HARTFORD — The National Rifle Association’s (NRA) national political action committee (PAC) appears to have illegally funded Connecticut political spending, according to a complaint filed with the Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) by Connecticut citizens and gun safety advocates on August 19. The complaint charges that the NRA’s federal PAC likely funneled improper campaign contributions to state politicians, and appears to have secretly given their state affiliate as much as $20,000, in violation of Connecticut state law. 

“The NRA’s effort to subvert Connecticut’s campaign finance laws is literally putting lives in danger,” said Carlos Soto, whose sister, Victoria Soto, was one of six teachers killed on 12/14. “There is so much at stake when it comes to ending gun violence, and we won’t let our state elections be corrupted by the NRA's dirty campaign tricks.”

Signing the complaint with Mr Soto was Sarah Clements, whose mother Abbey was a second grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School and survived the 2012 shooting; Po Murray, mother of four children who graduated from Sandy Hook Elementary School; Brown University student Duncan Weinstein; and Sam Bell, who serves as the State Coordinator of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats.

“If the NRA wants to spend money to undermine or prevent common sense gun laws that have the overwhelming support of Connecticut voters,” said Sarah Clements, “then just like everyone else, they must abide by and be held accountable to our state’s campaign finance laws and transparency rules.”

The complaint alleges two separate violations.

First, between at least 2003 and 2006, about $9,000 in campaign donations to Connecticut politicians, purportedly made by the Connecticut arm of the NRA, appear to have been transferred from the national NRA PAC, a transfer that violates Connecticut campaign finance law.  These donations were also reported to the Federal Election Commission as contributions made by the national NRA PAC;

And second, in October 2006, the state NRA PAC claimed to raise over $20,000 in small contributions of $30 or less in about three weeks and then held onto most of the money until recent expenditures in 2014, used in an attempt to defeat Gov Dannel P. Malloy during his reelection campaign. The lawsuit alleges that this money was actually federal campaign money improperly transferred to the state account by the national NRA PAC, a transfer that again would violate Connecticut campaign finance law. 

After several years of inactivity following the $20,000 infusion in 2006, the NRA’s Connecticut PAC spent $11,016 to oppose Gov Malloy’s reelection efforts in 2014.  These independent expenditures, made in the run-up to the November election represent the only campaign expenditures of the Connecticut PAC in years, aside from approximately $400 spent in support of Rep Tami Zawistowski’s (R) special election in April 2014, according to the plaintiffs. Of the $11,000 the Connecticut PAC spent, 35 percent of the payments against Gov Malloy were made to the NRA headquarters in Virginia to cover the salaries and benefits of national staff.

A similar undertaking in Rhode Island led to $63,000 in fines for the NRA, according to those while filed the Connecticut suit this week.

In the summer of 2013, Sam Bell began investigating how the NRA was able to spend so much money in Rhode Island without publicly reporting the names of any donors in campaign reports, as is generally required under Rhode Island's campaign finance laws. As a result of his investigation, Bell filed a campaign finance complaint with the Rhode Island Board of Elections, and in early 2014, the Rhode Island Board of Elections leveled a $63,000 fine against the NRA, the second largest such fine in the state’s history.

“After our success in Rhode Island, I recruited Duncan Weinstein to help dig into the documents to see if the NRA had broken similar laws in other states,” said Bell.  “We uncovered a similar pattern of conduct in Connecticut, which violates Connecticut state laws. It seems that the NRA’s disregard for campaign finance laws in Rhode Island wasn't an aberration but part of their standard playbook.”

“We are living through the trauma and tragedy of gun violence here in Connecticut,” said Ms Murray.  “We will not allow the national NRA to play shell games with campaign cash in order to attack Connecticut leaders who support common sense gun laws or buy influence with state politicians.”

A copy of the complaint can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/1My0yr7