In Case You Missed This... Watchdog Group Files FEC Complaint Against Crossroads GPS (Karl Rove) [View all]

[WillyT]

Watchdog group files FEC complaint against Crossroads GPS
By T.W. Farnam - WaPo
Published: November 15

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All the votes in the 2012 presidential election have been counted, but one aspect of the race will continue to linger for some time: legal challenges to the way third-party groups spent money during the campaign.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or Crew, filed the latest salvo in that battle Thursday with a complaint to the Federal Election Commission, and a corresponding letter to the FBI. The group takes issue with spending by Crossroads GPS, the conservative nonprofit started in part by former Bush administration political director Karl Rove.

Although the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling made clear the legality of unfettered interest group spending, advocates for tighter regulation of money in politics continue to press politically active organizations to disclose their donors.

The Crew complaint focuses on comments made by Rove at a secret fundraiser for Crossroads, as recounted by a Bloomberg News reporter in attendance. At the event, Rove was quoted as saying that a donor had provided $3 million for the Ohio Senate race out of affection for the Republican candidate, Josh Mandel.

Crossroads GPS is required to disclose sources of its money to the FEC if the donors earmarked their funds for specific advertisements. In this case, the difference may turn on whether the donor mentioned by Rove gave instructions for specific ads or whether he was only picking the race. At the fundraiser, several advertisements were shown to potential donors, according to Bloomberg.

“Karl Rove and Crossroads GPS didn’t just skirt around the edges of the law,” Melanie Sloan, Crew’s executvie director, said in a statement announcing the complaint. “This time it appears they jumped headlong into a criminal conspiracy.”

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More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/watchdog-group-files-fec-complaint-against-crossroads-gps/2012/11/15/9bab8f02-2f5f-11e2-a30e-5ca76eeec857_story.html