Yahoo News: Republican Aaron Schock fined for excessively soliciting super PAC funds
If Schock had only asked for $5,000, he would have been fine. But his apparent five-figure solicitations drew complaints from the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, election watchdogs in Washington, D.C.
The Federal Election Commission agreed that Schock broke the law, according to new documents released today by the Campaign Legal Center.
The documents indicate Schock admitted to illegally soliciting an excessive amount from Cantor, though he did not admit to excessively soliciting the 18th District Republican Central Committee.
The agreement further states that the bipartisan FEC didn’t find reason to believe that Schock’s violation was “knowing or willful.”
Larry Noble, the Campaign Legal Center’s general counsel, lamented the fact that it took the agency so long to come to this conclusion.
“Here was a clear-cut case, and it’s sad that it still took them four years,” he told theCenter for Public Integrity.
Noble added that the ban on politicians making large super PAC solicitations was needed to safeguard against corruption because such solicitations can create the “appearance that the candidate will be beholden to the contributor.”
“It’s a really important rule,” Noble said.