Mitt Romney Super PAC Republishes 2007 Romney Ad, Violating Finance Laws, Watchdog Says
by Paul Blumenthal
02/23/2012
WASHINGTON -- The main super PAC supporting Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has violated campaign finance law, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog group said on Thursday. Paul Ryan, a lawyer for the Campaign Legal Center, called foul on the Restore Our Future PAC for recycling a 2007 ad from the former governor's prior presidential bid.
The move by the group, which is filled with former Romney staffers and colleagues, violates campaign finance law that prohibits the republication of campaign materials by a super PAC, Ryan said.
On Thursday, Restore Our Future released an ad, titled "Saved," which is identical to a 2007 Romney campaign ad titled "Searched." The ad features Robert Gay, a former business partner of Romney, explaining how Romney shut down Bain Capital and brought 50 employees to New York City to track down Gay's daughter, who had snuck off from home to go to a rave. Both ads feature the same footage and the same monologue from Gay.
The only difference between the ads is that the Restore Our Future ad ends with the line "Brought to you by Restore Our Future" rather than the closing line of the 2007 Romney ad "I'm Mitt Romney and I approved this message."
"Super PACs are prohibited from making coordinated communications," Ryan said. "Super PACs are also prohibited from making payments to candidates," he added. "There's an FEC regulation that treats the dissemination, distribution or republication of campaign materials as a contribution from the super PAC to the candidate regardless of whether or not it's coordinated with the candidate," he said referring to the Federal Election Commission.
Said Ryan: "It appears that Restore Our Future, by republishing a Romney campaign ad, has clearly violated the law."
The Romney campaign could also face questions about its involvement if the republished campaign ad had been copyrighted by the campaign in 2007. If the campaign granted permission to the super PAC to use its copyrighted material, this would come into conflict with the FEC's rules against coordination.
"If Restore Our Future obtained permission to [republish the ad], then the Romney campaign would have violated federal law by accepting an in-kind contribution in the form of a coordinated ad," Ryan said...
For the full article, go to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/23/mitt-romney-super-pac-ad_n_1297482.html
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