The campaign of Michael Eggman – who will once again be challenging Republican Jeff Denham for his seat in the 10th Congressional District – has an issue with the complaints that were raised by a group that presented itself as impartial.
Last week the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative nonprofit group, petitioned the Federal Elections Commission to launch an investigation into what they claim is a straw donation between Eggman’s campaign and the embattled father of Elk Grove Democratic Congressman Ami Bera, who pled guilty in May of two counts of election fraud for doing exactly what FACT claims Eggman, a Turlock Democrat, was involved in.
“Clearly, our campaign for Valley families has DC Republicans worried. They know the Trump-Denham ticket is toxic in the 10th District, so their allies are manufacturing bogus complaints,” said Josh Lord, the Eggman for Congress Campaign Manager. “The allegations made by this far right wing group with a history of filing false complaints are absolutely false. If anybody is concerned about ethics in Washington, they should ask Rep. Denham how he increased his weath by up to 29 times since going to Congress.”
And while the complaint, according to the National Republican Congressional Committee, was filed by a “nonpartisan watchdog group” it appears that FACT is in fact a conservative organization that has deep ties in Washington D.C.
The group’s Executive Director, Matthew Whitaker, was the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa – appointed by George W. Bush – and two years ago ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the United States Senate.
While the nonprofit advertises itself as an “organization dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government in civic arenas by hanging a lantern over public officials who put their own interests over the interests of the public good,” The Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research group that tracks the flow of money into government and how it affects policy and elections, believes that FACT is tied in with a group of dark money groups that make it impossible to see where their funding comes from. 
Eggman’s campaign offered a rebuttal to the allegations from FACT, but didn’t say anything about ejecting a reporter from the Oakdale Leader from a public event when he arrived with the intent of asking Eggman about the allegations. According to a story in the Leader, the reporter was told that the gathering, which was for people of the district to come to his campaign office and watch the Democratic National Convention, was “open to the public but not the press” before he was asked to leave the premises.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.