Partner Craig Engle Sheds Light on 2016 Election Spending in CNN Report

Arent Fox Political Law partner Craig Engle spoke with CNN Politics in a new report titled “Secret spenders face challenge in 2016.”

The article examines a legal complication that’s causing outside spending groups to reconsider their campaign tactics. Mr. Engle discusses how aggressive political advertisements will differ this campaign season because key contenders, such as Hillary Clinton, are not currently  federal office holders and might not be attacked by tax-exempt nonprofits using traditional issue advocacy messages.

According to Mr. Engle, who helped create the now-classic “tell your officeholder” television commercial tagline 25 years ago, the critical final seconds of soft-money advertisements this cycle will be different, because most presidential candidates are not also currently federal officeholders: You can easily criticize Ted Cruz, for example, but not Jeb Bush “because one’s an officeholder and one isn’t,” Engle explained.

To read the full article from CNN Politics, click here.

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