By Lesley Clark, Miami Herald, May 12, 2007

12 May 2007 // A watchdog group Friday filed a complaint against Sen. Mel Martinez's 2004 election campaign, alleging "serious" election law violations gave the Florida senator who now chairs the national Republican party "an unfair advantage in the closing days" of the race.

The complaint filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington - which Republicans have criticized as leaning to the left - comes on the heels of a Federal Election Commission audit that found Martinez accepted contributions in excess of federal limits and failed to provide names and occupations of many donors.

His campaign has blamed the mistakes on a frenzied fundraising pace and said it is working aggressively to resolve any issues raised by the FEC.

An attorney for Martinez called the group "ever partisan" and noted that the FEC last month dismissed another complaint filed by CREW against Martinez. In that case, CREW alleged that Martinez "knowingly accepted prohibited corporate contributions" from Bacardi, the Miami-based liquor company.

The FEC last month said it was closing the case, finding there was "no reason to believe" the campaign had wrongly accepted the money. It did, though, admonish the campaign to better disclose information about its contributors.

"I give this complaint the same degree of credibility as the complaint that was recently dismissed," Martinez's attorney, Ben Ginsberg, said of the complaint filed Friday.

The complaint accuses Martinez, who in 2004 narrowly defeated former Florida Education Commissioner Betty Castor, of spending nearly $300,000 in illegal contributions "when the money should not have been available for use."

"Basically, Mel Martinez broke the law in order to win an election," CREW executive director Melanie Sloan said. "Now, years later, he is a sitting senator and the chairman of the Republican National Committee. A failure by the FEC to severely sanction the 'Martinez for Senate' campaign committee will demonstrate that violating the law pays."

Martinez's campaign disclosed last month that it gave back $97,000 to donors to the 2004 campaign after the audit found Martinez had accepted contributions from donors that exceeded the federal limit.

The CREW complaint also notes that the audit found that in the 20 days before the election Martinez failed to disclose more than $140,000 in contributions.

"By failing to disclose over $140,000 in contributions received in the last days of the campaign, 'Martinez for Senate' gained a tactical advantage over Mr. Martinez's opponent," Sloan said in a letter to the FEC.

CREW says Martinez should face nearly $1 million in fines for what it calls "multiple egregious violations."

Ginsberg said the campaign since 2004 has replaced its staff "with a whole new crew who really had more experience in campaigns."