The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) received notification that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has fined pro-Mitt Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future (ROF) $50,000 for illegally spending millions of dollars airing an advertisement in 2012 that was originally produced and aired by the 2008 Romney Presidential campaign.
ROF Treasurer Charles S. Spies signed a conciliation agreement on behalf of ROF, agreeing to pay a civil penalty of $50,000.
Under FEC regulations, financing the republication of campaign materials prepared by a candidate or candidate committee constitutes a “contribution for the purposes of contribution limitations” of the person or group making the expenditure. Super PACs like ROF are prohibited from contributing to candidates. Consequently, every dollar ROF spent airing this ad constitutes an illegal contribution.
Beginning in February 2012, ROF made major ad buys to air the 2008 Romney campaign ad, initially in advance of primaries in Arizona and Michigan and continuing through the November 2012 General Election. CLC filed a complaint with the FEC on February 27, 2012, after ROF’s initial ad buy in Arizona and Michigan, alleging illegal in-kind contributions by Restore Our Future, Inc. to Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
According to the Wall Street Journal, ROF spent $4.3 million to air the ad in nine battleground states in May, the Super PAC’s first General Election ad buy. Other press accounts indicate millions more were spent by ROF to air the ad. According to the book The 2012 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective, this ad (“Saved”) was the Super PAC’s “most-aired political spot.”
CLICK HERE to read the eight page (PDF) complaint filed by the Legal Center on February 27, 2012.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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