Defend The Vote, a national pro-democracy and good government advocacy organization, is amending its Federal Elections Commission complaint against 16th District congressional candidate Evan Low to accuse the Campbell Democrat of adding over $500,000 in new, “illegal campaign spending” to boost his campaign for Congress.

Defend the Vote has endorsed Low’s opponent, fellow Democrat and former San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo.

Last week, Defend the Vote filed a complaint against Low, claiming he used non-federal funds through his state campaign committee to pay for ads for his federal candidacy.

Low has not returned requests for comment on the FEC complaint.

“Low has since doubled down on the illegal spending with an eye-popping $540,000 expenditure from his state campaign committee to support his Congressional campaign,” the organization said in a statement.

“Evan Low may have been unaware he was breaking election law the first time, but now that our complaint has clearly laid out the facts, this new spending is absolutely a knowing and willful violation,” Defend the Vote Executive Director Brian Lemek said. “We will amend our complaint to the FEC to include this new illegal spending and we believe Evan Low should pull down the ads.”

Defend the Vote said that Low’s state campaign committee is funded through money that is not permitted to be spent in federal elections, and that he is using impermissible funds on federal campaign ads.

The ads target voters in the congressional district for which he is running rather than his assembly district. The ads “are not regular legislative communications, and Low has no history of running such ads,” the organization said in a statement.

Low also failed to properly disclose donors to his state committee in a federal filing, which Defend the vote called “an apparent attempt to hide illegal donations.”

“It’s plain as day that this is a campaign ad, and despite efforts to hide some of the illegal funds, the paper trail is a mile long,” said Lemek.

The Facts:

Low’s state campaign committee filed a report with the FEC indicating it spent $35,000 on electioneering communications that identified Assemblymember Low.

Most of the funds in Low’s state campaign committee are funds that are prohibited to be spent in federal elections, Lemek alleged. He said in a statement that:

• Prohibited funds in Low’s state campaign committee include donations made in excess of the federal $3,300 limit and contributions from corporations and non-federal corporate PACs.

• In the electioneering report to the FEC, Low did not disclose the donors to his state campaign

“Evan Low, who is already under investigation from the Fair Political Practices Commission for campaign finance violations, continues to find new ways to break campaign finance laws and betray the public trust,” Gil Rubinstein, spokesperson for Liccardo, said. “Ethical leadership is the bare minimum for any elected official. Voters deserve better.”