Courtesy Rawstory:
Barack Obama and a conservative group have escalated their fight over the group’s TV commercial linking him to a 1960s radical, by firing off dueling letters to the Department of Justice.
The Obama camp argued that the organization, the American Issues Project, is violating the law. The group cited a Supreme Court ruling to argue it is allowed to air the ad, which links Obama to 1960s radical William Ayers.
The group’s ad assailed Barack Obama last week for his alleged ties to former 1960’s Weather Underground radical William Ayers. The ad uses footage of 9/11 as a backdrop to ask, “Why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it? Do you know enough to elect Barack Obama?”
The Obama campaign has responded by charging that the ad is in violation of federal campaign finance laws and asking the networks not to air it. Fox and CNN have complied, but the ad has run widely on local stations in several states, and Obama supporters have responded by “inundating” those stations with emails. The Obama campaign has also sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking for a criminal investigation of possible violations of election law.
The American Issues Project has now struck back with a press release complaining of “a campaign of intimidation and legal threats to convince television stations and the federal government to force off the air an ad by the American Issues Project detailing the link between Sen. Obama and remorseless domestic terrorist William Ayers.”
AIP, which was co-founded by a former McCain staff member, is organized as a type of tax-exempt non-profit known as a 501c(4). This means that it can freely lobby on issues but is only allowed to engage in an “insubstantial” amount of activity supporting or opposing political candidates. The anti-Obama ad would appear to violate that restriction.
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