A campaign finance watchdog has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging Pete Buttigieg’s campaign illegally coordinated advertising with a super PAC.
The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, which works to lessen the influence of money in politics, said in its complaint filed Tuesday that “there is reason to believe that VoteVets made, and the Buttigieg campaign accepted, over $639,000 in illegal and excessive in-kind contributions in the form of coordinated communications.”
“The tweet was very concise, but it was also very specific,” said Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance expert with CLC. “The campaign acknowledged VoteVets was the audience for this communication. The level of specificity for the tweet and the clear audience for the tweet requested and suggested VoteVets run these ads — and then they did.”
The Buttigieg campaign did not deny that VoteVets was the audience for the tweet. Chris Meagher, a Buttigieg spokesman, said that “if the largest progressive veterans group wants to help spread the word about his service, we welcome it,” in a statement to Politico.If the FEC does find the Buttigieg campaign in violation of the law, it would likely result in a fine, Fischer said.