For those of you who enjoyed my recent list of Republican controversies that have been the subject of formal investigations, I found number 19 this afternoon. (Just one more for the big two-oh!)
The Federal Election Commission completed an investigation into the National Republican Congressional Committee (the GOP version of the DCCC) and determined that the GOP illegally transferred donations to outside independent groups for assistance in the 2000 campaign. The NRCC has been fined $280,000.
The Federal Election Commission says the NRCC transferred $500,000 in soft money to the U.S. Family Network during the primary season in 1999 to fund political ads that the NRCC should have paid for with a mix of soft money — unlimited donations from companies and others — and hard money, limited contributions from individuals.
The U.S. Family Network sent $300,000 to another group, Americans for Economic Growth. AEG then spent about $260,000 to run radio ads in fall 1999 accusing Democrats of planning to raid the Social Security fund and use it on other programs.
It’s not bad enough the Republicans have to lie about the Dem agenda; they have to break federal law to do it. So much for the law-and-order party.