CREW filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint today against Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) campaign committee, Friends of Mary Landrieu, Inc., over a mysterious $25,300 “donation” the committee made to the Treasury Department last year according to reports filed with the FEC.

The campaign committee likely discovered it had accepted illegal contributions and, rather than following the normal practice of returning a contribution to its original donor, decided to turn the money over to the Treasury. When Sen. Landrieu’s campaign lawyer Marc Elias was asked to explain the payment, he refused, seeking to protect the identity of the donor.

However, while Friends of Mary Landrieu, Inc. may not be talking, federal campaign finance law is clear – the only time campaign committees can transfer illegal contributions to the Treasury rather than back to the original donor is when that donor:

• is under a Justice Department investigation, or
• has been convicted for making illegal contributions.

And even in those cases, the campaign committee still must make the donor’s identity public. CREW’s complaint alleges that because there has been no suggestion of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into illegal contributions to the Landrieu campaign, the committee improperly turned the money over to the Treasury.

CREW executive director Melanie Sloan said,

We all know politicians don’t give up campaign contributions – much less $25,000 – without a very good reason. It appears Sen. Landrieu’s reason may have been to avoid a scandal or, even worse, a federal investigation into some of her contributions. Our campaign finance laws were designed to ensure transparency. Sen. Landrieu cannot ignore a law she finds inconvenient simply to save herself the embarrassment of acknowledging she received illegal campaign contributions. If Sen. Landrieu did nothing wrong, she has no reason not to come clean with the American people and explain why she turned over $25,000 in contributions to the Treasury.

Click here to read CREW’s FEC complaint.