Using campaign finance law as an electoral sword

Published on September 4, 2008

The American Leadership Project (ALP), an independent 527 organization once denounced by Barack Obama's presidential campaign when the group touted issues associated with Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, returned last week with advertisements criticizing Senator John McCain's energy positions.

The new ALP advertisements have been met with no apparent response from the Obama campaign despite being nearly identical in form to the advertisements ALP produced previously in the primary campaign.

"The campaign finance laws haven't changed since the primary, just the apparent beneficiary of ALP's speech" said Reid Cox, legal director at the Center for Competitive Politics and author of a memo analyzing ALP's advocacy.  "The conclusion must be drawn that like too many election complaints the motivating factor determining whether or not to file a complaint is driven by pure politics and not out of a sense of civic duty."

Cox's memo is the second in a series of analysis launched by the Center for Competitive Politics examining the legal and political issues surrounding the advocacy activities of independent groups in the 2008 election.

"If merely filing a complaint is all it takes to trigger a full-fledged government investigation, then that is quite a sword to wield at very little cost," Cox observed.  "The threat of such an investigation alone is enough to silence many citizens."

"Politics is a rough and tumble world, but political opponents should not deputize government investigative and enforcement authorities as volunteers ready and able to assist in securing victories at the ballot box," Cox concluded. 

CCP's memo regarding the American Leadership Project and is available here.

Additional memos published as part of the Election 2008 Free Speech Project can be found here.

CCP also welcomes suggestions for additional analytical memos via email at info@campaignfreedom.org.