Progressive group files FEC complaint against Phillips campaign

A progressive watchdog organization has filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint against Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), alleging his presidential campaign improperly coordinated with a super PAC. 

Campaign for Accountability said in a release Wednesday that it filed the complaint this week requesting the FEC investigate Phillips’s campaign committee, the super PAC Pass the Torch USA and strategist Steve Schmidt for alleged violations of federal election regulations. 

Schmidt helped launch Pass the Torch USA to support Phillips’s campaign after previously having worked for the campaign itself. 

The complaint alleges that because Schmidt was involved in developing Phillips’s campaign strategy weeks before starting the super PAC, evidence “strongly suggests” that he and Pass the Torch made $450,000 in coordinated communications with the campaign. 

The organization alleged the PAC falsely reported this as independent expenditures, and the campaign did not disclose as an in-kind contribution. 

“Candidates and their committees cannot coordinate strategy with super PACs. When the architect of the Phillip’s campaign suddenly moves over to lead a super PAC supporting Phillip’s candidacy the moment the ink on the blueprint is dry, the coordination is clear,” said Michelle Kuppersmith, Campaign for Accountability executive director.

Axios was the first to report on the complaint. 

The Hill has reached out to the Phillips campaign for comment. 

The campaign told Axios the complaint is “baseless” and does not allege a “single specific example” of coordination. It said the campaign has complied with the law and has not coordinated with Pass the Torch, Schmidt or “any other party.” 

The release states Pass the Torch started running ads echoing the Phillips campaign’s message of “It’s time to pass the torch to a new generation of American leaders” shortly after Schmidt left the campaign to start the super PAC. 

“If the communications by Pass the Torch had been created, produced or distributed after substantial discussions between Schmidt and Phillips, it would constitute a prohibited coordinated communication,” the release states. 

Phillips is mounting a long-shot bid against President Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination. He has so far not gained much traction in polls, mostly staying in the low single digits.