CA-36: Janice Hahn Files Federal Elections Commission Complaint Against Craig Huey

For a video, Craig Huey did not produce and has denounced as racist and sexist. I mean how stupid is this?

Democratic congressional candidate Janice Hahn has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over a widely criticized hip-hop-themed video that links her to street-gang members.

That ad, which makes rampant use of stereotypical hip-hop video imagery and features Hahn’s face superimposed onto the body of a stripper, was produced by a new third-party political action committee called Turn Right USA.

Hahn’s complaint alleges Turn Right is working with the campaign of Hahn’s challenger in the race in California’s 36th Congressional District, Republican Craig Huey.

Huey’s camp has denounced the ad, as have other Republicans, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and advocacy groups such as the National Organization for Women.

Hahn, a Los Angeles City Council member, and Huey are competing to replace retired Rep. Jane Harman in the Southern California coastal district. The election is July 12.

Her complaint notes that a one-time volunteer for Huey, G. Rick Marshall, is a principal working for Turn Right, a so-called “Super PAC” that can raise unlimited funds from donors whose identities remain private.

FEC rules prohibit such committees from coordinating their efforts directly with political campaigns.

The video contains a disclaimer that the PAC isn’t affiliated with the Huey campaign, and the filmmaker behind the ad, Ladd Ehlinger Jr., said there’s no connection. In fact, Ehlinger said Huey was missing an opportunity to use the ad, which ties Hahn to an L.A. County gang intervention program, to his advantage.

“What they should have done is say ‘We denounce the ad but we think it has a kernel of truth,’” Ehlinger said.

Ehlinger said the controversy, as well as the FEC complaint, was playing right into his hands—racheting up interest in the video, which has already enjoyed about half a million hits on YouTube.

It is apparent Janice Hahn is just fanning the flames of this controversy so that no one really will make an investigation into the paying gangsters allegation. Hahn is in a tough race and wants to slime Huey with as much as she can.

The economy is so poor in this South Bay District and Janice Hahn’s ads so ugly, I continue to think that Craig Huey may surprise with an upset win.