"Big Clinton Fund-Raisers May Run Their Own Ads"

[debatepro]

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120286639798963915.html?mod=blog


WASHINGTON -- As Sen. Hillary Clinton faces a money crunch, several of her top fund-raisers are considering using independent organizations to wage their own campaigns on her behalf.

At least two sets of Clinton fund-raisers are speaking with lawyers to figure out how to create independent entities to support Mrs. Clinton in Ohio, Texas and other primary contests. Susie Tompkins Buell, the founder of the Esprit clothing company, says she is deciding whether to start her own entity to fund commercials for Mrs. Clinton, or whether to donate to existing groups, such as abortion-rights group Emily's List, that are already spending money on Mrs. Clinton.
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Even then, the Federal Election Commission may decide that any entity started by a Clinton fund-raiser would violate rules that prevent coordination between a candidate's formal campaign and outside entities that spend money on his or her behalf.

"It's a risky, highly regulated, uncertain area of campaign-finance law," says Jan Baran, a campaign-finance lawyer with Wiley Rein LLP.
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Some Clinton backers also worry that any new independent organization will be compared to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group founded in 2004 to attack Sen. John Kerry's record in Vietnam. Other Clinton fund-raisers say that Mr. Obama campaigns against special interests and will surely point out any help that Mrs. Clinton gets from any outside political organization.
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Ms. Buell said that one option under consideration by Clinton fund-raisers is to pour money into existing groups that are already spending money to support Mrs. Clinton. Emily's List is one such group.

Documents released by the Internal Revenue Service last month show that a handful of top Clinton fund-raisers gave large donations to Emily's List last year. Mrs. Buell donated $100,000 to Emily's List in 2007, after giving the group $50,000 in the previous four years.