Groups penalized for breaking campaign finance laws in 2004 election

[Freddie Stubbs]

By Fredreka Schouten, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Three groups will pay nearly $630,000 to settle charges that their efforts to influence the 2004 presidential election violated federal campaign finance laws, the Federal Election Commission announced today.
These organizations — Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth, MoveOn.org Voter Fund, and the League of Conservation Voters 527 and 527 II — stepped over the line by either raising funds or by paying for activities that called for the election or defeat of the presidential contenders, the commission found.

The groups, known as "527s" for the section of the Internal Revenue Service code that governs their activity, garnered enormous attention and a series of lawsuits in the 2004 election.

The Swift Boat group ran advertising that attacked Democrat John Kerry's record in Vietnam. MoveOn.org Voter fund produced TV ads with the goal of defeating President Bush, and the conservation group paid for canvassing activities that supported Kerry's candidacy and opposed Bush, the FEC said.

Under federal law, 527 organizations are allowed to spend nearly unlimited amounts of money, provided they do not advocate for or against a candidate or coordinate their activities with a candidate's campaign.

more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-12-13-fec_x.htm

[unpossibles]

1. honestly, this is good news, imo

not that I have anything against MoveOn, but in general, it will be worth it to get rid of slime like the Swiftboats.

Of course, they tend to lie in order to smear and we tend to tell the truth for the same effect.

[rmgarrette64]

2. No, this is terrible news

The whole campaign finance laws are an abomination. We're now saying that people can be fined for what is very clearly political speech. Might as well just cut the first amendment out of the Constitution while we're at it. Apparently we're not using it any more.

And yes, this applies to the Swift Boaters as well as Move On. Speech is speech, and we should be able to engage in it without having to seek permission.

R. Garrett

[unpossibles]

3. true. I guess I had not looked at it that way.

I guess in my opinion, I'd be happier with the idea that maybe outright lying could be fined or something. I don't know, other than I hate political ads for the most part, and I am very political. I think most of them turn people off from the whole process.

[aceman2373]

4. I know it sounds good to say "most political ads turn people off"

but if they didn't work, they wouldn't spend millions of dollars running them.

[unpossibles]

8. I agree they work, but they seem to work mainly on the people

who are uneducated about the actual issues (not that they are not smart, just maybe are not aware), and undecided.

For instance, the ads which compared Dems to terrorists is not going to sway either a Democrat, a Republicon, or even an issue-educated Independent, but they might sway that nebulous percentage of people who seem to change their minds as the wind blows.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. WP/AP: Political Groups (527s) to Pay Campaign Fines: Swift Boaters, MoveOn

Political Groups to Pay Campaign Fines
By JIM KUHNHENN
The Associated Press
Wednesday, December 13, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and MoveOn.org Voter Fund, two outside groups that played key roles in the 2004 presidential election, reached an agreement with the Federal Election Commission to pay nearly $450,000 for various violations.

The two groups, along with the League of Conservation Voters, settled charges that they failed "to register and file disclosure reports as federal political committees and accepted contributions in violation of federal limits and source prohibitions," the FEC said in a statement Wednesday.

The commission approved the three settlements on a vote of 6-0.

The FEC's unanimous decision to approve the agreements goes to the heart of campaign tactics that reached full bloom in the 2004 presidential campaign. At issue was the emergence of nonprofit political groups, called 527 organizations based on the section of the Internal Revenue Service code that government their activities, that operated as independent campaigns attacking Kerry or Bush.

The group listed as Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth will pay $299,500. In the 2004 campaign, the group leveled unsubstantiated allegations about Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry's military record in Vietnam....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121301241.html

[elfin]

6. Just the cost of

doing business. Fat cats will re-imburse out of their humoungous gains from contracting etc.

[Monkeyman]

7. I hid my tread now you have a link

[Lasher]

9. The group leveled unsubstantiated allegations?

The told plain lies. This has been proved. Just take the Kerry's medals as one example:

Were Kerry's medals earned under fishy circumstances?

So I see the Swift Liars are not trying to pretend that they didn't lie. I think a lot of them think this is virtuous behavior. End justifies the means, don'tcha know. Instead they tried to say the rules didn't apply to them.

The FEC could have saved themselves the trouble. A $300K fine, what a sick joke. Too little, too late.

BTW, I don't see this as an affront to the First Amendment. Slander has never been a sacred right.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. They weren't fined for slander (and neither was MoveOn)

They were fined for violating campaign finance laws.