GOP Alleges Campaign Finance Conspiracy
W A S H I N G T O N, March 31 -- Republicans and President Bush's re-election campaign accused Sen. John Kerry and Democratic interest groups of conspiring to violate election laws by illegally using hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of "soft money" donations to hasten the president's defeat.
The Republican National Committee plans to file an emergency complaint with the Federal Election Commission but urge the commission to quickly dismiss the complaint. The tactic would allow the RNC to seek more immediate relief from a federal judge, who could shut down the Democratic groups.
The volley of charges marks the latest in a long-simmering row between advocates of campaign finance reform and its opponents, although with this twist: the Republican Party and lawyers affiliated with the Bush campaign are seeking to enforce laws that they earlier vigorously opposed. The reason is the urgency of a nasty election battle between Bush and Kerry.
Bush's campaign has a decided fund-raising advantage under the new election laws. They've accumulated much more "hard money" — small contributions from individual citizens that can be used for specific campaign expenses. The Bush campaign has amassed more than $158 million in hard money to date — far more than Kerry.
The allegations, detailed in a 70-page complaint with 600 pages of supporting evidence, are among the most serious and detailed that have been levied against the Democratic interest groups, which are using "soft money" donations from unions and wealthy individuals to mobilize Democrats for November. There is no limit on how much soft money a donor can give, but the money cannot be directly spent on individual campaigns, including the presidential race.
The charges center on the political activity of several of the groups, known as 527s from the portion of the tax code under which they were organized.
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