As newly elected New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continues to make waves in Washington and across the nation with her outspoken progressive stance, she’s facing another accusation of campaign finance violations, the second one filed by a Trump supporter who has been described as a “very, very committed partisan,” according to a report from The Independent . Virginia attorney Dan Backer also happens to be a staunch opponent of any kind of campaign finance regulation whatsoever, a seeming disparity that prompted The Independent to compile a report on him as the news broke in The Inquisitr and elsewhere about the most recent campaign finance complaint against Ocasio-Cortez.
On Wednesday, Backer filed another complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Ocasio-Cortez, this time regarding allegations that she and her chief of staff, Seikat Chakrabarti, have created a “scheme” to undercut “normal market value” for campaign services that have been performed and will be performed for her and for other progressive politicians in violation of campaign finance regulations.
However, Backer’s own well-documented distaste for all campaign finance regulations hasn’t prevented him from taking issue with what he claims are Ocasio-Cortez’s violations of the law.
“I think much of what they set out to do SHOULD be legal, and the provisions restricting people from engaging in robust political activity in this way are likely unconstitutional, but it’s still the law,” Backer said in an email.
The report cited campaign finance experts who note that Backer’s own remarks on campaign finance demonstrate how easy it is “for partisan complaints to be filed with the FEC and make news with little in-depth scrutiny.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s office didn’t reply when asked for comment on Backer’s latest salvo. However, she has characterized campaign finance complaints that were previously filed against her as coming from a “conspiracy machine.”
According to legal experts in the field of campaign finance, Backer is “a longtime actor in this space” who, despite winning some victories, tends to take a “kitchen sink approach” when filing ethics complaints against politicians he sees as political opponents.
“[Backer] sues the FEC constantly and loses much more often than he wins, though he has won,” said Daniel Weiner, the senior counsel for the Brennan Centre for Justice. “He’s also, frankly, he’s a very, very committed partisan.”
The complaint filed on Wednesday against Ocasio-Cortez was filed on behalf of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, a conservative activist group that previously filed a complaint against her. Backer also created the Stop Hillary PAC in 2016, which was frequently and vocally critical of her actions during the Benghazi crisis.
That PAC was later renamed to the Committee to Defend the President after Donald Trump was elected.
