Kerry accused of violating campaign law

President Bush’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee yesterday accused Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry’s campaign formally of illegal coordination of political advertising with anti-Bush groups and donors, including billionaire George Soros.

“Senator Kerry, who supported the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act, is now the beneficiary of the single largest conspiracy to violate campaign-finance laws in history,” RNC Chief Counsel Jill Holtzman Vogel said yesterday at a press conference with Bush campaign and other RNC officials.

The RNC and the Bush team filed the complaint with the Federal Election Commission, saying the Kerry campaign and pro-Kerry groups not affiliated with it or the Democratic Party are violating the landmark campaign-finance law passed last year.

The complaint is intended only as a precursor to a federal court case. Campaign and Republican officials are asking the FEC to dismiss the complaint quickly so that they can bring suit in a federal court to block the use of “soft money” — unlimited donations from corporations, unions and individuals — to finance the ads by such groups as MoveOn.org.

Originally, the act’s supporters said the legislation would take “big money” out of election financing. Opponents said it would curtail free speech and undermine political parties in favor of outside interests and rich donors.

The Republican complaint says that groups organized under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Service code are asking individuals for unlimited, unregulated donations, using the pitch that the money will be spent to defeat Mr. Bush or elect Mr. Kerry.

Providing that money would be a crime on the donor’s part.

The law carries stiff financial penalties and incarceration for violators.

The complaint also says that the groups soliciting the soft-money donations also are committing a federal crime merely by seeking donations to affect a federal election.

Republicans argue that these groups will have to register as political committees, who are subject to several federal regulations, including limits on the amount a donor can give, if they want to engage in federal election activities.

“They are making a mockery of the rules established during a long and arduous debate,” Marc Racicot, chairman of the Bush campaign, said yesterday.

The campaign-finance law, passed after years of heated debate over its ban on “soft money” and limits on issue ads, was sponsored by Sens. John McCain, Arizona Republican, and Russell D. Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat.

Michael Meehan, a senior adviser to the Kerry campaign, denied the Republican accusations.

“Bush and the Republicans have taken March Madness and April Foolishness to new levels,” Mr. Meehan said. “This frivolous complaint is not worth the paper it is written on. John Kerry and his campaign have nothing to do with these ads or the groups that run them.”

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