SuperPAC Challenges Moreland Commission Subpoena

The State of Politics blog reports that lawyers for Strategic Advantage International, a political consulting firm, are asking a state court to quash a subpoena issued to it by the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption seeking information on who funded a superPAC for which it did work.

Strategic Advantage International developed a web site for Common Sense Principles, a 501(c)4 group that spent millions during the 2012 elections criticizing three Democratic State Senate candidates (all of whom won): Joe Addabbo of Queens, George Latimer of Westchester and Ted O’Brien of Monroe County.

The firm argues that it is in compliance with all federal and state laws, and it asks the court to quash the subpoenas because the subpoenas: are not authorized under state law; seek information that is not relevant to the Commission’s mandate; seek information that is protected by the First Amendment; and they are pre-empted by federal law.

Read the memorandum of law in support of their motion to quash the Moreland Commission subpoena here.