Swiftboating the Governor’s Race

By this point many have heard that Bob “Swiftboat” Perry donated $500,000 of the $800,000 raised by the A Stronger America – Minnesota group.  What people don’t seem to realize is that the Swiftboat group was recently fined nearly $300,000 for illegal contributions:

more inside

The case against the Swiftboat group – which financed attention-getting ads accusing Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry of lying about his Vietnam War record, without substantiating its claims – involved what the FEC termed the group’s illegal collection of more than $12.5 million in personal contributions above the $5,000 annual limit, and $715,050 in prohibited corporate contributions.

According to TPMMuckraker, the fine may signal the end of this type of activity, as Perry groups would now have to register themselves as a committee versus a 527, limiting them to only $5000 in contributions per individual per year.

If the FEC were to really crack down on this sort of thing (the 527 loophole has been an open secret for a number of years), as they’ve idly been threatening to do, then 2008 would be a remarkably different election than the past two cycles.

Update: I talked to David Donnelly, the director of Campaign Money Watch, who knows a lot about this sort of thing, and he said that these fines (and the ones rumored to follow soon), probably will have a significant deterring effect in the ’08 elections.

Besides Minnesota, Perry also contributed significant amounts in other groups that focused on the Montana Senate race and 6 House races, contributing $9 million in donations to attempt to defeat democrats.