Nevada Dems complain about group trying to oust Reid

LAS VEGAS - Nevada Democrats are asking federal election officials to investigate a political action committee over its use of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid's name as it tries to prevent him from being re-elected next year.

The state party filed a complaint Thursday with the Federal Election Commission, saying the Dump Reid Political Action Committee is illegally using his name and did not have proper disclosures on its Web site about the group and its possible affiliations.

Democrats say in the complaint that using the Senate majority leader's name creates confusion and is illegal because the group is not affiliated with Reid.

Sam Lieberman, chairman of the state party said the group's lack of disclosures, also "hindered the ability of voters to determine the true sponsor of these attacks on Sen. Reid and whether they are coordinated with other candidates."

The complaint asks federal election officials to prohibit violations and fine the group.

Chuck Muth, a leading conservative activist from Nevada who is behind the group, said in a blog post that the complaint is garbage, and accused Reid himself of trying to shut down political speech.

"Reid might win. He might actually have the law on his side on one trivial aspect of the complaint, and all we have on our side is the Constitution," Muth said. "Unfortunately, in this day and age, that's not enough."

A political committee can't include any candidate in its name if it is not authorized by the candidate, according to U.S. code on the organization of PACs.

Democrats said in their complaint that the disclaimers on the Dump Reid Web site were altered after Aug. 27, but did not comply with election laws before that. The group said a blog run by the group did not have proper disclosures.

At the top of the "Dump Harry!" blog Friday, an information box read: "Greetings, Reidites! This is a personal blog by Chuck Muth, paid for by Chuck Muth and is associated with no other person, identity or campaign other than Chuck Muth."