in Indiana going after Obama's economic plan and has said it will spend $920,000 on the ads. Obama's campaign says that ad is misleading and lodged a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission, saying the group should have to register as a political committee, disclose contributors, and abide by contribution limits.
"From its inception, ALP has made clear that its objective is to help Hillary Clinton win the Democratic nomination for president," Obama campaign lawyers write in the complaint.
Jason Kinney, ALP chairman and a California Democratic strategist, responded, "We have strictly and carefully adhered to every governing law and regulation, including the content of our communications and our full and timely disclosures."
The ALP is a 527 group, referring to a section of the tax code, that can raise unlimited amounts from donors and can air issue-based ads; however it is not supposed to air ads that expressly advocate for or against a candidate and cannot coordinate with a campaign.
Not that Clinton ever gave a shit about actual rules.
Still, to be fair, what about MoveOn's endorsement of Obama? Maybe they are more careful about their advertising? As a proud member of Moveon.org, I need to look into this.
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