FEC complaint filed against Evan Low's congressional campaign by former chair

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- New information in the contentious race for the 16th Congressional District seat both Sam Liccardo and Evan Low are running for.

A Federal Election Commission complaint has been filed against candidate Low, accusing him of not reporting in-kind contributions.

The person who filed the complaint is former FEC Chair Ann Ravel, who is also an endorser of Liccardo.

"Someone in the campaign of Liccardo asked me if I would take a look at what had happened," Ravel said.

The complaint alleges that Low's campaign did not disclose that it used a nonprofit's email list and email server as an in-kind contribution.

An example given in the complaint shows an email sent in February with a link that directed users to a page it said was hosted by nonprofit Stand with Asian Americans.

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Though Ravel is listed as an endorser on Liccardo's website and acknowledged it, she said the complaint is not about that.

"My rationale for this has nothing to do with Liccardo and my support of him or any feeling particularly about Evan Low," Ravel said. "What I care about is the democratic process and I care about making sure that all people know who's behind various campaigns."

Low's campaign sent a statement saying:

"Sam Liccardo is once again deploying his supporters to make false accusations against our campaign - and distract his own shady conduct. This is simply a case of a volunteer working in their personal capacity using the wrong hyperlink. The email list was purchased from the county registrar and reported by the campaign."

Liccardo's campaign issued a statement saying:

"Evan Low will do anything to further his political career, whether it's breaking the law or taking money from Oil Companies, PG&E, or Private Prisons - it's gotten so bad Barack Obama's former FEC Chair is now calling him out, four years after the FPPC opened a still-ongoing investigation into him. Voters deserve better."

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This all comes months after multiple candidates ran in the primary race for District 16.

Sam Liccardo won first place by a wide margin, initially Evan Low and Joe Simitian won second place in a tie until a recount request was made. That request was made by a former Staffer on Liccardo's 2014 San Jose mayoral campaign, Liccardo's team did not claim a current association with that staffer.

Two FEC complaints were filed against Liccardo in the aftermath.

As for the complaint against Low, Ravel, said she's leaving what happens next to the FEC.

"They're the ones who will have to investigate this, not me," Ravel said. "They're the ones who can look at it and can determine if they think that it's wrong or not.

The nonprofit Stand With Asian Americans also issued this statement:

"Stand with Asian Americans (SwAA) is a strictly non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization and it is against our core policies to share, sell, or disclose any subscriber information to external entities, including political campaigns. SwAA has never provided email lists to the Low campaign. Any suggestion otherwise is categorically false and misrepresents our unwavering commitment to our community's privacy and trust.

We condemn Ms. Revel's (sic) politically motivated and irresponsible accusations against SwAA, a civil rights organization fighting anti-Asian hate and discrimination. Ms. Revel failed to reach out to us to verify these allegations, which are easily proven false. Ms. Revel's complaint, citing Evan's attendance of a SwAA anti-Asian hate event as evidence of wrongdoing, is outrageous - we wonder if she would attack other minority advocacy organizations under similar circumstances."