Citizens Club for Growth Statement on FEC Settlement
Andrew Roth
Washington - Today, Citizens Club for Growth announced an agreement with the Federal Election Commission to bring to an end to the lawsuit the agency had filed nearly two years ago, marking the sixth settlement reached between the FEC and “527” groups since last December. The agreement acknowledges our position that Citizens Club for Growth “operated under the good faith belief that it had not” violated any of the election laws and regulations, and that the settlement was reached “in order to avoid protracted litigation costs.”
Speaking on behalf of the Citizens Club for Growth board, vice president Chuck Pike said, “The board decided that further litigation costs would waste the resources of the pro-growth movement, which would be better invested in fighting the Pelosi-Reid tax increase agenda in Congress.” Pike noted that the actions which gave rise to the lawsuit were taken by Citizens Club for Growth between 2000 and 2004. However, recent FEC actions made it impractical for a Section 527 organization to operate without intolerable government interference. Mr. Pike said:
“Most unfortunate is that a lawsuit like this was able to occur at all in a country that purports to protect political free speech. No government agency should have the right to deem words “forbidden,” and no group or individual should fear legal action for exercising their First Amendment rights. If we had proper respect for the First Amendment, such a law suit never would have taken off the ground to begin with.”
Earlier this year, Citizens Club for Growth sold its name and non-monetary assets to the new group now known as Club for Growth, which is organized under a different provision of the nonprofit tax laws and is not a party to the settlement or affected by other anti-527 actions that may be taken by the FEC or Congress.
