DCCC Files FEC Complaint Against McCain Claiming He Violated McCain-Feingold

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http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2010/10/dccc-files-fec-complaint-again.html

DCCC Files FEC Complaint Against McCain Claiming He Violated McCain-Feingold

By Tricia Miller | October 20, 2010 6:52 PM


The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), as well as two Republican House candidates and their campaign committees, for violating the campaign finance law bearing his name.

Friends of John McCain, the Senator's campaign committee, began running ads on Tuesday featuring him and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) promoting Republican House nominees Ruth McClung and Jesse Kelly in Arizona. Both are in tight races against Democratic incumbents: McClung faces Rep. Raul Grijalva in the southwest Arizona district, and Kelly faces Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the southeast Arizona district. The ad buys cost $80,000 each, and with production costs, that brings McCain to $91,872 spent on behalf of McClung and Kelly.

The DCCC letter alleges that because McCain has recently spent time at rallies with both candidates and has donated to their campaigns, it's hard to believe he did not coordinate the ads with them. The letter also noted that a candidate's committee isn't allowed to support multiple candidates with more than $2,000.

The letter said McCain should have filed papers for an independent expenditure if the ads were not coordinated. The Secretary of the Senate's office confirmed to CQ-Roll Call the office has received McCain's proper filings. But the DCCC still thinks there's coordination going on.

"The fact that Jesse Kelly, Ruth McClung and John McCain have coordinated campaign efforts is indisputable," DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said in a statement. "By Jesse Kelly and Ruth McClung's own accounts, they have met with Senator John McCain, they all shared the stage at a unity rally in August, and they are all coordinating with the Arizona Republican party."

McCain's campaign saw no basis in the allegations.

"It's not surprising that Democrats would try to change the subject from their struggling ticket with a baseless, frivolous complaint intended as a publicity stunt," Brian Rogers, communications director for Friends of John McCain, said in an e-mail. "Sen. McCain has always followed the letter and the spirit of the campaign finance law."