DCCC Files 2nd Complaint Over Freedom’s Watch Ad

by Walter Alarkon - 04/23/08 4:32 PM ET

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has filed another complaint against a television ad run by a conservative advocacy group in Louisiana’s 6th congressional district race.

In its complaint to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the DCCC charges that the spot by Freedom’s Watch, which tries to tie the Democratic candidate Don Cazayoux to excessive government spending, breaks election law by taking a position on Cazayoux’s voting record. The DCCC views this as an appeal to vote against Cazayoux, which is prohibited three weeks before an election. The complaint also argues that the group broke the law by failing to disclose donors who each gave $1,000 or more for “the purpose of furthering electioneering communications.”

This is the DCCC’s second complaint to the FEC over the ad; last week, it had accused Freedom’s Watch with illegally coordinating its message with the National Republican Congressional Committee, which had run a similar ad about Cazayoux.

Cazayoux faces Republican Woody Jenkins in a May 3 special election for the House seat. Rep. Richard Baker (R) vacated the seat in February to take a job with a lobbying association representing the hedge fund industry.

Ed Patru, a spokesman for Freedom’s Watch, called both of the DCCC’s complaints “nonsense.”

“The DCCC is obsessed with keeping Don Cazayoux