Complaint filed against candidates for governor, senate

(AP) - The Nevada Democratic Party filed a complaint Thursday with the Federal Election Commission alleging violations by Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Montandon, U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian and a shared adviser for an ad attacking U.S. Sen. Harry Reid.

The complaint claims Montandon's campaign illegally used soft money for an Internet advertisement against the Democratic Senate Majority leader who is seeking a fifth term, to the benefit of Tarkanian. Both campaigns are advised by Las Vegas consultant Steve Wark.

The ad seeking donations for Montandon featured a photo of Reid and his son, Rory Reid, with a line that said "Put an end to the Reid dynasty." Rory Reid is the Democratic front-runner in the governor's race.

Montandon, former North Las Vegas mayor, said the complaint was baseless and described it as "the first of what is expected to be many uses and abuses of the Reids' money and control of the Democratic Party."

State and local candidates are not subject to FEC requirements. But federal law prohibits them from using funds for a "public communication" against a clearly identified candidate for federal office, the complaint said.

"Because the Montandon campaign has not filed any reports with the commission, it cannot have used funds subject to the reporting requirements of federal campaign finance law," the complaint said.

It accuses Wark of coordinating the ad strategy between the two campaigns, and the Tarkanian campaign of receiving an illegal, in-kind contribution from its publication.

"With this illegal ad, the Montandon and Tarkanian campaigns and their mutual adviser have demonstrated utter disregard for the most basic campaign finance laws," Sam Lieberman, state Democratic Party chairman, said in a statement.

Tarkanian spokesman Brian Seitchik said the campaign had "no prior knowledge of the Internet ad," and referred questions to Montandon.

Montandon said his campaign used a media consultant in Texas to create the ad targeting Rory Reid. "It is ridiculous to think that the Montandon campaign would have the desire to spend resources on any other campaign, or that targeting Rory Reid would have to be done with no reference to any 'dynasty,'" he said.

Montandon denied there was any coordination between the two campaigns.