FEC Drops Complaint on Michael Moore
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Michael Moore's (search) anti-Bush documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" (search) lived on at the Federal Election Commission after it left theaters.
The FEC said Tuesday it has dismissed two complaints that accused Moore and others involved in the 2004 film of violating a ban on the use of corporate money for election-time presidential ads.
Moore's documentary portrayed Bush as lazy and inattentive to warnings in the months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that terrorists were preparing to strike the United States.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The film hit theaters last summer as the presidential race heated up. The documentary and ads promoting it immediately drew complaints from Moore critics that the filmmaker and the movie's financiers and distributors were illegally using company money to attack Bush.
The FEC ruled that the film and the promotion of it represented legitimate commercial activity, and also noted that ads for the film didn't fall within the two months before last November's election or refer to a clearly identified candidate.
The two complaints, one filed by Dale Clausnitzer of San Diego and the other by Jeffrey S. Smith of Easton, Pa., are among at least three against Moore, all dismissed by the FEC.