Thursday, March 01, 2007

Group Reaches Settlement With F.E.C. Over 2004 Campaign Advertising
[The Progress for America Voter Fund] agreed to pay a $750,000 penalty as part of a settlement with the Federal Election Commission, which found that the group violated campaign finance laws by spending more than $30 million on advertisements and mailings supporting President Bush’s re-election.

[...]

It spent $26.4 million alone on advertising in battleground states in 2004 for the purpose of retaining Mr. Bush as president.

Its actions violated campaign laws because it was not registered as a political action committee that would be subject to strict limits on donations. The agency said it circumvented a ban on corporate money and accepted contributions that well exceeded the caps on individual donations.

Too little, too freaking late. I'm not going to claim to know how much of an effect this group's actions had on the vote. Hell, I'm not going to claim any special knowledge of campaign finance rules. But a fine in March, 2007 sure as hell can't affect this group's actions in 2004. And, frankly, I don't see how it will affect any group's action in 2008, 2010, etc., etc. This will just get figured in to the cost of doing business.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home