DNC to take McCain campaign finance complaint to court

[DemsUnited]

About time I say! Mr. "Finance Reform" McCain has gotten a free pass on this issue for way too long!!

From theHill.com: http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/dnc-to-take-mccain-complaint-to-court-2008-04-13.html

By Jim Snyder
Posted: 04/13/08 02:07 PM

Democratic Party officials will file a suit in the U.S. District Court in Washington on Monday to compel the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate whether Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) violated election laws by pulling out of a federal matching funds program.


The Democratic National Committee (DNC) had previously filed a complaint with the FEC alleging that the McCain camp violated federal election rules by unilaterally withdrawing from the program. The DNC contends a campaign must first get permission from the FEC to back out but McCain officials have disputed that contention.

Because McCain has exceeded spending limits that are a condition of receiving federal matching funds, the campaign is “breaking the law every day,” DNC Executive Director Tom McMahon told reporters on Sunday.

Democratic officials allege that McCain used the promise of federal money to secure a $4 million loan when his cash-strapped campaign was struggling to raise money.

The case is complicated by the fact that a dispute between the two parties has left three seats on the five-member commission unfilled. There are not enough members for a quorum. If the FEC is unable to reach a quorum by the time the court reaches a decision, DNC officials said they would ask the court permission to bring their own suit against the McCain campaign.

Republican Party officials said the DNC suit has not merit. Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, called it “another desperate attempt by (DNC Chairman) Howard Dean to distract from a divisive battle within their own party.”

MyDD with good commentary on this issue at http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/4/13/135010/084

by Jonathan Singer, Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 01:50:10 PM EST

<snip>

This is pretty simple stuff -- perhaps too simple for the media elite inside the Beltway to understand. The McCain campaign is traipsing around, complaining about some non-agreement they had with the Obama campaign about public financing in a general election. At the same time, the McCain campaign may be willfully and wantonly disregarding the spirit, if not the actual letter, of the laws regulating public financing in a primary election. Specifically, the DNC alleges that the McCain campaign opted into the public financing program, derived material benefit from his acceptance in the program (linking a loan to the program, as well as gaining expensive ballot access), then unilaterally withdrew from the program without the acceptance of the FEC, which would have to sign off on such a move (and might, but would not necessarily, do so in this exact case). Yet whenever we see a write up of or hear a report on John McCain attacking Barack Obama over campaign finance issues in a bastion of the establishment media, there is seldom, if ever, a mention of McCain's own shenanigans.

Will this suit finally shame reporters into covering this issue correctly? It should, but to tell you the truth, I'm not holding my breath...