When Is An "Independent Expenditure" Group, Not Really?

When they use video footage from Rob Portman’s web ad, that’s when.

The Ohio Democratic Party filed an FEC complaint today against “American Crossroads” a shadowy GOP-backed group founded by Karl Rove, because the TV ad that “American Crossroads” has been airing in Ohio in support of Rob Portman contained video footage from a Portman for Ohio video.

The ODP put out a presser about this earlier today:

“Rob Portman is so attached at the hip to these Bush cronies that they can’t even run an independent ad for him without violating the law,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern. “It should come as no surprise that Congressman Portman can’t shake off the team that helped promote his job-killing economic and trade agenda.”

But Modern found a story on the issue from Real Clear Politics that contains this juicy quote:

Even a prominent GOP election lawyer contacted for this story explained that republication of campaign materials is generally recognized as coordination and is a problem. "Asserting a 'quote exception' defense is weak," the attorney said, because "the FEC talks about quotes in the context of endorsements not relevant to using photos or logos."