A campaign finance watchdog has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging Pete Buttigieg's campaign illegally coordinated advertising with a super PAC. VoteVets, a super PAC that supports military veterans in politics and has thrown its support behind Buttigieg, bought more than $630,000 in television advertising in Nevada - a move that came one week after Buttigieg campaign strategist Michael Halle tweeted that the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor would benefit from his military record being on the airwaves in Nevada through the caucuses, which are on Feb. 22.
The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, which works to lessen the influence of money in politics, said in its complaint filed Tuesday.
The Campaign Legal Center says the specificity of the tweet makes it worthy of more legal scrutiny.
"The tweet was very concise, but it was also very specific," said Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance expert with CLC. "The campaign acknowledged VoteVets was the audience for this communication. The level of specificity for the tweet and the clear audience for the tweet requested and suggested VoteVets run these ads - and then they did."
While federal anti-coordination law does allow exceptions "If the information material to the creation, production, or distribution of the communication was obtained from a publicly available source," that exception does not apply if the campaign is directly suggesting or requesting specific content.
The Buttigieg campaign did not deny that VoteVets was the audience for the tweet.
If the FEC does find the Buttigieg campaign in violation of the law, it would likely result in a fine, Fischer said.
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/02/19/buttigieg-hit-with-campaign-finance-complaint-from-watchdog-group/23931025/
The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, which works to lessen the influence of money in politics, said in its complaint filed Tuesday.
The Campaign Legal Center says the specificity of the tweet makes it worthy of more legal scrutiny.
"The tweet was very concise, but it was also very specific," said Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance expert with CLC. "The campaign acknowledged VoteVets was the audience for this communication. The level of specificity for the tweet and the clear audience for the tweet requested and suggested VoteVets run these ads - and then they did."
While federal anti-coordination law does allow exceptions "If the information material to the creation, production, or distribution of the communication was obtained from a publicly available source," that exception does not apply if the campaign is directly suggesting or requesting specific content.
The Buttigieg campaign did not deny that VoteVets was the audience for the tweet.
If the FEC does find the Buttigieg campaign in violation of the law, it would likely result in a fine, Fischer said.
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/02/19/buttigieg-hit-with-campaign-finance-complaint-from-watchdog-group/23931025/
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