Ex-FEC leader starts New Hampshire super PAC

Introduction

A new super PAC established by a former Federal Election Commission chairman appears poised to enter New Hampshire’s political fray, where three Democratic incumbents in Congress are seeking re-election.

Known as “New Hampshire PAC to Save America,” the super PAC was registered by David Mason, a Republican who served on the FEC from 1998 to 2008 and now works as the senior vice president of compliance services at the Washington, D.C.-based political technology firm Aristotle.

Beyond its intent to “raise funds in unlimited amounts,” the new super PAC’s mission, at the moment, is unclear.

“We’re going to file what we’re required to disclose when we’re required to disclose it,” Mason told the Center for Public Integrity. “No public announcements.”

While Mason, the super PAC’s treasurer, is the only person named in New Hampshire PAC to Save America’s registration filing, the group also lists an address in Concord, N.H., that matches that of the law firm Cleveland, Waters and Bass. A message left with the firm was not immediately returned.

Mason himself serves as the treasurer of one other federal super PAC, according to FEC records — a conservative-leaning group known as “Champions for Change.”

In 2012, the Champions for Change super PAC raised $127,500, all of which came from a limited liability company connected to controversial businessman and race car driver Scott Tucker.

This year in New Hampshire, incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is fighting for a second term in one of the nation’s more high-profile Senate races.

Republican Scott Brown, who previously served in the U.S. Senate representing Massachusetts, last month launched a Senate campaign in the Granite State. Also seeking the GOP Senate nomination are former state Sen. Jim Rubens, former U.S. Sen. Bob Smith and conservative activist Karen Testerman.

Big-money groups such as the pro-GOP Crossroads GPS and the pro-Democratic Senate Majority PAC have already made expenditures in the Senate contest.

And Americans for Prosperity, the politically active nonprofit supported by the conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, has also aired ads in the Senate race, as well as the state’s two U.S. House contests.

In those House races, Democratic Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Ann McLane Kuster are running for re-election.

In one GOP House primary campaign, a super PAC called “New Hampshire Priorities” has supported Republican Dan Inniss, dean of the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire, against former Rep. Frank Guinta. The winner of that race will run against Shea-Porter.

Through the end of March, the New Hampshire Priorities super PAC raised $174,000, all of it from businessman Peter T. Paul.

Meanwhile, Republican state Reps. Marilinda Garcia and Gary Lambert are vying for the GOP nomination to run against Kuster.