Mike Gravel Sues Pro-Hillary 527

The Mike Gravel campaign released this press release about the lawsuit Gravel filed against a “527″ political organization that was created to support Hillary Clinton:

Today Senator Mike Gravel filed a federal lawsuit against a pro-Hillary 527 political organization, which is running a YouTube ad that, if aired on TV, flagrantly violates the law. The Senator has asked the court to slap a temporary restraining order on this 527 to prevent it from breaking the law with this commercial. This 527 has failed to register with the Federal Election Commission.

The law prohibits 527s from distributing ads that use “phrases . . . or individual words, which in context can have no other reasonable meaning than to urge the election . . . of” a particular candidate or “[w]hen taken as a whole and with limited reference to external events, such as the proximity to the election, could only be interpreted by a reasonable person as containing advocacy of the election . . . of” a particular candidate (2 U.S.C. § 431(17)).

In this ad, the narrator states:

“If speeches could create jobs, we wouldn’t be facing a recession. But it takes more. As senator, Hillary Clinton passed legislation to bring investment and jobs to struggling communities, and worked to end tax breaks for corporations sending jobs overseas. Her economic blueprint is endorsed by Governor Strickland. Tell Hillary to keep working on these solutions for the middle class.”

Senator Gravel says, “This ad is clearly an appeal for people to vote for Hillary and therefore directly contradicts both the spirit and the letter of the law.

“This ad affects me not only as one of the three remaining candidates for the Democratic nomination but also as a citizen who has watched 527s run circles around the FEC,” Gravel declared. “I urge the courts to ban this ad and any other similar ads from airing on TV, or alternatively, would welcome this 527 organization to properly register with the Federal Election Commission and play by the election campaign rules.”

You can watch the ad in question below: