This article originally appeared on Politico.com on November 16, 2010.
Steve Driehaus drops SBA List complaint
By Alex Isenstadt
Democratic Rep. Steve Driehaus has dropped his complaint against the Susan B. Anthony List, the anti-abortion group that aggressively targeted him during his failed reelection bid.
Driehaus filed a complaint in early October with the Ohio Elections Commission, accusing the organization of falsely attacking him for supporting taxpayer-funded abortions because he voted for the health care bill – a claim that Driehaus’s campaign insisted was not true.
The commission was slated to hold a Dec. 2 hearing on the matter, after it voted 2-1 shortly before the Nov. 2 election to determine whether the organization violated Ohio election law by making false statements. SBA List had been seeking to erect billboards saying the freshman Democrat voted “FOR taxpayer funded abortion,” though it agreed not to post them until the commission reached a decision.
The matter made unlikely allies of the SBA List and the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed an amicus brief arguing that the organization had the right to erect the billboards.
Driehaus ultimately lost the Cincinnati-area district to former GOP Rep. Steve Chabot, whom Driehaus, a past state House minority whip, had ousted in 2008.
Driehaus’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
“Rep. Driehaus’s decision to withdraw his complaint is a victory for the SBA List and for truth,” Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “The Susan B. Anthony List will not object to Rep. Driehaus withdrawing his complaint as we do not want to spend additional time and resources defending what the public already knows to be true – that the health care bill funds abortions with taxpayer dollars.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the complaint was filed with the Federal Election Commission.
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