The Alaska Republican Party received notice today that the Federal Elections Commission has accepted its complaint against Libertarian candidate Joe Miller for his unauthorized use of old election postcards that somehow got into the possession of the Miller campaign.
The postcards were left over from the 2010 election, when Miller received the primary Republican nomination, but was beat in the November general election by Lisa Murkowski’s campaign. Murkowski ran as a write-in Republican.
“In accepting the complaint, the FEC Office of General Counsel acknowledges there is a potential violation within the jurisdiction of the FEC and the complaint was proper,” said Stacey Stone, Alaska Republican Party legal counsel.
Tuckerman Babcock, Alaska Republican Party chairman, said he plans on amending the complaint to include additional offenses related to other mailers that have since surfaced.
“Unfortunately, Joe Miller’s campaign continued to break the law even when he knew that complaint was filed. The decision to use old Republican party mailers from 2010 to manipulate and mislead Alaskan voters, was not authorized by the party and we believe is a clear violation of election law,” he said.
The Miller campaign must file a formal response to the GOP complaint within 15 days.
In a separate complaint, District 18 Republicans from midtown and Spenard in Anchorage, lost their lawsuit against the State of Alaska’s strict campaign contribution limits.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess wrote in his decision that limits on campaign contributions do not infringe on free speech or equal protection rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.