Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz Pays $30,000 Fine for Violating Campaign Finance Laws

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 19, 2013   |   5:21PM   |   Montpelier, VT

The Planned Parenthood abortion business in Vermont is having to pay a $30,000 fine because it ran afoul of state laws about how political action committee must register with the state government and report their campaign expenditures.

The Vermont Office of the Attorney General settled a complaint filed against the abortion giant related to the 2010 gubernatorial election. Local media has more on Planned Parenthood’s violations.

The abortion group supported Peter Shumlin, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 2010 and current governor and opposed pro-lifer Brian Dubie:

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England has agreed to pay a $30,000 penalty to settle a complaint filed by group known as Let Vermont Vote. The group said Planned Parenthood failed to register its Action Fund as a political action committee and file contribution reports. The complaint also said the PAC had accepted contributions bigger than the $2,000 per donor limit.

The Planned Parenthood Action Fund spent $119,437 on advertising that criticized Brian Dubie, the Republican candidate for governor in 2010.
Craig Bensen of Cambridge, executive director of Let Vermont Vote, filed his complaint about Planned Parenthood in February of 2012. He said he filed because “it seemed like the AG was focusing on one side,” referring to Republican rather than Democratic missteps in the contentious 2010 election.
Bensen said Tuesday he viewed the settlement of his complaint as “an admission of guilt” by Planned Parenthood.

The settlement says “the state investigated the allegation that PPNE Action Fund coordinated campaign advertising with the Shumlin campaign and found insufficient evidence of related expenditures and no violation of the limits on contributions to candidates.”

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The Vermont Office of the Attorney General countered that Planned Parenthood operated another political action committee called PPNNE VT-PAC which had made direct contributions to candidates in other elections. The attorney general suggested that “a full examination of the operations of PPNNE Action Fund and PPNNE VT-PAC would reveal significant overlap in their planning, activities and finances, which would establish that PPNNE Action Fund did not make only independent expenditures.”