D.C. group files campaign-finance complaint against Musgrave

By John Sarche, Associated Press, February 15, 2007

16 Feb 2007 // DENVER — A Washington advocacy group has filed a federal campaign-finance complaint against Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's 2006 re-election campaign, alleging it failed to properly disclose 10 contributions totaling $18,491.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said Friday it had asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate Musgrave's campaign, alleging it ''masked the identities of large last-minute contributors.''

Musgrave's campaign spokesman, Jason Thielman, said the complaint was a ''desperate political attack on another Republican from an irresponsible and unethical Democrat special interest group. This so-called complaint is as phony as my grandmother's teeth.''

Tim Mooney, senior counsel for Citizens for Responsible and Ethics in Washington, said the group filed the complaint because of what he called a systematic failure to comply with regulations.

If the FEC's Office of General Counsel determines the complaint is adequate, Musgrave's campaign would have 15 days to respond. The general counsel would then decide whether to recommend an investigation. If the Musgrave campaign is found to have violated any laws, the FEC could impose fines.

The complaint said Musgrave's campaign failed to properly identify some contributors in four required filings with the FEC and that it filed an amended report more than a month after the Jan. 2 deadline.

It said that the campaign failed to file required notices of contributions of $1,000 and larger within 48 hours of receiving them shortly before Election Day.

In a Feb. 1 letter to the FEC, Musgrave's campaign said it improperly identified some contributors due to ''data errors.''

The letter also said some last-minute large donations were overlooked in reports to the FEC. It said one $2,donation check received shortly before the GOP primary election was made out to a different candidate but inadvertently reported by Musgrave's campaign after it sent the money to the correct committee.