Last week, Talking Points Memo caught the DSCC at-best skirting campaign finance laws in Oregon. Even TPM doesn’t buy DSCC spin.
This week, they are at it again, but it is Mississippi. This ad is running (sorry for the poor quality. This guy videotaped his television)
As you can see, the ad ends with a DSCC bug, but has the "likeness" of Ronnie Musgrove. Roger Wicker’s campaign documents that this is not stock footage, but actually shot last week with DSCC and Musgrove staff:
The ad featuring Ronnie Musgrove was filmed on Wednesday, July 9, at the Madison County Economic Development Authority (MCEDA) and on the Canton square, according to MCEDA officials. […]
On July 9 Ronnie Musgrove and the Democrat Senatorial Committee coordinated a film shoot on the Canton Square and in the offices of the Madison County Economic Development Authority, less than a week before the ad began running. Contact info for MCEDA: http://www.madisoncountyeda.com/board_staff.html
Wicker’s campaign notes that the total of the buy plus previous expenditures surpasses the legal limit for coordinated activity:
The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) requires coordination between a campaign and a National Committee like the DSCC not to exceed $180,800. The DSCC ad on behalf of Ronnie Musgrove is valued at an estimated $240,214 (not counting production costs, view coordinated expenditures.) This ad combined with previous coordinated expenditures with the DSCC ($55,133 in first quarter) surpasses the legal limits by $114,547.
This is just crime. The DSCC is knowingly (and now systematically, based on the Oregon example) violating campaign finance laws.
Who is next? North Carolina? Alaska? Is this what a Democratic Congress would bring?
Let’s not find out. Help Roger Wicker.