Watchdog group files FEC complaint against Christie super PAC over large donation

The list of donors for Tell It Like It Is, a super PAC supporting former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s presidential campaign, includes a number of well-known names in Republican donor circles. Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass gave the PAC $250,000; real estate magnate Harlan Crow gave $100,000; and Murray Kushner, the estranged uncle of Jared Kushner, gave $10,000.

But the biggest donation of all came from a much more obscure source: SHBT LLC, a Texas-based company that was established just last year. SHBT LCC gave the PAC $1 million, accounting for more than one-sixth of $5.88 million the PAC raised overall.

That donation is now the subject of a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), a prominent Washington D.C.-based campaign finance watchdog group. According to the CLC’s complaint, SHBT LLC’s donation may have been part of a straw donor scheme, in which money is funneled through a third party in order to obscure its true origins.

“Straw donor schemes like SHBT, LLC undermine transparency in our elections and risk undermining voter confidence in our political system,” said Saurav Ghosh, the CLC’s director of federal campaign finance reform. “Voters have a right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and this transparency is particularly crucial at a time when super PACs routinely spend millions of dollars on elections.”

The CLC’s complaint alleges that SHBT LLC, which holds a small real estate portfolio worth around $7,000, has never had the resources at its disposal to make seven-figure donations. It’s “virtually impossible,” the group argues, for the $1 million donation to have originated from SHBT LLC itself.

Republican National Committeeman Bill Palatucci, the chairman of Tell It Like It Is, countered that the PAC has not broken any FEC rules and that the CLC complaint should not be taken seriously.

“All our financial reporting is in full compliance with FEC requirements,” Palatucci said. “This is nothing more than a frivolous political attack by a left-wing group.”

Palatucci added that he was confident the complaint would be reviewed and dismissed by the FEC.

Indeed, that was what happened in 2016, when the CLC and another watchdog group filed a complaint against the Christie-affiliated super PAC America Leads over a $250,000 donation it had received from a newly formed company called Decor Services, LLC. The FEC deadlocked 2-2 on whether the donation violated campaign finance law, and the case was dismissed.