We didn't know the help our Republican counterparts at the NRCC would be so happy to get would be the illegal kind.
Today, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee filed a FEC complaint against the swift-boat group Freedom's Watch and the NRCC for illegally coordinating their political attack ads.
Freedom's Watch, the $250 million shadowy front group headed by former Bush mouthpiece Ari Fleischer, launched a smear campaign against Democratic House candidate Don Cazayoux in Louisiana with ads that are stunningly similar to our Republican counterparts the NRCC. See for yourself:
The day that this NRCC TV ad stopped running...
...this Freedom's Watch TV ad began running:
Coincidence?
Not likely -- we discovered that the metadata in the Freedom's Watch script is tracable to the NRCC. That's right -- Freedom's Watch's own Word document clearly shows that the script for their ad came from the NRCC - that's clearly illegal.
We have long feared that Freedom's Watch was too close for comfort with the NRCC. After all, veteran NRCC staffer Carl Forti heads the political operation at Freedom's Watch. In addition, NRCC Chair Tom Cole has said he's "very excitement" about Freedom's Watch's involvement in House races. Clearly Freedom's Watch is operating as the cash-strapped NRCC's de facto independent expenditure campaign. This is unacceptable.
We need your help to make our message loud and clear: we will not let our big change election be stolen by swift boat groups illegally acting as "hitmen" for the Republican Party.
Tom Cole may have gotten his wish when Freedom's Watch came to the NRCC's rescue, but let's make sure that breaking the law will be the NRCC's worst nightmare.
Brian Wolff is the executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
