NRA Accused of "Elaborate Scheme" to Evade Campaign Finance Law

[fleur-de-lisa]

A watchdog group alleges the gun lobby has secretly coordinated political spending with GOP senate candidate Josh Hawley. Oct 23, 2018

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/10/nra-josh-hawley-campaign-finance-starboard-strategic/

A new complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission accuses the National Rifle Association and GOP Missouri Senate candidate Josh Hawley of engaging in “an elaborate scheme designed to evade detection” of campaign finance violations.

The complaint from the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog, and Giffords, a gun-violence prevention group, raises questions about whether GOP campaign contractors and vendors are facilitating hidden coordination between campaigns and the outside groups who support them. The complaint is the third in four months to accuse the NRA of appearing to use a shell company to circumvent laws against such coordination.

The complaints are based in part on an ongoing investigation by The Trace showing that the NRA’s exclusive political advertising consultant, Starboard Strategic, may be functioning as a front for the prominent conservative political consulting firm OnMessage Inc. (Mother Jones and The Trace have teamed up to further investigate the NRA’s finances and political activity.) Starboard Strategic has received more than $60 million from the NRA since 2013.

Corporate records show that OnMessage and Starboard share the same offices and leadership. The Trace has documented six Senate races in which a Republican candidate hired OnMessage while, in the same cycle, the NRA paid Starboard for ads in support of the same candidate. In 2014, those candidates included Thom Tillis, in North Carolina; Cory Gardner, in Colorado; and Tom Cotton, in Arkansas. Two years later, the arrangement occurred in Wisconsin, with Senator Ron Johnson. And now it is playing out again, this time in Missouri, with Hawley, and in Montana, with GOP candidate Matt Rosendale.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. How Sun light

cleans out the Fungus and Vermin.

[Hoyt]

2. I guess all's fair when it comes to protecting gunz and racism for ignorant white wingers.