DOJ to go after 527s
The Swamp reports: In a letter to a campaign finance watchdog group, the Justice Department says it plans to make cracking down on so-called 527 groups a priority this election cycle.
The department was responding to an inquiry from Democracy 21, a bipartisan nonprofit that presses for aggressive enforcement of campaign finance laws.
Democracy 21 president Fred Wertheimer wrote to the department in May, noting that after the 2004 presidential election, the Federal Election Commission took civil enforcement actions against a number of 527 groups for illegally spending soft money to influence that election. The FEC found that four 527 groups alone had made massive illegal soft money expenditures totaling more than $200 million to influence the 2004 presidential campaign. ...
In response to Wertheimer's letter, Justice Department official John C. Keeney wrote:
The investigation and prosecution of knowing and willful violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act are priorities of this Department. Please be assured that we intend to vigorously pursue instances where individuals or organizations knowingly and intentionally violate the clear commands of this important statute.
Should you or your organization come into possession of information indicating that such intentional violations of established and known statutory duties and prohibitions have occurred, you should bring that information to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. -- The Swamp: DOJ to pursue rogue 527 groups