FEC fines Media Fund $580,000
AP reports: A union-financed advocacy group that played a major role in the 2004 elections has agreed to pay a $580,000 fine after the Federal Election Commission concluded it illegally ran advertising against President Bush and in favor of Democrat John Kerry.
In an agreement announced Monday, the FEC said the now inactive Media Fund spent $53.4 million during the contest on television, radio and newspaper ads and direct mail that made reference to Bush or Kerry. The FEC said the fund violated campaign finance laws because it accepted unlimited donations from labor unions and expressly advocated the defeat or victory of a political candidate.
The Media Fund is the latest in a string of so-called 527 organizations the FEC has fined for their activities during the 2004 presidential campaign. They include groups on both sides of the election, including the anti-Kerry Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth as well as the liberal MoveOn.org.
Lawyers for these groups have argued that at the time of the campaign they believed they were acting within the law. But the FEC has concluded that 527 organizations that stated their desire to influence the presidential election through fundraising, public statements or advertisements violated the law. Such activity, the FEC has said, could only be conducted by political committees registered with the FEC that abide by contribution limits and public disclosure requirements. -- FEC fines group allied with Democrats - Yahoo! News