Does the Stand with Rand PAC violate federal law?
The Stand with Rand PAC, a political committee formed to support candidates like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in the wake of his 13-hour filibuster earlier this year, got creative when the Federal Election Commission told them they had violated federal law by including a candidate's name without his or her formal authorization.
"This Committee responds to its pending RFAI by noting that it is unaware that the late Ayn Rand, noted philosopher and author and of Atlas Shrugged, is seeking election to federal office," the group wrote in response.
(On an unrelated note, former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul cleared up speculation that his son was named after the famous philosopher during a Reddit question-and-answer session in August. "[H]is name is not after Ayn Rand," Paul wrote. "His name is RANDALL despite some things that have been around on the Internet. He was called 'Randy' at home, and he became 'Rand' after becoming a physician.").
Federal law prohibits unauthorized committees from using candidates' names in the names of their PACs unless they are a delegate committee, a draft committee to urge the candidate to run for office, or their name clearly indicates that they oppose the candidate.
Taking a more serious tone, the committee argued that the FEC was being overly zealous in its interpretation of the law in a way that bordered on their free speech rights. " Such overbroad application of 102.14(a) would prohibit citizens from banding together and using almost any common name; for example, a youth-oriented PAC named Think Young would share the name of 3 Congressmen and would thus be impermissible," they wrote. "With 435 Representatives and 100 Senators many first, last, and even middle names would be prohibited from such broad overreach. Thus, the use of just a first or last name is insufficient to trigger such a harsh restraint on speech."
The Center for Public Integrity flagged the dispute between the PAC and the FEC last week.