Conservative Group's "Missing Reports" Turn Up at the FEC

By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff Thu May 8, 6:46 PM ET

Democrats have mounted a public relations offensive against a conservative non-profit called Freedom's Watch in recent weeks, but their latest criticism turns out to be unfounded.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) filed the latest in a series of election law complaints against Freedom's Watch today, this time accusing it of failing to file required disclosure documents for advertisements run in Mississippi's 1st District special election. However, the Federal Election Commission confirmed Thursday that the disclosures had been filed, but due to a technical snafu had not been properly posted to the FEC database.

The FEC Web site has now been updated with the group's six missing reports, which list more than $870,000 in advertising expenditures between April 23 and May 6.

Freedom's Watch was formed last year by a group of prominent Republicans, including former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer and Carl Forti, former communications director at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). The group was formed as a counterpoint to liberal advocacy groups like MoveOn.org. As a registered nonprofit, it is prohibited from advocating on behalf of or donate directly to candidates. But it can run ads on issues -- something it's done in Louisiana and Mississippi special elections over the past month -- as long as it files what are called "electioneering communications" reports disclosing the ad buys and their backers.

The DCCC has been keeping an eye on Freedom's Watch and other independent, conservative-leaning groups all year, viewing them -- rather than the cash-strapped NRCC -- as the real threat in the 2008 congressional elections.

"The lack of NRCC resources is no comfort," DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said in a recent statement. "This cycle, Republican 527s have pledged more than a quarter-billion dollars toward beating Democrats."

So far, the Democratic committee has been aggressive in pushing back against Freedom's Watch's incursions into recent House races. It filed three complaints last month against the group -- two to the FEC and one to the IRS -- alleging violations of campaign laws, including coordinating with the Republican party, advocating against specific candidates, and violating its tax-exempt status.

Freedom's Watch, meanwhile, has dismissed the Democratic claims as baseless political attacks.

"The DCCC -- whether through frivolous complaints or false and deceptive attack ads -- is trying to stifle all debate on the issues and silence anybody who doesn't believe Washington should raise taxes on the middle class during an economic slowdown," spokesman Ed Patru said in a statement. "Their latest effort to silence dissent is a revealing commentary on just how arrogant this do-nothing Congress has gotten to be."

The Freedom's Watch disclosure reports appear to be the only documents that were snagged up in the FEC's processing malfunction. But commission spokesman George Smaragdis said the agency is "conducting a complete review of our processing system to ensure that such a problem does not occur again in the future."

Bart Jansen contributed to this story.