“Of course,
without that brashness and personality, the Club might not have been as
effective.”
The Club for Growth is a court-bound guinea pig for the application of
some new FEC theories. The FEC's complaint against the Club is
href="here.
The Complaint says, for instance:
Some of the Club's solicitations for donations make clear
that contributions will be used for the purpose of supporting or
opposing specific federal candidates. Funds given in response to such
solicitations are "contributions" under 2 U.S.C. 431(8) because they are
given for the purpose of influencing federal elections. See FEC v.
Survival Education Fund, Inc., 65 F.3d 285, 295 (2d Cir.
1995).
Interestingly, this "rule" formed the basis for a new regulation,
promulgated in 2004 - long after the Club's activities. And the rule
was applied in the Survival Ed case not to find that a group has
exceeded the act's contribution limits, but for disclosure only. It
will be interesting to see how the FEC applies this "rule" to activity
from 2000, 2002 and 2004.
