McCain violates McCain-Feingold – IOKIYAR

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Posted by AZBlueMeanie:

Adam B at Daily Kos reports McCain Violates McCain-Feingold?

Sit tight for a second and watch this ad from Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl supporting fellow Arizonan Ruth McClung, who's challenging Orange to Blue Rep. Raul Grijalva.  Pay close attention to the end.

Got that?  Paid for by John McCain for Senate, not the McClung campaign, despite there being no aspect of this message having anything to do with McCain's own election this year.  Indeed, with less than $30,000 cash left as of September 30, McClung's campaign probably couldn't afford the wardrobe and makeup for the ad, let alone filming and broadcasting it.  (There's also one for the challenger to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Jesse Kelly, who's almost as cash-poor right now.)

And, legally, that's a problem.

The DCCC has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, because two out of three laws seem to have been broken here:

  • If this was coordinated with the McClung and Kelly campaigns, then McCain violated the contribution limits in terms of what he can provide as an in-kind contribution to McClung's campaign; or
  • If it was a truly independent expenditure, not in any way coordinated with the recipient campaigns, then McCain has failed to report these independent expenditures to the FEC, which in turn would require McCain to certify, under penalty of perjury, "as to whether such expenditure was made in cooperation, consultation, or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of a candidate;" and
  • Federal law is absolutely explicit that McCain's campaign committee is only allowed to support one candidate: himself.

As DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider put it, "Sen. McCain either doesn’t understand the law bearing his name or he has deliberately chosen to break it.”

We all know that here in Arizona, IOKIYAR.

UPDATE: Glassman Statement on McCain Violating His Own Law, Turning on His Legacy

"John McCain has now completely turned on his own legacy. He’s denied he ever claimed to be a maverick despite video evidence to the contrary. He has completely flip-flopped on immigration reform. This week he has broken the very law that stood to be his legacy, the McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation. The deterioration of a once-proud career has become an all too common story for Washington politicians driven by personal ambition and lubricated by the special interests whose loud voices are listened to these days much more than the quiet interests of the American people. Sadly, John McCain has become one of those stories.”

Rodney Glassman
Candidate for U.S. Senate

1 thought on “McCain violates McCain-Feingold – IOKIYAR”

  1. Maybe you didn’t hear that Ruth McClung raised over $100,000 in one day alone. ABCNews.com reported today that the McClung campaign now has $200,000 in the bank to spend over the final weeks of the campaign after robust fundraising due to her building momentum.

    That same ABCNews.com article also brought my attention to the fact that “the Cook Political Report” now rates the race as a “toss-up”. Grijalva is now running scared. As he should be.

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