Source:
Public Citizen Oct. 13, 2010
FEC Should Investigate Crossroads GPS for Campaign Finance Law Violations, Watchdogs Say in Complaint to FEC
Rove Group Appears to Operate As a Political Committee But Is Not Registered As One, Says Public Citizen and Protect Our Elections
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Crossroads Grassroots Political Strategies, an organization created by Republican strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie to influence the midterm elections with huge expenditures of money, appears to be violating federal campaign law, Public Citizen and Protect Our Elections told the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in a complaint filed today.
The complaint explains that there is ample reason to believe that Crossroads GPS, which is registered as a nonprofit 501c(4) organization, is in fact a political committee and should be subject to the restrictions and disclosure rules for political committees, the groups say.
Crossroads GPS was formed in July 2010 by Rove and Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman. It shares offices with American Crossroads, a registered political committee created this year that also is the brainchild of Rove and Gillespie, according to published reports.
Rove has boasted on Fox News that American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS were avenues for donors who have “maxed out” contributions to federal Republican political committees to funnel money into the 2010 elections. So far, both groups have spent about $18 million to influence key Senate races. American Crossroads’ board chairman told one newspaper that both groups planned to spend nearly $50 million on the U.S. Senate races. Crossroads GPS, by its own admission, has made several million dollars in expenditures for express campaign advocacy. The threshold for registration as a political committee is only $1,000. A group that meets that threshold must register if its major purpose is to influence elections, which by all accounts seems to be Crossroads GPS’ raison d’etre.
Read more:
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=3203
DOCUMENTS HERE:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/39280781/FEC-Complaint-against-American-Crossroads-Crossroads-GPS