Sit tight for a second and watch this ad from Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl supporting fellow Arizonan Ruth McClung, who's challenging Orange to Blue Rep. Raul Grijalva. Pay close attention to the end.
Got that? Paid for by John McCain for Senate, not the McClung campaign, despite there being no aspect of this message having anything to do with McCain's own election this year. Indeed, with less than $30,000 cash left as of September 30, McClung's campaign probably couldn't afford the wardrobe and makeup for the ad, let alone filming and broadcasting it. (There's also one for the challenger to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Jesse Kelly, who's almost as cash-poor right now.)
And, legally, that's a problem.
The DCCC has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, because two out of three laws seem to have been broken here:
- If this was coordinated with the McClung and Kelly campaigns, then McCain violated the contribution limits in terms of what he can provide as an in-kind contribution to McClung's campaign; or
- If it was a truly independent expenditure, not in any way coordinated with the recipient campaigns, then McCain has failed to report these independent expenditures to the FEC, which in turn would require McCain to certify, under penalty of perjury, "as to whether such expenditure was made in cooperation, consultation, or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of a candidate;" and
- Federal law is absolutely explicit that McCain's campaign committee is only allowed to support one candidate: himself.
As DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider put it, "Sen. McCain either doesn’t understand the law bearing his name or he has deliberately chosen to break it.”
If McCain's going to be financing Ruth McClung, we need to be supporting Rep. Raul Grijalva even more. Support him with your contribution of $5, $10, $25 or more right now.