Watchdog groups to file complaint against Montana candidate alleging coordination with NRA

Campaign finance watchdog groups are planning to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) asking it to investigate whether Montana GOP Senate nominee Matt Rosendale and the National Rifle Association (NRA) were illegally coordinating. The Campaign Legal Center and Giffords, the nonprofit political arm of former Rep. Gabby Giffords’s (D-Ariz.) organization, said it is filing the complaint on Friday or Monday.

The complaint is being filed after the Daily Beast published audio it obtained that suggests Rosendale knew the NRA would be involved in the marquee Senate race, saying it had obtained it from an unspecified July event in Washington, D.C. Campaign finance law bars groups that make independent expenditures from coordinating on spending with a candidate. But candidates are allowed to court groups like the NRA for their endorsements.

Read the full article.