By Mark Walker, North County Times (CA), March 13, 2007

14 Mar 2007 // A Washington watchdog group has filed a complaint against a political action committee controlled by U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter alleging he has been illegally using it to pay for his presidential campaign.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed the complaint today asking an immediate investigation be conducted by the Federal Election Commission.

The complaint contends that Hunter, R-El Cajon, has been using money from the political action committee to pay for more than $5,000 in television commercials and has accepted 11 individual campaign contributions exceeding the statutory limit of $2,300.

Melanie Sloan, a former Justice Department prosecutor who also has worked for Democratic members of Congress and now serves as executive director of the group filing the complaint, said Hunter has "jumped the gun" on his presidential effort by running ads before formally registering as a presidential candidate.

Hunter has yet to form an official presidential campaign committee but has established a presidential exploratory committee. Exploratory committees are prohibited from spending more than $5,000 on political advertising.

"By leveraging his leadership PAC to advance his ambitions, he has clearly violated federal election law," Sloan said in a prepared statement. "If Rep. Hunter wants to play in presidential politics, he needs to learn to follow the rules."

The complaint seeks a declaration that the political action committee has violated campaign finance laws and a directive that it re-register as a Hunter for President fundraising committee.

Efforts to reach Hunter and the communications director for his presidential campaign were not immediately successful.

Look for a complete report in Thursday's North County Times.