Groups want special prosecutor to investigate Ashcroft campaign activity

[Purveyor]

(01-15) 08:44 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

Several groups Thursday urged the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Attorney General John Ashcroft's use of a political action committee mailing list during his 2000 Senate race.

The National Voting Rights Institute, Public Citizen and other groups contended in a letter that Ashcroft evaded campaign finance laws through his Senate campaign's use of a mailing list developed by his Spirit of America PAC at a cost of $1.7 million.

They also say that while Ashcroft told the Federal Election Commission he personally owned the mailing list at one point, he failed to include it on a required report to the Senate outlining his financial holdings. He may have broken tax laws by failing to report income earned from the list on his Internal Revenue Service income tax filings, they say.

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On the Net:
NVRI: www.nvri.org/

Complete Associated Press Article here

[proud patriot]

1. Why does it take so long to investigate bush cronies ?

yet within 24 hrs an investigation is launched
against O'neil ...STINKY

[lovedems]

2. Let's just go after these pigs one by one.

Pentagon want to look further into Halliburton dealings, get an investigation into Plame and pre-war Iraq intelligence, Asscrofts bogus tax fraud. Let's just get them one at a time.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Hope they treat this with the seriousness it deserves. n/t

[lark]

4. Not an chance in hades

that this will be investigated. Major media will ignore it as usual and the story dies. Worst case, there will be another cover-up.

lark

[Bozita]

5. Here's the press release (much more detail)

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=104-01152004

Groups Call for Special Prosecutor to Launch Criminal Investigation of Ashcroft and His Political Committees in Campaign Finance Case

1/15/04 10:01:00 AM
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To: National Desk

Contact: Ann Brown, 301-951-8018

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A coalition of public interest organizations sent a letter today to the U.S. Department of Justice calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate potential criminal actions involving U. S. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, his 2000 Senate campaign committee and his leadership PAC. The letter, based on newly-released documents from the Federal Election Commission (FEC), outlines evidence that Attorney General Ashcroft knowingly accepted, during his 2000 Senate re-election campaign, a fundraising mailing list, developed at a cost of $1.7 million, constituting an illegal, excessive contribution of at least $255,000, in direct violation of federal campaign finance law. The letter also charges that Ashcroft and his political committees engaged in a criminal conspiracy to cover up the illegal contribution.

According to FEC documents, Ashcroft claims that he -- and not his leadership PAC -- owns the fundraising list. The public interest groups' letter argues that if Ashcroft's claims are true, then Ashcroft has violated federal law by failing to disclose the fundraising list as an asset on his U.S. Senate financial disclosure forms and that there is probable cause to suspect that Ashcroft may have engaged in tax evasion, by failing to report income earned from the asset on his income tax filings before the Internal Revenue Service.

"There can be no doubt that the appointment of an outside special counsel is required in this case to fully investigate potential criminal actions implicating the United States Attorney General himself," the public interest groups state in their letter. "Failure to appoint an outside special counsel in this case would send the dangerous message to the American people that the nation's chief law enforcement officer is above the law."

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