DECATUR - A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by the Federal Election Commission against the defunct 17th District Victory Fund, an organization set up to support Democratic campaigns, including those of U.S. Rep. Lane Evans, D-Rock Island.

The settlement approved by the U.S. District Court for Central Illinois was reached without the Friends of Lane Evans Committee, his current campaign organization, admitting any wrongdoing. Friends of Lane Evans will pay the FEC $185,000 as part of the settlement.

"We agreed to settle the matter because it wasn't worth the time and money it would take to conclude it in court," said Teresa Kurtenbach, Evans' political director. "We want to put this matter behind us and focus on the fights Congressman Evans is waging in Congress."

The $185,000 will come from current campaign funds, said Steve Vetzner, Evans' press aide.

The settlement was reached because of changes in the federal election laws that were made after the events mentioned in the lawsuit, Vetzner said.

"It was just not worth the time and cost to litigate it," he said. "We still feel we would have prevailed."

After the lawsuit was filed on Jan. 30, 2004, Evans said its 17 alleged violations of campaign finance laws were "bunk." He blamed Republicans for pushing the complaint and claimed the FEC failed to adequately investigate GOP allegations before proceeding with the legal action.

A spokesman for the state Republican Party could not be reached Tuesday for comment on the settlement.

Kurtenbach said the lawsuit targeted the work of the victory fund, which was established to strengthen grassroots organizing in the 17th District and respond to massive amounts of money being funneled to the GOP to defeat Democratic candidates, including Evans.

The fund demonstrated that people power can defeat money power, Kurtenbach said. The victory fund did not do anything wrong, it simply was better at its work than the GOP was, she said.

The FEC complaint stated the victory fund, set up in 1998, operated as an "alter ego" of the Evans campaign committee and violated federal contribution limits by spending $330,000 in the 1998 and 2000 election cycles to benefit Evans. The FEC alleged the fund operated in close coordination with Evans' campaign.

Ron Ingram can be reached at ringram@;herald-review.com or 421-7973.