NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday January 23, 2008

Arizona Democratic Party files FEC complaint against Rep. Shadegg

The Arizona Democratic Party today filed a three-pronged complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Rep. John Shadegg’s political action committee for colluding with his Congressional campaign to avoid federal contribution limits.

“Voters placed great trust in John Shadegg and he violated that trust,” said Emily Bittner, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party. “Campaign finance laws were put in place so big donors can’t bankroll entire campaigns. John Shadegg was clearly trying to get around campaign finance law, and he thought no one would catch him.”

Democrats asked Shadegg to return the contributions, fire the individuals responsible for funneling the money into his campaign, and apologize to voters.

Democrats also urged fellow Republicans, especially Arizona Sen. John McCain, to condemn Shadegg’s behavior.

“Shadegg just spent several days campaigning for McCain in New Hampshire,” Bittner said. “It’s ironic that McCain would invite someone who so clearly is abusing campaign finance law to be an advocate for him.”

On May 31, two contributors gave Shadegg’s congressional campaign $4,600 each, the maximum allowed for couples under federal law. On June 15, both contributors gave an additional $5,000 apiece to Shadegg’s PAC, Leadership for America’s Future. These were the only contributions the PAC received in 2007. Less than two weeks later, the PAC contributed $10,000 to Shadegg’s congressional campaign.

“This pattern of behavior demonstrates that the contributions to the PAC were really designed to circumvent the individual contribution limits and that the contributions from the PAC to the campaign were really made on behalf of [the contributors],” the Party said in the complaint.

A copy of the complaint can be found here – (Page 1 , Page 2 , Page 3, Page 4).