DNC: Thompson Continues to Skirt Law as He Fundraises in Twin Cities

WASHINGTON (Map) - Former Washington lobbyist and candidate for the GOP Presidential nomination Fred Thompson hasn't let accusations that he's violating Federal Elections Commission (FEC) law by running a shadow campaign slow him down. Thompson will be in the Twin Cities today to raise money for his "testing the waters" campaign while experts continue to assert that Thompson is using a loophole in the law to avoid the scrutiny that comes with becoming an official candidate for the GOP nomination.

For someone who is only "testing the waters," Thompson's campaign team has seen a lot of upheaval. Today his communications director, Linda Rozett, is the third campaign staffer to resign from Thompson's "testing the waters" campaign in the last month.

"The only thing Fred Thompson's campaign seems to be testing is the limits of the law," said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Amaya Smith. "Thompson continues to fundraise, hire and replace staff, and campaign around the country, pretending to be 'testing the waters.' Twin City voters have had enough of the Bush Administration which thinks it's above the law, they don't need four years of more of the same from

Experts Believe Thompson Is Operating Beyond the Law

ABC News' Conservative Commentator/Legal Expert Jennifer Rubin: Thompson "Well Beyond" Legal Limits. "Thompson appears to have gone well beyond the limits imposed by federal law." [ABCNews.com, 7/16/07 (http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3379643)]

Campaign Finance Experts Believe Thompson is Operating at The "Edge" of the Law. "Some campaign finance specialists said Thompson is, at the least, operating at the edge of the law by fund-raising and organizing with few constraints even though it seems clear he's going to run, while the other Republican contenders have to reveal donor information and disclose their personal finances. That has let Thompson avoid playing the money expectations game, in which campaigns are judged in part by the money they raise." [Boston Globe, 7/28/07]

Advocates of Strict Campaign Finance Law Say Thompson Goes Beyond Law. "This is supposed to be a grace period by the [Federal Election Commission] to explore a candidacy, and it certainly appears he has gone beyond that," said Mary Boyle, spokeswoman for Common Cause, which advocates strict enforcement of campaign finance laws. What Thompson "avoids right now is the scrutiny that other candidates get from campaign finance reports. That is part of the vetting process of running for president." [Boston Globe, 7/28/07]

Campaign Legal Center: Thompson "has violated" the Law. According to Paul Ryan, FEC program director and associate legal counsel of the Center, a non- partisan group says "to the extent he has decided he is a candidate but has not registered as a federal campaign committee or disclosed his funds, at the very least, he has violated the spirit, if not the actual letter, of the law." [ABCNews.com, 7/16/07 (http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3379643)]

Former FEC Top Lawyer Says "Red Flag." Former FEC General Counsel Larry Noble said "I think that's problematic. Clearly it's a red flag," discussing Thompson's disclosure that he had raised $72,000 in contributions designated for the general election. ["The Trail," WashingtonPost.com, 7/31/07 (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the- trail/2007/07/31/the_noncandidates_fan_dance.html)]

Citizens For Responsibility And Ethics In Washington: Thompson "Abusing" Law. According to Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, "You don't need to hire a policy director and other operational staff just to test the waters. In addition, he appears to have raised far more money than necessary to prove he has national support ... At this point he's abusing the testing the waters exception to avoid having to disclose his contributors." [ABCNews.com, 7/16/07 (http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3379643)]

Time Magazine: "Federal election law requires Thompson to declare himself a candidate once he decides to plunge into the water, which -- given that he has signed up more than two dozen staffers, opened two offices and appointed his second and third campaign managers -- he seems to have done." [Time, 8/6/07]

New York Sun: "Flagrant." "The strongest case can be made based on a section of the law that states a candidate has ceased to test the waters -- and has, instead, jumped in -- when "The individual makes or authorizes written or oral statements that refer to him or her as a candidate for a particular office.' On this point, the campaign (mostly the candidate himself) has been flagrant." [New York Sun, 8/21/07]

Newsweek White House Reporter: "Thin Ice." Newsweek White House Correspondent Holly Bailey, reporting on an FEC complaint against Thompson said that he is operating "on thin ice." [MSNBC, 12:45 pm, 8/21/07]

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