Hannity is talking about this right now and bringing up information he has on Dems who have connections with political money-making organizations...like Harold Ickes and Soros. Ickes is a Democrat Party Official and he is associated a 527. So is Bill Richardson a Party Official and sits on the planning board of a 527.
To prove, for example, that an outside groups ad was coordinated with a candidates campaign, any one of the following is required, according to FEC spokesman Bob Biersack:
- The ad being aired by the group was broadcast at the request or suggestion of the candidate, his campaign or an agent of the campaign.
- The group suggested the ad and the candidate or his agent assented to the ad, for example, by saying something such as, That sounds like a good idea to me.
- The candidate or his agent was materially involved in decisions about the content of the ad, the times and places where it would air, the medium used, etc.
- The ad was aired after what the FEC calls substantial discussion between the person or outside group paying for the ad and the campaign. If, for example, a campaign manager said to the head of a 527 group, Over the next two weeks, our campaigns ads will focus on the loss of textile jobs in this state, and the outside group then ran its own ads buttressing that message, it would be coordination.
I'm betting WE can make a bettr case about Kerry than Kerry can make about Bush.