Gubernatorial hopeful’s ad breaks law, Democrats say

Nevada Democrats say Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Montandon violated federal campaign finance laws with an ad that included a picture of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The complaint, filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission, alleges Montandon's state campaign broke the law by making a "soft money" expenditure against Reid, a candidate for federal office.

The Democrats also say Montandon illegally coordinated with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian because consultant Steve Wark works for both campaigns.

"It is breaking federal law," said Phoebe Sweet, a spokeswoman for the Nevada State Democratic Party.

The ad in question was posted online by Montandon's campaign and shows a picture of Reid with son Rory Reid, who is a Democratic candidate for governor.

It urges readers to "put an end to the Reid dynasty" by donating to Montandon's campaign for governor.

According to the complaint, the ad "referred to Senator Reid and clearly opposed his re-election."

The Democrats allege Montandon was breaking the law by using money raised for a state campaign to attack the elder Reid.

The complaint continued: "Because the Montandon campaign has not filed any reports with the (FEC), it cannot have used funds subject to the reporting requirements of federal campaign finance law."

The fact Wark works for Tarkanian and Montandon is evidence of illegal coordination between campaigns that benefits Tarkanian, the Democrats contend.

Montandon argues the complaint is baseless. He said that Wark did not make the ad in question and that it was aimed at Rory Reid the gubernatorial candidate, not his father the senator.

"The ad was not coordinated with anyone else, in theme, direction or content," Montandon said in a written response. "It is ridiculous to think that the Montandon campaign would have the desire to spend resources on any other campaign, or that targeting Rory Reid would have to be done with no reference to any 'dynasty.' The complaints have no basis in fact."

Tarkanian's campaign referred questions to Montandon. Wark did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said the complaint is unlikely to result in any action. Illegal coordination is difficult to prove, she said, and the Democrats' complaint doesn't have the evidence it would take to make such an allegation stick.

"There is no proof of coordination, Sloan said. "It is just an allegation."

She said the FEC is unlikely to investigate such complaints beyond taking statements from the accused, a situation she said leads to lax enforcement of campaign finance laws.

"I think this is a troubling thing about the FEC that they won't investigate anything," Sloan said.

The FEC has given state candidates leeway when it comes to using federal candidates in advertising.

In December, the FEC declined to punish Kirby Hollingsworth, a 2008 candidate for state representative in Texas who faced allegations similar to those that confront Montandon.

Hollingsworth's 2008 campaign created ads bashing then-presidential candidate Barack Obama and supporting presidential candidate John McCain and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Hollingsworth was seeking to align himself with McCain and Palin and tie his opponent to Obama. Although the ads attacked Obama and praised McCain and Palin, the FEC ruled they did not amount to a violation because they urged voters to vote for Hollingsworth, not take action for or against presidential candidates.

Fund to collect donations to fight law

Gov. Jim Gibbons is asking Nevadans who want to participate in his fight against the new federal health care law to contribute to a fund that will pay legal fees to support the cause.

On Thursday, Gibbons announced the creation of the Constitution Defense Fund to raise an estimated $3,500 in legal costs for Nevada to join more than a dozen other states filing a lawsuit in federal court in Florida to block implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law last month by President Barack Obama.

The fund is a trust account organized through the Las Vegas law firm of Hutchison & Steffen.

The firm agreed to take the case against the new law without compensation after Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto declined to join the lawsuit. She said it had little chance to succeed and would be a waste of taxpayer money.

The money raised through the fund would go toward legal fees being shared by all of the states involved.

Gibbons' chief of staff, Robin Reedy, said any money raised not used for legal costs will be returned to the donors.

lawyer sees no romney contradiction

When Mark Hutchison agreed to represent Nevada without compensation in a lawsuit against the federal health care law he said it was because of his strong belief that the law, particularly a government mandate for people to buy insurance, is unconstitutional.

But in 2007, Hutchison, a Republican, gave $1,000 to the presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaign finance records show.

Romney is taking heat from Republicans now because when he was governor, he championed a state health care law that, like the federal law, included a mandate to buy insurance.

So did Hutchison contradict himself by supporting Romney and opposing the federal law? He argues he didn't.

The reason, Hutchison said, is that state and federal governments have different limits on power.

"The federal government is a limited government; states have very, very broad powers," he said. "The founders really had in mind that kind of arrangement, that the states could be free to do a lot of these things. Of course, the federal government was limited."

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman
at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.