GOP shelves FEC complaint against Van Hollen
A Republican Party plan to formally accuse Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., of illegally accepting pro bono legal services has fizzled, the Center for Public Integrity has learned.
A Republican party official this week identified the National Republican Congressional Committee as the previously unnamed GOP group that had considered filing a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Van Hollen — but it never did.
The NRCC, which has panned Van Hollen for what it said were federal campaign law violations, confirmed as much.
"At this time we haven't made any efforts to move forward with an FEC complaint," said NRCC spokeswoman Andrea Bozek, who declined to elaborate.
Van Hollen spokeswoman Bridgett Frey declined to comment Tuesday, but she had earlier decried Republican threats as "desperate" and an indication that "legal efforts to promote transparency and disclosure are making headway."
Republicans' decision not to pursue FEC action against Van Hollen comes days after a U.S. District Court judge handed Van Hollen a legal victory — of sorts — by striking down FEC regulations that frequently allow the donors to nonprofits, corporations and unions that sponsor so-called "electioneering communications" to go unreported.
A legal term created as part of the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, electioneering communications are, in essence, political issue ads that mention a political candidate, are broadcast shortly before an election and don't overtly advocate for a candidate's election or defeat.
Related: Republicans to target Van Hollen in FEC complaint
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This story is part of Primary Source. Primary Source keeps you up-to-date on developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics. Click here to read more stories in this blog.
Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
