FEC Rules That Club For Growth Can Help Specter Donors Ask For Their Money Back

The Club For Growth now has official government permission to bedevil Arlen Specter in a very creative way.

The Federal Election Commission has granted the Club permission to send letters out to previous donors to Sen. Arlen Specter, the Republican-turned-Democrat who has been a huge enemy of the group ever since they helped organize a primary challenge against him by Pat Toomey in 2004.

The letters will remind donors that Specter promised he would return donations from before his party switch to anyone who asked, and include a preprinted form and envelope for making just that request. The Club will use the information from campaign finance reports to make their mailing list -- which normally cannot be used for fundraising, but is being allowed here because the Club isn't actually raising money for itself or for anybody else.

"Sen. Specter continues to face doubts about his loyalties, and I expect many of his donors will want their money back," Club executive director David Keating said in a statement. "We hope to make it a little easier by informing them of the Senator's policy and providing a preprinted letter and envelope to request a refund."

The Club made the request back in June, and their official request seemed thorough in laying out all the important disclaimers -- that Specter is not legally required to return donations and their own letter would remind recipients of this, that they would not broker any mailing lists from this, that they won't solicit recipients for any donations to the Club or another candidate, etc.

In a separate blog posting on the Club's site, Club executive director David Keating was critical about the fact that the FEC's finding wasn't unanimous: "I must admit to disappointment in the two commissioners who voted no on the request because, based on the law, this was an easy question. While I understand and respect their concerns, it does not justify their vote."