Exclusive: Audio Reveals Potentially Illegal Coordination Between NRA and Montana Senate Hopeful

[brooklynite]

Source: Daily Beast

Before the National Rifle Association dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to flip a competitive, Democratic-held Senate seat, the gun-rights group’s chief lobbyist apparently gave the race’s Republican challenger a heads-up.

Chris Cox, the top political strategist for the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), assured Montana Republican Matt Rosendale that the group would spend heavily to support his bid to unseat Sen. Jon Tester, Rosendale told attendees at a July event in Washington.

PAY DIRT exclusively obtained audio of Rosendale’s remarks, which good-government groups say raise serious questions of potentially illicit coordination between Rosendale and an independent political group supporting his campaign.

“I fully expect the NRA is going to come in… in August sometime,” Rosendale said in response to a question about independent political spenders in the race. “The Supreme Court confirmations are big. That’s what sent the NRA over the line. Because in ’12, with [Republican Senate nominee Denny Rehberg] they stayed out, they stayed out of Montana. But Chris Cox told me, he’s like, ‘We’re going to be in this race.’”

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/exclusive-audio-reveals-potentially-illegal-coordination-between-nra-and-montana-senate-hopeful-matt-rosendale?ref=wrap

[lagomorph777]

1. #NRAROUBLES will backfire on the Russiapublican Party.

Sorry, Comrade Cox.

[LonePirate]

2. I suspect this has happened in other races before this race in Montana.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

6. Sen Mike Rounds, SD...

... comes to mind. And then there is the Maria Butina thingy with South Dakota Republicans. You cannot tell me that Sen Thune and all the rest of the South Dakota GOP did not know of what was going on.

[riversedge]

3. "the group spent more than $400,000 on ads hitting Tester over the precise issue that Rosendale ment

Hope they can get the Repug on this one!!




.............Rosendale was slightly off in terms of timing, but the NRA did come through as Cox apparently promised. Early this month, the group spent more than $400,000 on ads hitting Tester over the precise issue that Rosendale mentioned—the senator’s votes on Supreme Court nominations.

Rosendale’s remarks are potentially problematic, as the NRA-ILA, a 501(c)(4) “dark-money” group, is legally barred from coordinating its ad buys with a federal campaign. As explained by nonprofit tax law attorney Holly Schadler, illegal coordination may occur “if the organization has substantial discussions with the campaign about an expenditure, or if the organization informs the campaign about a planned communication related to the campaign and the campaign signals its agreement with the suggestion to make that communication.”

[Fred Sanders]

4. Trying to prove the rats are colluding in the darkness after CU is near impossible...as intended.

And the slap on the wrist that awaits offenders must be terrifying. No, there are no election campaign finance laws at all to reign in the "money is free speech" monster unleashed.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Take them down, all the traitors and illegal citizens. . . . nt