A group in favor of Hillary Clinton, called “Correct the Record” previously working under the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge is about to turn into its own super PAC and do its best to push back on the criticism of Mrs. Clinton.
Correct the Record has been launched in 2013, way ahead of the anticipated presidential bid of Hillary Clinton, with the initial goal of backing all Democratic presidential candidates, even though the focus has always mainly been on Hillary. It is now unambiguously allying itself with the former secretary of state’s presidential campaign.
An unusual strategy will be used by this group in order to do so even though it has plans of registering as a super PAC; a spokeswoman for the group says it doesn’t plan on making independent expenditures, which refers to ads openly campaigning for or even against a candidate. There is no restriction on how much money and budget can be raised and spend but they are in general barred from coordinating with candidate campaigns. So by refraining from making any independent expenditure, the group stated that there are restrictions on its ability of coordinating with Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The idea is to spend money on activities which can legally coordinate with a campaign, such as social media, as stated by the spokeswoman.
It is still undecided how the super PAC’s adaptation of the regulations will be met by the Federal Election Commission. The super PACs have been defined by the FEC as committees which can take uncapped contributions “for the purpose of financing independent expenditures and other independent political activity.”
The registration of Correct the Record is expected to register with the FEC in the upcoming days and start its operation as planned. If the FEC has any issues with the plans of the group then it can in the future point request changes in how it is registered or operates. The plans of Correct the Record has been declined to be commented on by the spokeswoman.
Kenneth Gross, former head of enforcement at the FEC said, “The strategy breaks new ground. Since this is uncharted territory it remains to be seen how this plays out.”
Brad Woodhouse, the former president of the American Bridge (also a super PAC) will be the head of the new super PAC. Jessica Mackler, the former COO, is taking over as the president of the American Bridge now.
Mr. Woodhouse said, “Correct the Record is a strong brand in its own right and now that Democrats are announcing their candidacies, it’s the right time to separate it from American Bridge, which focuses on opposition research. Going forward, Correct the Record will work in support of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for president, aggressively responding to false attacks and misstatements of the secretary’s exemplary record.”
Last week, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta announced on Medium the launch of a new website called “The Briefing” to provide a “one-stop shop to provide the facts” about Mrs. Clinton’s record. The development is the latest in a series of efforts by the Clinton campaign to sharpen its response operation.
The website’s launch came in the middle of media frenzy over a book called “Clinton Cash,” written by Peter Schweizer, editor-in-chief of a conservative news website. The book added fresh details to previous reporting about potential conflicts between Mrs. Clinton’s charitable work with her family’s foundation and her public activities as secretary of state.
