WASHINGTON, April 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With reports indicating
John McCain has begun the process of applying for public funds in the general
election, the Democratic National Committee today announced that it will file
suit Monday with the U.S. District Court in D.C. seeking to compel the Federal
Election Commission to conduct an investigation into McCain's decision to
unilaterally withdraw from FEC's matching funds program. McCain's campaign is
also breaking the spending limits to which they agreed when they applied for
the matching funds.
Since the FEC lacks a quorum, it has not been able to begin an
investigation into the complaint the DNC filed against McCain in February.
Where the FEC fails to act, the law permits a complaining party to file a suit
asking the Court to compel the Commission to act on the complaint. If the FEC
still lacks a quorum when the time comes for the Court to direct the FEC to
act, the DNC will ask the Court to authorize the DNC itself to bring a suit
against Senator McCain and his campaign to remedy their violations of the law.
"Before Senator McCain even thinks about applying for public funds in the
general election he should clear up questions about his campaign's compliance
with the public funding program in the primaries," said DNC Executive Director
Tom McMahon. "Despite Senator McCain's apparent belief that the reforms he
championed apply to everyone but himself, there is a compelling public
interest in determining whether Senator McCain agreed to participate in the
matching funds program so he could get a loan for his campaign, then violated
the terms of that agreement so he could ignore the spending cap and raise
unlimited money from lobbyists and special interests."
In February, the DNC filed a complaint with the FEC calling on the
Commission to investigate whether the McCain campaign is breaking the law by
ignoring spending limits in the primary. Despite the fact that his campaign
materially benefited from the matching funds program, McCain's campaign has
taken the unprecedented step of unilaterally withdrawing from the program
without FEC approval. FEC Chair David Mason raised questions about whether
loans McCain received last year were secured as a result of McCain qualifying
for matching funds. McCain also used his qualification for matching funds to
qualify for the ballot in several states. FEC filings show McCain has already
exceeded the spending limits for the primaries.
A copy of the DNC's new complaint will be available after it is filed with
the District Court on Monday, April 14, 2008.
Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee,
www.democrats.org.
This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's
committee.
SOURCE Democratic National Committee
Damien LaVera of Democratic National Committee, +1-202-863-8148
