GOP breaks campaign laws, Utah Demos say

One will claim that the NRCC and the Utah Republican Party are illegally running a coordinated campaign.

The second will say that having Arena Communications handle direct mail for Swallow, the Utah GOP and the NRCC makes it impossible for the campaigns to operate independently, something required by the new McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law, Dunn said.

"It's hard to believe" the three groups aren't working together on the fliers, he added.

It is not unusual for state parties and/or candidates to file FEC complaints toward the end of bitter campaigns. And Dunn admitted that he doubts the FEC will rule or even investigate the Utah Democratic Party's complaints before next Tuesday's elections.

"But the voters need to know what is going on," Dunn said. "Someone needs to take responsibility" for the fliers, adding that in the newspaper article Joe Cannon said the NRCC was responsible for the content of the anti-Matheson ads, while an NRCC spokesman said it was an all Utah-GOP operation.

Valcarce said he works in this area all the time, and nothing is being done illegally.

The law allows for the Utah GOP and Swallow to operate a "non-allocable" mail campaign, and that's what is being done, he said.

While it's true the NRCC is also paying Arena for direct mail services, "none of my NRCC work is being done in Utah," Valcarce said. He declined to say how much his clients are paying him, nor how many mailers he's sent out in Utah. He maintains the three groups are not working together.

At the very least, said Dunn, the new law is clear that whoever helps send out campaign material must be identified on the ad — and only the Utah Republican Party is listed on the anti-Matheson mailers — not Swallow, not the NRCC.

GOP executive director Spencer Jenkins explained what happened this way: The state GOP hired Valcarce. With input from the state party and the NRCC, Valcarce printed up various fliers (the state party has sent out 14 different pieces in the 2nd District race so far). The state party then uses volunteers (they can not be paid workers) to mail out the pieces.

Joe Cannon says the NRCC came up with the Dream Act content, while the NRCC denies that, saying the whole operation was Utah-based.

It may sound complicated, but it's legal, say Valcarce and Jenkins.

No way, says Dunn.

"The new law was written to shine the bright light of day on this kind of smear, so you know who did it," Dunn said.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com