Jump to content

  •  

Photo
- - - - -

Maine GOP files FEC complaint claiming illegal coordination between King campaign, super PAC

maine me

3 replies to this topic

#1 Dmacleo

Dmacleo

    Ruler of All

  • Administrators
  • 6,769 posts
  • Twitter:conserv_voice
  • LocationEtna, Maine
  • Country Flag: Country Flag
  • State: State
Contributor

Posted 05 October 2012 - 04:44 PM

The Maine Republican Party filed a multi-count complaint with the Federal Election Commission Friday, alleging that independent Senate candidate Angus King’s campaign “illegally coordinated” with the super PAC Americans Elect.
Americans Elect began running an ad supporting King’s Senate bid on Friday. The ad is part of a $500,000 buy.
The basis of the complaint is that Eliot Cutler, a state chair for King’s campaign, is also a member of the eight-person board of directors of Americans Elect. He is listed as a director on the home page of the Americans Elect website, which is the website listed in the disclaimer at the end of the ad.
(NOTE CUTLER RAN FOR GOV IN 2010 AND WAS BEAT BY LEPAGE)
Cutler emailed The Daily Caller to say that he had resigned from the board in June, and provided a copy of the agenda from the June 26 board call on which he did so.
“The leadership of the Maine GOP often goes off half-cocked without knowing the facts,” Cutler said in response to the complaint. “They obviously did it again.”
The complaint also states that Americans Elect has not properly registered as a political committee, something required for any organization that spends over $1,000 to influence an election.
“Americans Elect is an organization that is primarily engaged in candidate support activity including for a particular identified candidate has failed to file with, and report to, the Commission as a political committee,” the complaint reads.
The complaint alleges that the coordination comes as a result of King’s falling standing in the polls — recent polls have shown the race between him and Republican Charlie Summers tightening.
“From breaking his promise to ‘never’ run a negative campaign to flip-flopping and accepting special interest PAC money from Washington to now welcoming the same outside groups that he once condemned, it’s clear that Angus King and his wealthy friends are getting desperate,” said Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster. “But abandoned principles and sinking poll numbers are no excuse for violating the law which is what Mr. King and his out-of-state supporters appear to have done here.”
“It’s one thing for Angus King to continually put his personal political interests ahead of voters in Maine,” Webster added, “but it’s another matter when those actions violate the law and we look forward to a thorough investigation by the FEC into these illegal campaign ads.”
King’s campaign responded denying any wrongdoing.
“We did not know about this ad nor did we ask for it,” Communications Director Crystal Canney told The Daily Caller. “All of these ads — NRSC, U.S. Chamber and the latest ads are exactly what Angus warned about in June. We called for all candidates to disavow the ads and Charlie Summers refused. We will not unilaterally disarm, the time has passed when this money could have been kept out of Maine. We don’t like it and wish we could have worked together with the candidates to attempt to prevent it. You can thank the NRSC and Charlie Summers for turning this into an ad war.”
She added: “it’s silly and we are happy to respond to the complaint.”
A spokesperson for Americans Elect did not immediately respond to request for comment.


Read more: http://dailycaller.c.../#ixzz28SnS07Ze





Who read this topic? (Total Views: 1)


#2 Dmacleo

Dmacleo

    Ruler of All

  • Administrators
  • 6,769 posts
  • Twitter:conserv_voice
  • LocationEtna, Maine
  • Country Flag: Country Flag
  • State: State
Contributor

Posted 05 October 2012 - 04:50 PM

http://www.politico....7655.html?hp=l6

Bloomberg among Americans Elect funders in Maine (Updated)

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was among three wealthy funders behind the Americans Elect ad campaign in Maine on behalf of independent Angus King, the group's head told POLITICO.
Kahlil Byrd, the outgoing head of the group that was originally hoping to run a third-party presidential candidate this cycle, told POLITICO that the billionaire mayor gave $500,000 to the effort. The other two major donors are Peter Ackerman, an Americans Elect founder, and John Burbank, the founder of Passport Capital, he said, who gave $500,000 and $750,000, respectively.
That money is slated solely toward the King race, said Byrd, adding it's the only race the group is going to get involved in this cycle. The ad buy so far is from Oct. 5-25.
King "represents the kind of leadership (the group would like to see) in the Senate," he said, adding, "He's a very successful governor and at a time when we really need to be looking beyond gridlock ... Angus King will make an extraordinary addition to the conversation in Washington."

This means that Americans Elect has now become the super PAC in support of King, countering spending from the NRSC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in support of Republican Charlie Summers. It's the first pro-King advertising from an outside group, in a race where the GOP is pouring in resources amid a shifting Senate battleground.
UPDATE: The NRSC has filed a complaint with the FEC about the involvement of Americans Elect, which you can read here.



Anyone wanting to donate to Summers can do so here
https://secure.piryx...for-Maine/email

Eliot Cutler ran for Gov in 2010 and was beat by LePage, he ran as Independent but also had a lot of leftist support.


#3 Dmacleo

Dmacleo

    Ruler of All

  • Administrators
  • 6,769 posts
  • Twitter:conserv_voice
  • LocationEtna, Maine
  • Country Flag: Country Flag
  • State: State
Contributor

Posted 05 October 2012 - 04:58 PM

http://www.theconser...nst-angus-king/ Complaint file

#4 Dmacleo

Dmacleo

    Ruler of All

  • Administrators
  • 6,769 posts
  • Twitter:conserv_voice
  • LocationEtna, Maine
  • Country Flag: Country Flag
  • State: State
Contributor

Posted 05 October 2012 - 05:05 PM

the email Summers is sending out


Dear friends,

Angus King has made one thing clear: he will say anything or do anything to get elected. Now he’s breaking the law.

Please click here to help us fight back against Angus's shady power grab.

When he started this campaign, he made some promises to the people of Maine. No negative ads. No attacks on other candidates. And no outside PAC or SuperPAC money, especially from 'shady outside groups' that 'don’t give a damn about Maine'.

As you already know, he’s broken all of these promises. And today his actions took an even darker turn.

A shady out-of-state pass-through group run by Angus’s campaign chair Eliot Cutler has been caught illegally funneling more than $1 million into this senate race to help King get elected.

That’s right. Three billionaires from Wall Street have written checks to Cutler’s shell organization, and Cutler’s group is using that money to run ads in Maine. They bought their first $500,000 worth yesterday, and will be spending much more between now and election day.

The Federal Elections Commission will review the allegations against Angus King, Eliot Cutler, and the shady pass-through group. But this will take months, if not years. In the meantime, Angus King is circumventing Federal Elections law and his old friend Eliot Cutler is acting as the bag man.

There is only one way to fight back against these two millionaires and their billionaire friends. Please click here now to donate to Charlie’s campaign and help us stand strong against Angus King’s shady power grab.


Thanks for your support,

Lance

Lance Dutson
Campaign Manager
Charlie Summers for US Senate





Reply to this topic



  



Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: maine, me