{"id":1029555,"date":"2024-02-09T19:32:11","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T19:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1029555"},"modified":"2024-02-09T19:32:12","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T19:32:12","slug":"dnc-files-fec-complaint-against-super-pac-american-values-2024-and-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-campaign-for-illegal-ballot-access-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-files-fec-complaint-against-super-pac-american-values-2024-and-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-campaign-for-illegal-ballot-access-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"DNC Files FEC Complaint Against Super PAC American Values 2024 and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s Campaign for Illegal Ballot Access Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>The effort \u2013 propped up by Trump\u2019s largest donor this cycle \u2013 violates federal laws prohibiting coordination between Super PACs and campaigns<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Democratic National Committee (DNC) today filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), alleging that a pro-Kennedy Super PAC, American Values 2024, is in the process of making \u2013 and the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. campaign accepting \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2024-election\/rfk-jr-super-pac-ballot-access-rcna133734\">$15 million<\/a> dollars worth of unlawful, in-kind contributions to get on the ballot in multiple states.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRobert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s campaign is flouting campaign finance law by outsourcing a critical campaign function \u2013 the collection of signatures required to appear on the ballot \u2013 to an outside Super PAC that is funded by Donald Trump\u2019s top <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/rfk-jrs-bid-independent-presidential-run-garners-mega-trump-donor-support-2024-02-01\/\">donor<\/a> this cycle. This scheme between American Values 2024 and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s campaign requires significant \u2013 and plainly illegal \u2013 coordination, to the tune of a $15 million in-kind contribution\u201d <strong>said DNC senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill<\/strong>. \u201cThis blatant disregard for federal law undermines the integrity of our democracy and electoral process, and the FEC must act decisively to put an end to this troubling scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read the full complaint <a href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2024.02.09-Letter-from-DNC-to-FEC-re-Illegal-In-Kind-Contributions.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Summary of the violation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his campaign have stated their goal of getting him on the ballot for the general election in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Given the high signature threshold for independent candidates to get on the ballot, and the patchwork of different state laws for ballot access, the signature collection process would be expensive and time intensive for his campaign to successfully carry out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In January 2024, American Values 2024<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2024-election\/rfk-jr-super-pac-ballot-access-rcna133734\"> announced<\/a> that it had contracted with signature collection firms to begin collecting signatures on the Kennedy campaign\u2019s behalf and that it would spend up to $15 million on the effort.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In its year-end FEC filing, American Values 2024 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/rfk-jrs-bid-independent-presidential-run-garners-mega-trump-donor-support-2024-02-01\/\">reported<\/a> receiving $10 million from Timothy Mellon, bringing Mellon\u2019s total contributions to American Values 2024 to $15 million. Mellon has also contributed over $30 million to Trump-connected PACs since 2020 and is his largest donor this presidential cycle.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The law allows Super PACs, like American Values 2024, to raise unlimited amounts of money from wealthy individuals, corporations and unions for \u201cindependent\u201d expenditures that advocate for or against candidates. But it remains illegal for a Super PAC to provide goods or services directly to a campaign.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For example: In 2022, the FEC concluded it would be an unlawful in-kind contribution for a Super PAC to give Ron DeSantis\u2019 campaign a contact list of supporters that the Super PAC had paid to build up. The Super PAC challenged the ruling in court, and a U.S. District Court judge agreed with the FEC\u2019s conclusion and emphasized that the contact list was a uniquely effective, tangible tool designed to assist DeSantis\u2019 campaign.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Similarly, the FEC has found it to be an in-kind contribution when an entity provides a campaign with free campaign strategy consulting services, or when a media company purchases potentially damaging information about a candidate in consultation with or at the suggestion of the campaign.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>With American Values 2024 spending $15 million on signature collection, the campaign no longer has to raise and spend a comparable amount itself under the FEC\u2019s campaign contribution limits. American Values 2024 has raised $15 million via three $5 million contributions from one donor, while RFK Jr.\u2019s campaign would have to raise it in $3,300 increments from thousands of donors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>American Values 2024 has announced it will pay for signature collection in fourteen states: Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Colorado, Nevada, Indiana, Texas, Maryland, Massachusetts, South Carolina and West Virginia. State law in several of these states, however, makes it impossible for the Super PAC to collect signatures without coordinating with the Kennedy campaign and making unlawful, in-kind contributions.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In each of these states, state law presumes \u2013 and frequently requires \u2013 that the candidate or the campaign committee will take the steps necessary to qualify for the ballot. This includes requiring the candidate to submit a draft signature petition for state approval, requiring the candidate to turn in the completed petition forms, requiring the candidate to identify the individuals who collected the signatures, and requiring the candidate to obtain certification for circulators.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To comply with state law, American Values 2024 and the Kennedy campaign must integrate their operations in a way that means this spending will be an in-kind contribution under the FEC\u2019s rules, and not an independent expenditure. For example:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In Arizona,the candidate, not the Super PAC, must:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Initiate the signature collection process, by filing forms designating presidential electors before any signatures can be collected;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Circulate the nomination petition, which must be done \u201c<em>by or on behalf of<\/em> the person wishing to become a candidate for political office\u201d; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>File the completed nomination petition with the Secretary of State.\u00a0\u00a0<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In Illinois, independent presidential candidates must file nomination petitions with the requisite number of signatures alongside their statement of candidacy. The Illinois Secretary of State describes the obligation for filing nomination petitions as running to the candidate.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In Michigan, it is the independent presidential candidate who must file the nominating petitions to qualify to appear on an election ballot as a candidate for office.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In West Virginia, the campaign must ask the county clerk in each county in which it intends to circulate a ballot petition for credentials that signature collectors must possess and display when collecting signatures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To comply with state law, the Super PAC must directly coordinate its activities with the campaign as it provides the campaign with the extremely valuable service of collecting signatures. This entire scheme is an illegal, $15 million in-kind contribution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The effort \u2013 propped up by Trump\u2019s largest donor this cycle \u2013 violates federal laws prohibiting coordination between Super PACs and campaigns The Democratic National Committee (DNC) today filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), alleging that a pro-Kennedy Super PAC, American Values 2024, is in the process of making \u2013 and the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1029555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>DNC Files FEC Complaint Against Super PAC American Values 2024 and Robert F. 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