Groups Call for DOJ Probe of FEC Case

16 Mar 2009 // The Justice Department is being asked to do what the Federal Election Commission (FEC) couldn't decide whether to do -- take the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to task for an alleged campaign finance law violation.

In a letter sent today to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the Campaign Legal Center accused the FEC of ignoring a finding by its own counsel that the chamber had violated contribution limits in 2004.

The November Fund 527 group, closely associated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, originally signed an agreement acknowledging campaign finance violations. But the four-year old complaint filed by CREW was dismissed on a deadlocked 3-3 tie, with three Republican commissioners voting not to take any action.

"At a minimum, the situation merits further investigation by the Department of Justice," Crew and the Legal Center wrote in its letter to Holder.

The case involves $3 million in corporate contributions that were made through the chamber to the November Fund, essentially to help undermine the 2004 presidential candidacy of Democrat John Edwards. The complaint charged that the chamber had violated the law by breaking prohibitions against corporate donations to effect federal elections.

The FEC's decision last November not to fine the chamber was contentious, and later the Republican commissioners issued a letter defending their votes while the Democratic commissioners charged that their counterparts had simply refused "to enforce the law."

Eric Wohlschlegel, a spokesperson for the chamber, called the appeal to the Justice Department "completely frivolous."

"The bottom line is that there was no violation by the U.S. Chamber and this is pure political theatrics," he said.

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