UPDATE: According to Jeffrey Dubner at Tapped, Bush's 527 continues to exist. See below for further details.
Via Pandagon: In 2000, George W. Bush formed a 527 to fund his efforts to challenge the Florida recount. According to Public Citizen:
The recount fund created by the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign evaded a soft money campaign finance disclosure law for 18 months and did not file required forms until the last day of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) "amnesty" program for out-of-compliance groups, Public Citizen has discovered.
The Bush-Cheney 2000, Inc-Recount Fund, a 527 political group created shortly after the November 2000 election to pay for the legal and political activities in Florida and other contested areas, apparently did not file at least four - and perhaps as many as six - required disclosure forms until 3:25 p.m. on July 15, 2002 - meeting the deadline to avoid millions of dollars in potential fines by less than nine hours.
"On its contribution form, the Bush-Cheney recount fund promised full disclosure, but trustees have evaded the soft money law for 18 months and just narrowly escaped nearly $7 million in fines," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen. "The 527 disclosure law was designed to shed light on this type of 'stealth PAC' but the recount fund trustees flouted that law and didn't begin to comply until the last possible moment."
If Bush hates 527s so much, why did he form one in 2000? If he has a problem with these "shadowy" groups, why did the one under his control refuse to promptly disclose even the little information required by law?
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