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CREW SUES FEC OVER FAILURE TO ENFORCE ELECTION LAWS AGAINST
GROVER NORQUIST AND BUSH-CHENEY ‘04
FEC Found Norquist, Ken Mehlman and BC ‘04 in Violation of Federal Campaign Laws over “Master Contact List” but Failed to Take Action
Washington, DC, December 13, 2004 -- Earlier today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that the FEC abused its discretion by failing to enforce election law against Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform and Bush-Cheney ‘04.
In February of this year, CREW had filed a complaint with the FEC alleging that Norquist gave Ken Mehlman, the campaign manager for Bush-Cheney ‘04 a “master contact list,” including the names and information of conservative activists in 37 states compiled by Norquist over a period of 5 years.
CREW’s executive director Melanie Sloan said that CREW decided to sue the FEC over the dismissal because “the public needs to know that no one, including the President of the United States, is above the law. Congress clearly stated that the FEC must enforce campaign finance laws and the FEC cannot ignore its mandate.”
CREW's FEC complaint alleged that both parties, Mr. Norquist and Mr. Mehlman were in violation of the law regardless of whether Americans for Tax Reform or Mr. Norquist personally contributed the list. Americans for Tax Reform is a corporation and campaigns are prohibited from accepting contributions from corporations. According to FEC regulations, Bush-Cheney could not accept the list if it came directly from Americans for Tax Reform. CREW further alleged that BC ‘04 violated FEC filing requirements by failing to record the contribution of the list.
On November 2nd, the FEC sent CREW a letter stating that the Commission agreed that all parties had, in fact, violated campaign finance laws, but stating that Commission had determined to dismiss the matter without taking further action.
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