A Super PAC Was Actually Fined For Breaking The Rules
The Federal Election Commission last month fined a super PAC for illegally re-airing a commercial in 2012 that had been produced by Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Better late than never.
In 2012, Restore Our Future, the super PAC run by Romney's former aides, spent $4.3 million to run a television ad detailing Romney's role in helping to locate a coworker's missing child while he was head of Bain Capital. That spot was originally created by Romney's even-less-successful 2008 presidential campaign. The super PAC simply rebroadcast the exact same ad with a new disclaimer saying it was paid for by Restore Our Future.
The move violated multiple campaign finance laws. The republication of campaign materials must be reported to the FEC as an in-kind donation to the campaign, which the super PAC did not do. Even if it had, super PACs are prohibited from contributing to a candidate's campaign. The running of the ad therefore constituted a form of illegal coordination between the super PAC and the campaign.
At the time of the ad's airing, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the FEC. Restore Our Future's lawyer Charles Spies, now the lawyer for Jeb Bush's super PAC, told The Huffington Post that the super PAC had bought the footage from the firm hired to create it. Paul Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center said the act of purchasing it did not matter.
"If the ad was prepared by Romney or an agent of Romney, then this rule applies," Ryan said at the time. "The rule would be meaningless if you could transfer the legal rights from the campaign to another actor."
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