Thompson Uses Loophole to Avoid Reporting Fundraising

Last week, the Washington Post reported how Thompson campaign aide Mary Matalin explained that "the announcement will be made when the campaign infrastructure is ready to make the most of the surge in interest she believes will follow."

The Post quoted Matalin as saying, "He has made up his mind. And one can appreciate that planning the announcement of what's on his mind needs to take place in a deliberative fashion."

Moreover, in an interview with Sean Hannity last week Thompson himself declared that he had already made his decision whether to run, and added, "But, I'm not gonna tell you right now."

Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo declined to address whether Thompson's own statements have taken him beyond "testing the waters," but insisted "the testing the waters committee is well within the letter and spirit of the law."

Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington — a nonprofit organization which promotes ethics and accountability in government — disagreed. "You don't need to hire a policy director and other operational staff just to test the waters. In addition, he appears to have raised far more money than necessary to prove he has national support," she said.

"At this point he's abusing the testing the waters exception to avoid having to disclose his contributors."

Paul Ryan, FEC program director and associate legal counsel of the Campaign Legal Center — a nonprofit organization that works in the areas of campaign finance and government ethics — noted that Thompson has 15 days to file declaration of his candidacy from the time he decides to become candidate. But if he does not, according to Ryan, "to the extent he has decided he is a candidate but has not registered as a federal campaign committee or disclosed his funds, at the very least, he has violated the spirit, if not the actual letter, of the law."

Thompson sponsored and worked alongside Sen. John McCain as one of the few Republicans who pushed for passage of campaign finance reform in 2001. At the time the bill was passed, Thompson issued a press release declaring, ""The McCain-Feingold bill will restore a campaign finance system that has become more loophole than law."

When President Bush signed the bill, Thompson declared, "I want to applaud President Bush for showing both foresight and courage in signing a bill that will help to restore confidence in our electoral system and reduce cynicism among the American people. This is a major step toward changing the way we do business here in Washington."