Thursday, October 21, 2010

BREAKING: McCain Files With FEC For McClung, Kelly Ads; Spends More Supporting Schweikert, Too

Previous report noting conflicting responses from McCain camp AND that no FEC filing: http://bit.ly/bHCcKA

Moments ago, Friends of John McCain filed its required independent expenditure filing with the Federal Election Commission ("FEC"). The reports disclose their expenditures supporting GOP congressional challengers Ruth McClung and Jesse Kelly, as well as a new ad supporting David Schweikert.

The ads formed the basis for a complaint filed with the FEC by the DCCC.  By law, independent expenditures are supposed to be "independent" - with no coordination between the spender and the candidates' committees.  The complaint calls it "utterly implausible" that there is not coordination going on between the candidates and their committees.

Here is the report on the McClung and Kelly ads: http://bit.ly/9MvS1a .  It indicates that they spent $11,872.00 producing each (separate) ad, and $80,000.00 buying media time for each.

Yesteday, the McCain committee paid $13,672.00 to produce an ad supporting Schweikert, and $64,000.00 for the media buy.  That report also shows that McCain spent $1,386.28 for "message phone calls" on behalf of McClung. ("My friends....")

Perhaps importantly, it is apparent that there is at least a violation in failing to TIMELY REPORT the McClung and Kelly ads.  As the McCain committee notes, it filed a "24-hour notice".  It reports the expenditures as taking place on Oct. 19, but did not electronically file the report - which is instantly available on the FEC's website - until this evening.


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