RJC Victory Fund ad featuring former Sen. Joe Lieberman blatantly violates federal election law
The American Democracy Legal Fund (ADLF) sent a letter to the FEC requesting an investigation into the Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund for a blatantly illegal ad it launched in support of United States Senator Susan Collins’ campaign.
On September 9, 2020, the RJC Victory Fund announced an advertisement that features extensive video footage produced, created, and published by Senator Collins’ campaign on its publicly available Youtube channel. More than half of the 30-second ad contained footage that the Collins’ campaign had produced and posted online. The use of the footage by RJC Victory Fund qualifies as “republication” of campaign materials, and therefore RJC Victory Fund made an excessive in-kind contribution to the Collins Committee by spending $400,000 on the ad.
Republication of campaign materials in this wholesale way for a major ad expenditure is no different from an excessive contribution and is prohibited by federal law.
“This blatantly illegal ad funded by Washington special interests on behalf of Senator Collins needs to come down immediately,” said the ADLF’s Brad Woodhouse. “Senator Collins and her allies are not above the law, and this patently illegal ad campaign on her behalf deserves an immediate and thorough investigation.”
A copy of the complaint can be viewed here.