Has it even been mentioned on TV that the DNC sued the McCain campaign because they were breaking campaign finance laws? I have not heard it mentioned.
McCain is breaking the campaign finance law....DNC suing himThis is from the DNC back in February.
In order to receive matching funds, John McCain signed a binding agreement with the FEC to accept spending limits and to abide by the conditions of receiving those funds. The FEC makes clear that any request to withdraw from the agreement must be granted by the FEC. In other words, McCain can't just unilaterally withdraw. FEC Chairman David Mason made this clear in a letter to McCain advising him that the law requires the FEC to approve his request to withdraw from his contract.
According to past Commission rulings, the McCain campaign would not be allowed to withdraw from matching funds because it has already violated a key condition for being let out of the program - pledging matching funds as collateral for a private loan. McCain obtained a $4 million line of credit -- drew $2,971,697 from it - and documents make clear that the promise of public financing was used to secure his loan.
If somehow you missed the great report at Daily Kos by JedReport...here it is. It is very long and involved, and I will just quote a bit. Tremendous research, and it shows just how far along our country is in giving lawbreaking a wink and a nod.
McCain raises $62.5 million through public finance loopholeAccording to FEC reports filed yesterday, John McCain has already raised at $62.5 million in private funds that can be used for his general election campaign -- even though he's already committed to accepting public funding for the general.
Moreover, based on my own analysis, of that $62.5 million, three-quarters -- $46.3 million -- comes from a total of 1,803 wealthy individuals who made five figure contributions averaging $25,664 each.
So not only is John McCain blatantly violating his public financing pledge, but he's doing it in grand style, raising money in increments of up to $70,000 per donor -- more than thirty times the amount a donor can give to Barack Obama's general election campaign.
...."Here's the nuts-and-bolts of the loophole: the money McCain is currently raising through the campaign committees which reported their quarterly results on July 15 is actually being funneled to the Republican National Committee, even though each campaign committee bears McCain's name.
There are two reasons why the money is transferred to the RNC. First, if it were not transferred to the RNC, the money could not be used in the general. Second, by raising the money for the RNC, McCain is able to take advantage of a much higher contribution limits, allowing each donor to contribute $70,000 to his campaign instead of the $2,300 limit that Barack Obama's general election campaign has.
Here is part of the email from the DNC this June, when they did finally file the lawsuit.
I wrote to you in late February asking that you sign on in support of a complaint we made to the Federal Election Commission regarding John McCain.
The complaint was fairly simple. John McCain decided to break a promise he made to the American people -- he said that he would accept federal matching funds for his primary campaign, but then backed out of the pledge after he started receiving staggering amounts of lobbyist and special interest money. We asked the FEC to enforce the agreement he had made.
When they didn't act on our complaint -- one that thousands of Americans signed on to support -- we sued them. Recently, a federal judge said that we had to give the FEC at least 120 days to act.
Their time runs out in one week, on June 24.
Did you see anything about this on the news? I did not think so. Will the lawsuit even be heard, or will it just not go forward? Has McCain managed to work the loophole enough to get by?
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