A leading watchdog group has filed complaints with the top US campaign finance regulator against three top Republicans – Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Rick Santorum – and Democrat Martin O’Malley, claiming they have already violated federal law by contemplating presidential bids without formally “testing the waters”.

The complaints follow a report by the Guardian on Monday detailing that many potential presidential candidates are walking a careful line as they consider bids for the White House without taking any specific action that would trigger scrutiny from the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

According to the Campaign Legal Center, even those actions – traveling from state-to-state, raising money and establishing field offices as non-candidates – “appear to be violating federal law”.

“Publicly denying that they are candidates does not exempt these presidential hopefuls from federal election laws passed by Congress to keep the White House off the auction block,” said Paul S Ryan, the watchdog’s senior counsel.

While the complaints go after all four politicians for violating the FEC’s so-called “testing the waters” provision, the Campaign Legal Center claims that Bush, Walker and Santorum have all – according to US campaign finance law – reached the threshold for actually being candidates.

Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California at Irvine and a leading expert on election law, said he did not think the complaints would lead to successful legal action against the looming candidacies of the Republican contenders so much as set off early alarm bells.

While I think these cases have merit in the abstract, I have no expectation the current FEC will act upon them quickly, or that they are likely to form a majority to agree with the complainants,” Hasen told the Guardian, adding that Republican commissioners at the FEC “have been ideologically opposed to aggressive enforcement of campaign finance laws”.

Staffers for the candidates pushed back on the complaints as well.



“We are fully complying with the law in all activities Governor Bush is engaging in on the political front,” Allie Brandenburger, a spokeswoman for the former Florida governor, told the Guardian. “If Governor Bush engages in any ‘testing the waters’ activities, they will be paid for appropriately under the law and reported at the required time.”

Lis Smith, a spokesperson for O’Malley, the former Maryland governor, said: “Our 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.”

Walker’s spokeswoman said the Wisconsin governor “has been talking to Americans about his reform-minded principles in Wisconsin through the issues based organization Our American Revival. If there are any announcements about his future he will do it in accordance with the law.”

A spokesperson for Santorum did not respond to a request for comment.