Marshall Tuck’s campaign officials illegally coordinated with an EdVoice-linked campaign committee to produce videos in support of his candidacy, according to a Fair Political Practices Commission complaint filed in Sacramento today by officials from the Tony Thurmond For State Superintendent of Public Instruction campaign.

The technique of placing footage of your candidate for use by outside supporters is a violation of campaign finance rules. The presumed intent of Tuck officials to create YouTube “TUCK B-ROLL” a no-audio upload, was to provide video footage for use by third-party supporters of the Tuck campaign. The Ed-Voice linked campaign has already used substantial parts of it.

The campaign rule in question is known as the McConnell Rule, in response to the senator’s infamous 2014 campaign B-roll footage that featured the senator without any sound, in backdrops and settings easily repurposed by others. It is now a violation for political campaigns to use the internet to place material for such use.

Maddie Franklin, campaign manager for CA Superintendent candidate Tony Thurmond, explained a familiar pattern followed by wealthy private charter supporters in other states;

“This pro-Marshall Tuck committee is operating straight out of the Betsy DeVos playbook.  A few billionaires get together and spend seemingly unlimited funds to elect their cherry-picked candidate, with no regard for the rules that everyone else is following.  It’s undemocratic and unfair to California’s kids.”

This is just the most recent controversy for Tuck and his billionaire backers.  Earlier this year Tuck took a contribution from Fieldstead & Company, which he was later pressured to return after it was publicized and criticized by LGBTQ groups.  Fieldstead & Company and its CEO Howard Ahmanson were the largest funders of the Yes on Prop 8 campaign to make gay marriage illegal in California.

Read the complaint letter to FPPC explaining the violations below: