John McCain accused of violating McCain-Feingold campaign finance law

From Dan Eggen of The Washington Post on Oct. 20:

The irony is hard to miss: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a co-architect of one of the most sweeping campaign finance laws in U.S. history, was accused by Democrats on Wednesday of violating that very statute.

But the McCain campaign called the allegations a baseless stunt, saying the Democrats don't have their facts straight.

In a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee alleged that television ads in support of two House candidates from Arizona violate the tenets of the McCain-Feingold law, the landmark legislation enacted in 2002 that put broad limits on the campaign finance system.

In the ads, paid for by the Friends of John McCain campaign committee, McCain appears alongside Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) urging voters to support GOP candidates Ruth McClung and Jesse Kelly. The DCCC says the ads amount to an illegal "in kind" contribution over the limits in McCain-Feingold.

"John McCain chose to air television commercials that violate the campaign finance legislation that bears his name, rejecting McCain's years of work on campaign finance reform," said DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider.

The McCain campaign flatly rejected the allegations, releasing documents showing that it reported the ads as "independent expenditures" to the Senate this week. The DCCC complaint suggested that the campaign had not taken that step.

"It's not surprising that Democrats would try to change the subject from their struggling ticket with a baseless, frivolous complaint intended as a publicity stunt," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers. "Sen. McCain has always followed the letter and the spirit of the campaign finance law."

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