An anti-Hillary Clinton group has filed a Federal Election Commission complaint against the former secretary of state and an independent group promoting her potential 2016 presidential bid. In what election law experts say is a long-shot argument, the hybrid PAC, titled the ‘Stop Hillary PAC,’ claims that Clinton and her political team have essentially authorized a campaign by renting her official resources to a super PAC. The Wednesday complaint singled out Clinton and the super PAC Ready for Hillary — a group that is urging Clinton to run for president but is forbidden by law from coordinating with Clinton or her staff. At issue, according to Stop Hillary lawyer Dan Backer, is whether Clinton is tacitly supporting a committee that’s aiming to “draft” her for president. “Ready for Hillary is in the business of trying to get Hillary Clinton to run for office — essentially to draft her for office. And that’s their right to do so, provided the object of their draft — Hillary — isn’t behind it or helping them, because then it stops being a draft committee and becomes an authorized campaign committee,” he said in a statement, going on to suggest that she and the committee are in violation of campaign finance law.
The complaint zeroes in on Ready for Hillary’s use of the official Clinton email list, which Backer argues is tacit blessing for the draft movement.
“Clinton has conveyed rights related to the list to Ready for Hillary PAC, including the right to send emails to the list and the right to use her authorized committee’s email address as the from and reply-to-address,” the complaint alleges. It continues: “This, then, is an overt, knowing act, in furtherance of an effort to see Clinton elected to federal office.”
A spokesman for Clinton didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Full Article: Hillary Clinton foes file FEC complaint – Byron Tau and Katie Glueck – POLITICO.com.