A US District Court judge ordered the Federal Election Commission to investigate a complaint that Iowa republican Senator Joni Ernst coordinated campaign activities with a dark money group, the Quad City Times reports.
The case, filed by the Campaign Legal Center, a left-leaning Washington watchdog group, alleges that the FEC failed to act on a complaint the group filed against Ernst and her campaign’s coordination with Iowa First, a non-profit Political Action Committee backing Ernst.
Any coordination between a campaign and a PAC is forbidden by federal election law. A dark-money PAC does not disclose who is funding it.
However, emails obtained by the Associated Press in July 2019 found that Ernst campaign officials had approached at least one donor to solicit a $50,000 donation to Iowa First.
The FEC, however, currently has little power to enforce election finance law because it has not have a quorum of members since July 2020 because President Trump refuses to appoint members. There are three members seated, with three empty positions. Currently, there are 350 complaints awaiting action from the FEC.