Torment In the first

Torment

In the first presidential contest governed by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 commonly known as McCain-Feingold, ACT and other so-called 527 committees spent millions of dollars to attempt to influence voters. ACT was particularly focused on get-out-the-vote efforts to help energize progressives to vote presumably for Democratic standard-bearer Sen. John Kerry Mass. These independent groups, which also included the conservative Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the liberal Voter Fund, operated without clearly defined rules. Complaints were filed by those who felt ACT and other 527s had illegally exceeded campaign finance limits. The process was slow and dragged on until 2007, when the groups famously agreed to pay thousands of dollars in Federal Election Commission FEC fines. In the case of ACT, the organizations leaders opted to pay a whopping 775, 000 civil penalty rather than continue to fight what they feared would be an unending legal process. Because the FEC action was not settled until August of 2007, explains ACTs chief financial officer, Gary Gruber, the group was forced to maintain a political action committee even though it was no longer active. Beyond fines, the roughly 8 million was spent mostly on overhead and legal fees. Shortly after the FECs case was settled, unsuccessful independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader filed his own FEC complaint against ACT, the Democratic Party, Kerry and other groups he believed had unlawfully worked to deny him ballot access in the 2004 campaign. And, because of these new complaints, the PAC was again forced to stay open. Until the complaints were done, we couldnt torment the plug, Gruber told the Center. Former FEC Chairman Scott Thomas confirmed to the Center that this is correct; a PAC must receive permission from the commission before terminating and committees under investigation must remain open until their cases are closed. Naders grievance was finally dismissed in June of this year and the PAC now hopes it can finally shut its doors for good. Those doors, interestingly, are in office space at 1101 Vermont Ave. NW that the group rents from Catalist, a voter database company. Harold Ickes, a prominent former adviser to both Bill and Hillary Clinton and ACT organizer, is president of the company, and Gruber is its chief financial officer. ACT reports payments totaling 15, 000 to Catalist for its portion of the space since April 200 Using revenue from rentals of its voter lists, the PAC torment taken in enough money to cover much of the 8 million it has spent. The PAC has not reported any political activities since 200 There is no purpose to the PAC anymore, Gruber notes. Were finalizing a few things and closing it out before the end of this year. If all goes according to plan, that will be ACTs last act. Josh Israel and Aaron Mehta are staff writers at the Center for Public Integrity. The contents of this site are 2011 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp. , a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc. Trust the Republicans? FACT: Government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is calling for Christine ODonnell to be prosecuted. FACT: The New York Times says GOP Leader John Boehner Is Tightly Bound to Lobbyists. Boehner won some of his first national headlines torment he was caught handing out checks from tobacco lobbyists to Republicans on the House floor and Roll Call says there are multiple reports of late-night partying and of House Republicans inappropriately hanging out with female lobbyists. FACT: Bush regulators let the oil rig drillers conduct their own inspections. FACT: Bush appointed a horse trainer to run FEMA as a reward for raising money for his campaign. FACT: The RNC Treasurer Accuses Michael Steele Of Intentionally Concealing 7 Million In Debt. FACT: The mob-linked Republican crook that Giuliani recommended and Bush nominated to be the head of Homeland Security is now a prison inmate. FACT: The GOP New York Senate Majority Leader was convicted this year of corruption charges. FACT: The Chairman of the Florida Republican Party is under criminal indictment and waiting for trial, soon to be followed by the GOP Senate candidate Mario Rubio. FACT: If you figure Alvin Greene as a GOP plant, the new CREW list of the 11 most Crooked Candidates has 9 Republicans on it. /crookedcandidates20 FACT: A Republican candidate for California state attorney general was exposed as having accepted many expensive gifts from cronies. BY vote gop out 2010/12 on 09/28/2010 at 09:49 VOTE-GOP: Dont you have a life away from the key board? Your life must be so sad. BY michigander62 on 09/28/2010 at 09:58 Liberals and Democrats are all liars and cheats which is why we need to get rid of them all. BY Kala on 09/29/2010 at 17:46 Get latest news from The Hill direct to your inbox, RSS reader and mobile devices.