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Group accuses Musgrave of skirting campaign law
Congresswoman's campaign subject of political ethics complaint
J. David McSwane
Issue date: 2/19/07 Section: News
A Washington-based watchdog group filed a formal campaign-finance complaint against Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's 2006 campaign Friday for allegedly not disclosing campaign contributions.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, commonly called CREW, urged the Federal Election Commission in a letter to investigate Musgrave's campaign for the 4th congressional district, accusing her campaign of failing to report 10 contributions totaling more than $18,000.
Musgrave's campaign spokesman, Jason Thielman, told the Associated Press Friday the complaint was "a desperate political attack on another Republican from an irresponsible and unethical Democrat special interest group."
But Tim Mooney, senior counsel for CREW, told the Collegian that his organization is non-partisan.
"We don't have anything at all against Musgrave for Congress," Mooney said, adding that CREW also filed complaints against two other campaigns in different states. "We're filing this because it's a violation of law."
All three complaints filed by CREW were concerning Republican campaigns.
The contributions in question were later reported, but not before the 48-hour cycle deadline imposed by the FEC.
Musgrave won the 2006 election by a slim margin against Democratic candidate Angie Paccione. But Paccione says the complaint filed against her former opponent has no effect on her or her previous campaign.
"It just goes to show you who she really is," Paccione said. "She likes to talk about ethics, but look what she's doing."
If the FEC validates the claims made against Musgrave's campaign, she will be given 15 days to respond. After that, the FEC would decide whether an investigation into the campaign is necessary.
Fines will be issued to Musgrave's campaign if it is found to be in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act - which orders all election campaigns to document and disclose contributions.
Associate News Managing Editor J. David McSwane can be reached at news@collegian.com.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, commonly called CREW, urged the Federal Election Commission in a letter to investigate Musgrave's campaign for the 4th congressional district, accusing her campaign of failing to report 10 contributions totaling more than $18,000.
Musgrave's campaign spokesman, Jason Thielman, told the Associated Press Friday the complaint was "a desperate political attack on another Republican from an irresponsible and unethical Democrat special interest group."
But Tim Mooney, senior counsel for CREW, told the Collegian that his organization is non-partisan.
"We don't have anything at all against Musgrave for Congress," Mooney said, adding that CREW also filed complaints against two other campaigns in different states. "We're filing this because it's a violation of law."
All three complaints filed by CREW were concerning Republican campaigns.
The contributions in question were later reported, but not before the 48-hour cycle deadline imposed by the FEC.
Musgrave won the 2006 election by a slim margin against Democratic candidate Angie Paccione. But Paccione says the complaint filed against her former opponent has no effect on her or her previous campaign.
"It just goes to show you who she really is," Paccione said. "She likes to talk about ethics, but look what she's doing."
If the FEC validates the claims made against Musgrave's campaign, she will be given 15 days to respond. After that, the FEC would decide whether an investigation into the campaign is necessary.
Fines will be issued to Musgrave's campaign if it is found to be in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act - which orders all election campaigns to document and disclose contributions.
Associate News Managing Editor J. David McSwane can be reached at news@collegian.com.
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