Washington (CNN) – Stop Hillary PAC, a group aimed at making sure former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doesn't become president, filed a complaint on Wednesday against a group looking to do the exact opposite.
In their complaint with the Federal Election Commission, the anti-Hillary group contends that Ready for Hillary, a group urging Clinton to run for president, violated election laws when they rented Clinton’s 2008 campaign email list.
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The complaint calls for “an immediate investigation” into the matter.
“Hillary let her Presidential & Senate committee’s property – the email list and email address – be used by Ready for Hillary for the purpose of helping draft Hillary,” Dan Backer, Stop Hillary PAC’s lawyer said in a statement. “Of course that’s authorization – what else could it be? That violates federal election law and we’re calling on the FEC to swiftly investigate.”
Earlier this month, Clinton's failed 2008 presidential campaign rented out their email list to Ready for Hillary. The group then sent out an email to those Clinton supporters, offering bumper stickers that read "I'm Ready for Hillary." While Ready for Hillary is focusing on building their own email database, spokesman Seth Bringman told CNN that Ready for Hillary had rented the Clinton email list in order to "connect with her past supporters."
The anti-Hillary group argues this violates campaign finance law because the rental shows Clinton is supporting the work that Ready for Hillary is doing on her behalf.
“Ready for Hillary is in the business of trying to get Hillary Clinton to run for office – essentially to draft her for office. And that’s their right to do so, provided the object of their draft – Hillary – isn't behind it or helping them, because then it stops being a draft committee and becomes an authorized campaign committee,” Backer said.
Some FEC experts disagree with this assessment, however.
“A mailing list or email list itself doesn't seem to fall within the scope of the coordination rules at all,” Paul S. Ryan, senior counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, told TIME.
Although Clinton has yet to declare whether she is running for president in 2016, there has been a flurry of activity around her possible candidacy. Groups on both sides have formed in an effort to urge and stop her from running. Both Ready for Hillary and Stop Hillary were formed shortly after Clinton left the State Department in 2013.
“They're looking for something to do, I guess,” Bringman said. “But we're focused on our nearly two million grassroots supporters who are ready to support Hillary Clinton should she decide to run for president."
This story was first reported by Buzzfeed.