Press release from Civitas, a conservative policy institute:
Civitas President Francis De Luca today will file a complaint with the North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBOE) against radical, out-of-state groups that have violated state law and federal regulations.
He will also speak at a press conference immediately after filing the complaints.
In March and April, 10 TV ads targeted six NC state legislators with messages attacking hydraulic fracturing. All 10 ads indicate they had been “paid for” by a new group, the North Carolina Environmental Partnership (NCEP). The problem is neither “the North Carolina Environmental Partnership” nor “the NCEP” really exists.
A Civitas investigation shows the NCEP is a shell group used to hide the identities of out-of-state, extremist environmental groups: the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) based in New York and the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) headquartered in Charlottesville, Va. Because neither the NRDC nor the SELC identifies donors in their reports, millions of dollars are being spent in this state by groups that refuse to identify their funding sources. In trying to hide their funding, however, the groups have violated state and federal elections and lobbying regulations.
The Civitas Institute is a policy institute based in Raleigh, N.C.
So far in 2014, more than $2 million has been spent in TV ad buys as part of a coordinated, partisan effort to unseat six Republican state legislators and stop further work on a pro-growth agenda in North Carolina. It appears that the ads target Republican legislators who either live near areas likely to use hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in order to produce natural gas or are being targeted for defeat by Democrats in November. The legislators are: Sen. Chad Barefoot (R-Wake), District 18; Sen. Ronald Rabin (R-Harnett), District 12; Sen. Wesley Meredith (R-Cumberland), District 19; Sen. Trudy Wade (R-Guilford), District 27; Rep. Michele Presnell (R-Haywood), District 118; and Rep. Tim Moffitt (R-Buncombe), District 116. Negative campaigning is nothing new, but there is one part of every ad that must be factual: the “paid for” disclaimer. This disclaimer is a requirement in North Carolina, pursuant to the “Basic Disclosure Requirements for All Political Advertisements” found at GS 163-278.39. In addition, the FCC requires political or issue ads to clearly identify who is paying for the advertisement…
http://www.nccivitas.org/2014/state-groups-violate-nc-law-fcc-rules/