March 13, 2007
Contact: Naomi Seligman Steiner - 202.408.5565 / press@citizensforethics.org
14 Mar 2007 // Washington, DC – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint against the Peace Through Strength Political Action Committee (PTS PAC), the leadership PAC for presidential candidate Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA). The complaint asks the FEC to investigate PTS PAC’s illegal support of Rep. Hunter’s presidential campaign.
Rep. Hunter announced his intentions to explore a presidential bid in October 2006. Beginning in December 2006, he promoted his candidacy by running advertisements with money he both raised and spent illegally. In December 2006, PTS PAC aired thinly-veiled campaign advertisements in early primary states promoting Rep. Hunter’s support for constructing a fence along the US-Mexico border.
Although federal election law allows a candidate to “test the waters” – meaning spend funds for travel and polling – a candidate who is testing the waters cannot spend more than $5,000 on general public political advertising such as the ads run by Rep. Hunter. Once a person spends over $5,000 in support of a presidential campaign, he automatically becomes a candidate under federal election law.
In addition, once a person becomes a candidate, he or she may only accept individual contributions of up to $2,300 per election. While supporting Rep. Hunter’s efforts to test the waters, PTS PAC received 11 individual contributions over that limit, with the result that the PAC received $27,350 in excess contributions.
Finally, by purchasing ads for Rep. Hunter, PTS PAC made “in-kind” contributions to Hunter’s presidential campaign. A presidential campaign can only accept up to a $5,000 contribution from a PAC per election yet PTS PAC spent $17,575 to run its border fence advertisement in New Hampshire. The PAC also made additional ad buys in other early primary states, including South Carolina, North Carolina and South Dakota.
Despite the fact that such conduct is a clear violation of federal election law, press reports suggest that PTSPAC is continuing to raise funds and use those funds in support of Rep. Hunter’s presidential campaign. As a result, CREW has asked the FEC for expedited consideration of its complaint.
CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said, “Rep. Hunter jumped the gun on his presidential campaign by running ads before he had registered as a presidential candidate. By leveraging his leadership PAC to advance his ambitions, he has clearly violated federal election law. ” Sloan continued, “If Rep. Hunter wants to play in presidential politics, he needs to learn to follow the rules.”
The complaint and related documents are available on CREW’s website.
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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions.
For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman Steiner at 202.408.5565/press@citizensforethics.org.