Fox News is reporting that the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a new watchdog group that holds political organizations accountable for campaign finance rules and ethics violations, has filed a complaint against Catalist, LLC, “a for-profit company that has provided customized voter data to hundreds of labor unions, Democratic committees and candidates — including the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns in 2008.”
The report goes on to say:
The complaint, filed to the Federal Election Commission, accused the group of effectively masquerading as a corporation while acting like a political action committee — in turn, skirting campaign finance laws that normally apply to PACs.
“Fundamentally, I would call [Catalist] a scheme to avoid campaign finance law,” FACT director Matthew Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney, told FoxNews.com.
The complaint accuses the group, whose investors include George Soros, of skirting laws that cover so-called “soft money” — donations from corporations, unions, and individuals used to influence elections — and coordination between independent groups like PACs and the parties and candidates they support.
Catalist is run by a “stalwart aide and adviser” to Bill and Hillary Clinton, Harold Ickes.