Landrieu campaign dismisses ethics complaint

30 Nov 2009 // A lawyer for Sen. Mary Landrieu’s campaign is calling an ethics complaint filed by a watchdog group “silly.”

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed its complaint Nov. 20 with the Federal Election Commission against Friends of Mary Landrieu Inc. concerning what CREW calls a “mysterious $25,300 donation” to the U.S. Treasury made Aug. 7, 2008.

According to CREW, campaign committee attorney Marc Elias did not identify the contributors other than to say they were private citizens.

In response to an e-mail from CityBusiness, Elias said, “Unfortunately FEC rules don’t prevent frivolous complaints; nonetheless, it will ultimately be dismissed.”

CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said Landrieu’s campaign might have ceded the contribution to avoid a scandal or investigation.

Federal campaign finance law requires campaign committees to transfer an illegal contribution to the Treasury rather than return it to the donor when the committee learns the source of the money is under a Department of Justice investigation or indictment, or has been convicted for making illegal contributions, according to CREW. In such cases, CREW insists the campaign committee must make the contributor’s identity public before turning the money over to the Treasury.

“Our campaign finance laws were designed to ensure transparency,” Sloan said. “Sen. Landrieu cannot ignore a law she finds inconvenient simply to save herself the embarrassment of acknowledging she received illegal campaign contributions.”