Just Wondering Dept.

Why haven’t the usual suspects filed an FEC complaint against groups like Crossroads GPS in the 2012 election claiming that the groups are violating the FECA by not registering as political committees?  I know there are complaints against the IRS.

If the answer is that the FEC won’t do anything about it given its deadlock, then why file any complaints at the FEC?  Filing a complaint about groups which appear to be full political operations but hiding behind 501c4 status would shine more light on this unfortunate practice—which allows for shielding the identity of virtually all donors to these groups.

UPDATE: I wonder no longer and stand corrected. Adam Rappaport of CREW writes: “In March, we filed both IRS and FEC complaints against Americans for Job Security for spending 72 percent of its fiscal year 2010 budget on political activities: http://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-filings/entry/irs-federal-election-commission-complaints-vs-americans-for-job-security.  The FEC complaint alleged AJS was a political committee that should have registered and filed requisite disclosures.  And last week we amended our IRS and FEC complaints against the Commission on Hope, Growth and Opportunity, similarly alleging to the FEC that CHGO was a political committee that should have registered and filed disclosures: http://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-filings/entry/irs-fec-complaints-commission-hope-growth-opportunity-chgo-2012.”

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