Campaign

Watchdog group files complaint over Kobach fundraising email

by Tal Axelrod - 08/03/19 9:42 AM ET

A government watchdog group filed a complaint Friday asking the Justice Department to investigate if Kansas Republican Kris Kobach’s Senate campaign violated federal election law by using an email list overseen by the nonprofit where Kobach serves as general counsel.

Washington-based watchdog group Common Cause filed the complaint alleging Kobach and We Build the Wall broke the law when Kobach emailed supporters of the nonprofit group asking for contributions to his Senate bid. The email gave links to the campaign’s official fundraising page and requested “a financial contribution of $50, $100, $250, $500, or any amount up to the maximum of $2,800 per individual.”

{mosads}We Build the Wall is a nonprofit that directs private donations toward constructing a wall along the southern border with Mexico. Kobach is on the group’s advisory board but his campaign insists it is a separate entity from the nonprofit.

The Kobach campaign in a statement to The Kansas City Star called Common Cause a “radical leftist organization” and said its complaint was baseless.

“This attack by Common Cause also includes a frivolous letter to the Department of Justice, asking the Department of Justice to launch a pointless investigation. This is also typical of Common Cause tactics and it is intended to cause distraction wherever conservative Republicans are leading in important political campaigns,” it added.

The campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

Common Cause says since the email did not specify the request was paid for by Kobach’s Senate campaign it has reason to believe We Build the Wall paid for the email’s production and dissemination and gave the funds it raised to the campaign.

The watchdog group asserted that the fundraising email violates law barring companies, including nonprofits, from soliciting contributions to candidates and using corporate funds to donate to campaigns.

2024 Election Coverage

The Kobach campaign dismissed the concerns over the email’s lack of a disclaimer, saying a correction was made in a follow-up email.

“If any mistake was made with respect to the vendor’s failure to include a ‘Paid for by’ notice on any campaign email, that was immediately addressed by the sending of a correction email to all recipients of the original email,” the campaign told The Star.