2016 Group files FEC complaints against Bush, other potential candidates

A good-government group is accusing four potential presidential hopefuls of violating campaign-finance laws by building campaign infrastructure without formally “testing the waters” for a bid.

In complaints filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 contend that Republicans Jeb Bush, Rick Santorum and Scott Walker — as well as Democrat Martin O’Malley — have been essentially leading shadow campaigns in violation of federal law.


“These 2016 presidential contenders must take the American people for fools — flying repeatedly to Iowa and New Hampshire to meet with party leaders and voters, hiring campaign staff and raising millions of dollars from deep-pocketed mega donors, all the while denying that they are even ‘testing the waters’ of a presidential campaign,” said Paul Ryan, senior counsel to Campaign Legal Center.

Without formally testing the waters, these candidates have skirted limits on individual donations that should be capped at $2,700 per contributor for the primary, the groups contend.

Other contenders — including Democrats Hillary Clinton and Jim Webb, and Republicans Ben Carson and Lindsey Graham — have said publicly that they are testing the waters.

The FEC distinguishes between non-candidates, candidates who are “testing the waters” and formally declared candidates. Candidates who are testing the waters can conduct polls, travel and make calls about a potential run. But if candidates raise more than $5,000 or formally refer to themselves as candidates, they’re required to register with the FEC and are subject to reporting and disclosure requirements.

The complaints, drawn from news accounts and public statements or filings, catalog the political activities of the four candidates and their allies. For example, Bush’s mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, signed a fundraising solicitation for the former Florida governor’s Right to Rise super PAC, and his team has forecast a $100 million fundraising goal.

Similarly, O’Malley, the former Maryland governor, has sent staffers to the early primary states and is making prominent political hires.

O’Malley spokeswoman Lis Smith said his PAC “has been fully compliant with the law.”

“This complaint has no merit, and we are confident that — whatever the case may be with the other potential candidates — that is what the FEC will find,” she said.

Allie Brandenburger, a spokeswoman for Bush, also rejected the complaint.

“We are fully complying with the law in all activities Gov. Bush is engaging in on the political front. If Gov. Bush engages in any testing-the-waters activities, they will be paid for appropriately under the law and reported at the required time,” she said.

In each case, the CLC and Democracy 21 urge the FEC to investigate and “impose appropriate sanctions.”