The Campaign Legal Center on Thursday announced it was filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission asking the agency to take action against a political action committee that has been organizing bloggers for Hillary Clinton.
The complaint says that Correct the Record made $5.95 million in expenditures supporting the Democratic presidential nominee in coordination with her campaign, a violation of campaign finance rules governing super PACs.
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The FEC’s ruling could affect regulations governing online political speech. The group, formed in 2015 by Clinton confidant David Brock, has argued coordination rules should not apply because it is simply asking people to post messages favorable to Clinton on the web, rather than making campaign expenditures directly supporting her.
The Campaign Legal Center acknowledged that premise in a statement announcing the action, but argued that spending funds to promote online engagement should be regulated by the FEC. “Clinton’s attorneys are relying on a narrow 2006 FEC regulation that declared that content posted online for free, such as blogs written by unpaid volunteers, is off limits from regulation.
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“But Correct the Record is not a volunteer blogging operation,” the center added. “It is a $6 million professional opposition research, surrogate training and messaging operation staffed with paid professional employees and operating out of a high-rise Washington, D.C., office building. Because Correct the Record is effectively an arm of the Clinton campaign, million-dollar-plus contributions to the super PAC are indistinguishable from contributions directly to Clinton.”
The statement added that center also filed complaints against two groups supporting Donald Trump, Rebuilding America Now and Make America Number 1, on the basis they were staffed with employees too close to the Trump campaign.
The complaint comes after a September request for an advisory opinion submitted by another group, Citizen Super PAC, mentioned Correct the Record in asking for approval to engage in its own online politicking. That group was seeking guidance on whether it would be allowed under FEC regulations to send emails to candidates’ supporters.
