South Carolina has certainly seen its fair share of controversy over the past few years, and today CREW has the state’s latest and greatest in its sights: mystery Senate candidate Alvin Greene.

We just called on the Attorney General of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, to investigate (PDF) whether or not Mr. Greene was induced to run for the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Sen. Jim DeMint. Inducing a candidate to run is a blatant violation of South Carolina law.

Mr. Greene originally tried to pay the $10K filing fee with a personal check, which was rejected. He miraculously returned the same day with a new check with the name “Alvin M. Greene for Senate” handwritten as the payer. While he claims this money came from his personal savings account, he has to date refused to confirm this with documentation.

It looks unlikely that Mr. Green had this amount of money on hand. He was discharged from the Army in August 2009 and has been unemployed ever since. What’s more, in November 2009, when charged with obscenity for showing pornography to a USC student, he was assigned a public defender – a service usually reserved only for poor defendants.

CREW also filed a complaint (PDF) with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Mr. Greene and three other candidates in the June 8, 2010 South Carolina primary violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) and FEC regulations by failing to file mandatory disclosure reports. Gregory Brown, Ben Fraiser, Brian Doyle and Mr. Greene all failed to file their mandatory April 15th Quarterly Report and 12-Day Pre-Primary Reports.

Additionally, Mr. Green failed to file a Statement of Candidacy for himself and a Statement of Organization for his campaign.

CREW’s Executive Director, Melanie Sloan, said today:

The people of South Carolina have a right to fair, transparent and fraud-free elections. Paying candidates to run for office and concealing the sources of campaign funds undermines the integrity of the electoral process and threatens our democracy.

And election law regulations – and their deadlines – exist for a reason. All candidates who are serious about representing the American public in our federal government should be able to perform such simply tasks as filing paperwork on time.

Read CREW’s FEC complaint and the complaint’s exhibits.

Read CREW’s letter to South Carolina Attorney General McMaster.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today unanimously reversed a lower court decision that would have a created a massive loophole in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) and allowed wealthy individuals to contribute unlimited amounts to the candidates of their choice through straw donors.

The Justice Department had prosecuted prominent California trial attorney Pierce O’Donnell for violating FECA by reimbursing thirteen employees of his law firm for making a total of $26,000 in contributions to the presidential campaign of former Senator John Edwards (D-NC). A federal district court in California had dismissed the indictment on the grounds that the Act only prohibited making contributions under fake names – not reimbursing others for making contributions. The Ninth Circuit correctly rejected that interpretation today, holding specifically that the Act prohibits providing donation money to others when they are merely ‘straw donors.’

In September 2009, CREW filed an amicus brief in the case supporting the Justice Department's long-standing interpretation of the law.

CREW’s Executive Director Melanie Sloan said today,

By reversing the lower court’s decision, the Ninth Circuit has helped ensure that our elections are not bought and sold by the wealthy. Mr. O’Donnell’s scheme was a brazen violation of election law – and CREW praises the Ninth Circuit for recognizing this fact.

Click here (PDF) to read the Ninth Circuit’s decision.