The Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania has filed an official complaint with the FEC over the Scranton-Times advertisement campaign that allegedly promotes the candidacy of Bob Casey Jr. The letter is signed by Chairman Eileen Melvin and addressed to the FEC’s Lawrence Norton. Here’s an excerpt from the complaint:

“Because the advertisements advocate Bob Casey, Jr.’s candidacy, they are required to carry certain FEC disclaimers identifying who paid for the advertisement, and stating whether the advertisements were approved by a federal candidate. ... Upon information and belief, none of the advertisements appear to contain the FEC disclaimers. Accordingly, there is reason to believe that the advertisements violate 2 U.S.C. § 441d and 11C.F.R. § 110.11 by failing to include the required FEC disclaimers."


"Finally, there is reason to believe that the Scranton Times-Tribune’s advertising campaign constitutes an illegal corporate contribution to the Casey Campaign. According to publicly available information, the Times publisher has donated large sums of money to the Bob Casey’s campaign committees and the campaign committees of his family members over the years. In fact, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Lynett family’s “political contributions have been largely limited to the Casey family, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party ($15,000) and the past Democratic opponents of [Senator] Santorum’s.” ... These facts warrant an investigation by the Commission to determine whether the Scranton Times-Tribune, or its publisher, coordinated the content, timing, or placement of these advertisements with either Bob Casey, Jr. or the Casey Campaign. If the Commission finds that the Casey Campaign was materially involved in the advertising campaign, or that there were substantial discussions between the Casey Campaign or its agents and the Scranton-Times concerning the advertising campaign, the Commission should find that the costs of creating, producing and distributing the advertisements constitute illegal corporate contributions from the Scranton Times-Tribune to the Casey Campaign in violation of 2 U.S.C. § 441b and 11 C.F.R. § 114.2. The Commission should require the Casey Campaign to use its FEC permissible funds to pay for the cost of the advertising campaign and impose the maximum penalty under law."