Two watchdog groups have filed election complaints against four unannounced – but likely – presidential candidates, saying they’re flouting campaign finance laws by raising oodles of dollars and traveling to early primary states without acknowledging that they’re testing the waters for a presidential bid.
The Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 filed the complaints with the Federal Election Commission against three Republicans: former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, as well as former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat.
Federal campaign contribution limits kick in as soon as candidates begin to raise and spend money to determine whether they’re going to run for office, said Paul Ryan, senior counsel for the Campaign Legal Center.
But he said the four have flown to early primary states to meet with party leaders and voters, hired campaign staff and are raising “millions of dollars from deep-pocketed mega donors, all the while denying that they are even ‘testing the waters’ of a presidential campaign.”
A spokeswoman for Bush, who is in California this week raising money, said his operation is “fully complying with the law in all activities Gov. Bush is engaging in on the political front.
“If Gov. Bush engages in any testing the waters activities, they will be paid for appropriately under the law and reported at the required time,” Bush spokeswoman Allie Brandenburger said.
Bush frequently prefaces his remarks to audiences with what he says is “the legal part of this,” telling listeners that he’s “seriously considering the possibility of running for president.”
“All of that now allows me to talk about that possibility in a way that doesn’t trigger a campaign, so thank you all very much for allowing me to be lawyered up, make sure I get that part right,” Bush told a fundraiser in Des Moines, Iowa, in early March.
Trevor Potter, a former FEC chairman and president of the Campaign Legal Center, said Bush appeared to be trying a “double disconnect” to avoid triggering the federal limits.
“He evidently thinks because he says he’s considering considering he is complying,” Potter said.
Potter acknowledged the makeup of the Federal Election Commission – the six-member panel is ideologically split 3-3 – has hampered its ability to take action on many recent campaign finance cases.
“But just because candidates appear to be ignoring the law doesn’t mean that everyone else should,” Potter said. “You have to keep trying.”
A spokeswoman for Walker said the governor “has been talking to Americans about his reform-minded principles in Wisconsin through the issues-based organization, Our American Revival.”
“If there are any announcements about his future, he will do it in accordance with the law,” spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said.
The complaints argue that the four are traveling to early caucus and primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire, along with fundraising hotspots like California and New York, and are hiring staffers – activities that the groups say constitute the “testing the waters” clause under federal law.
The law requires those activities to be paid for with funds raised under the federal candidate contribution limit, which caps donors to $2,700 and bars corporate and union funds.
The complaints allege that Bush, Santorum and Walker “crossed the threshold” to become candidates as defined by federal law by referring to themselves publicly as candidates or by amassing campaign money that will be spent after they formally declare.
Bush is reportedly aiming to raise more than $50 million for his super PAC, Right to Rise, Ryan said, and Walker has opened an office in Iowa and is raising millions for his group.
The groups promised more complaints but noted that Hillary Clinton; surgeon Ben Carson; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and Democratic former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb have acknowledged that they are officially “testing the waters” and “appear to be complying” with the federal law.
Comments