Thompson FEC Violation?

The New York Sun is reporting that the "candidate who is a candidate for president, but who is also not a candidate for president" Fred Thompson may be in hot water with the Federal Election Commission. Finally, someone wised up and filed a complaint with the FEC regarding Thompson's campaigning activities.

While Mr. Thompson claims to be evaluating the prospect of running for president, in reality he's already running. This wouldn't matter terribly, except that it's against the law. By perpetrating this sham, he's abusing a legal status that allows him to conduct certain activities (hiring staff, conducting polling, doing limited fund raising) without the hassle of declaring that he's a candidate or filing regular reports to the FEC.

Should the FEC actually do its job and come down on Thompson, he faces fines upwards of $1 million. Of course, the FEC could simply allow him to continue to game the system. Stay tuned.

21 August 2007