(Des Moines, IA) Jim Mowrer, Democratic candidate in the Iowa 3rd Congressional District race, has benefitted from potentially illegal coordination between the DCCC and his campaign, according to an FEC complaint filed by the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust.
Legally, Mowrer is allowed to coordinate on $48,100 with the Democratic Congressional Committee, but has exploited a loophole in FEC law to coordinate on more than $700,000 in expenditures.
His actions, along with other Democratic candidates across the U.S., were the subject of a Politico article published earlier this week.
“These raise very tricky questions” about the legal justification for the cost-splitting, said Larry Noble, a former FEC general counsel now at the Campaign Legal Center told Politico. “It shows how parties are constantly looking for new ways to get around various limits, in this case the coordinated expenditure limit.”
“For four years Jim Mowrer has been trying everything he can to get to Washington, D.C., including, it seems, engaging in some ethically-dubious campaign finance practices. Whether or not Mr. Mowrer violated the law will be decided by the FEC, but voters of Iowa’s Third don’t need to wait that long to let him know his actions are unacceptable.” Republican Party of Iowa Chairman, Jeff Kaufmann