New Ethics Watchdog Files Preliminary FEC Complaint on Catalist, Major Democratic Operations

FACT Calls for Investigation into Unlawful and Unethical Behavior by Leftist Groups

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a new non-partisan government and political accountability organization based in Washington, D.C., filed a complaint with the Federal Election Committee (FEC) Wednesday requesting further investigation of the Democratic data firm, Catalist, and its unlawful and unethical affiliations with several prominent party organizations, campaigns, labor unions and federal agencies. The Washington, D.C.-based group, led by former U.S. Attorney Matthew G. Whitaker, believes that numerous election laws have been broken over the course of nearly a decade.

The 29-page document filed by FACT details potential wrongdoing by Catalist and numerous Democratic campaigns, political parties, for-profit entities and political non-profits, alleging:

• Catalist appears to have made and the Democratic political party committees and federal campaign committees appear to have received impermissible, excessive and unreported contributions in the form of in-kind data services from Catalist, including providing service at below fair market value. The company is engaging in patently unlawful political activity, as government contractors are prohibited from making such contributions.

• Catalist’s federal campaign committee, political party committee, labor union, other soft-money outside group clients and donors appear to have engaged in illegal coordination through Catalist, resulting in prohibited and excessive contributions.

• The Democratic National Committee appears to have established, financed, maintained and/or controlled Catalist, resulting in a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971’s “soft money” ban for national political party committees.

“It is abundantly clear that Catalist and numerous Democratic organizations have operated outside of the law since its inception. FACT urges the Federal Election Commission to perform an immediate and thorough investigation into the behavior of these groups and, should they be found guilty of violating federal law, be punished swiftly for their wrongdoing,” Whitaker said. “The illegal coordination of Catalist and those with whom they work is a shameful and regrettable reminder that some individuals in the political system believe they are above the law. They are not. The American public deserves better.”

Clients and partners of Catalist spent more than $100 million in public communications and other reportable “independent expenditures” supporting Democratic candidates during the 2014 election cycle. The media has often touted the data work of Catalist as the primary reason Democrats have been successful in previous elections, such as the 2008 and 2012 victories of President Barack Obama.

Each of these charges, including supporting evidence, is contained within the FEC complaint. T

o obtain a full copy of the document registered Wednesday, February 18, 2015, please email Ellen Carmichael (ecarmichael@crcpublicrelations.com) or Jessie Markell (jmarkell@crcpublicrelations.com).