Campaign Finance PolicyThe FEC Reaches a New Low For years the CLC has been critical of the FEC’s weak enforcement of federal campaign finance laws against law-breaking 527 groups. The FEC’s weak enforcement has now devolved into non-enforcement. In the words of FEC Commissioners Cynthia L. Bauerly and Ellen L. Weintraub published in a December 19 statement, their three Republican “colleagues’ refusal to accept the signed conciliation agreement with the November Fund amounts to a refusal to enforce the law.” They'd Let the Cash Flow Make no mistake: The Republican National Committee, through its counsel and now vice-chairman James Bopp Jr., is seeking something of a revolution in Supreme Court precedent on campaign finance regulation. But as is often the case in litigation, the “revolution” is disguised by the technical nature of the law and the procedural tactics of the challengers. Bundling Disclosure Provisions Undermined by New FEC Rules? After much discussion of the difficulty of crafting a compromise and a bit of self-congratulation, the FEC today unanimously adopted rules to implement the bundling disclosure requirements in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007—the important ethics and lobbying reform law passed by Congress in 2007. Unfortunately, the rules adopted by the FEC today may seriously undermine the purposes of the law and the intent of the law’s principal sponsors—including President-elect Obama and Sen. Feingold—as expressed on the floor of the Senate. Our Democracy Is Stronger With More Competition Why is real political competition so scarce in a democracy? How did competition — which is supposed to be the American way — become the exception and not the rule? Competition is supposed to be our democratic system’s way of holding our elected representatives accountable. Where did we go wrong and what can we do about it? Soft Money Abuse By Host Committees With big donors like Anheuser Busch, Kraft, AT&T and the Service Employees International Union able to cut six- and seven-figure checks, money is no object for the convention host committees. These corporate and union behemoths aren't just providing free Cheez Whiz, Bud Lights and bartenders for this "rock star" event, they are taking advantage of one of the biggest loopholes in our nation's campaign finance laws. Campaign & Election Law Litigation Update, August 2008 It remains a busy time in campaign finance and election law, with a growing number of cases on court dockets around the country, particularly those challenging existing campaign finance laws. With many new developments, we have updated our “Cases of Interest,” providing a brief summary of pertinent cases and the Campaign Legal Center’s involvement. Plenty of reasons for congressional ethics office to take shape Now that the Office of Congressional Ethics panel has been named, it remains an open question whether it will turn out to be an effective, independent, third-party agency that takes its responsibility to investigate alleged ethics violations seriously. But there are some reasons for hope. Newly-Reconstituted FEC Passes First Test The newly-reconstituted FEC passed its first test today when it rejected a request by Club for Growth PAC for an exemption from the clear statutory “stand-by-your-ad” spoken disclaimer requirement for the PAC’s ten- and 15-second independent expenditure television ads. Public Financing After Davis: “The Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated” There has been much speculation in the weeks since the Supreme Court decided Davis v. FEC, striking down the federal law “Millionaire’s Amendment,” about whether and how the decision would impact lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of public financing program trigger provisions. Missing from this commentary, however, has been a thoughtful discussion of the differences between the Millionaire’s Amendment struck down in Davis and public financing program trigger provisions, which were not analyzed by the Court in Davis. Let’s Scratch Out the FEC Enforcement of the campaign finance laws is vital in a presidential election year, but the Federal Election Commission is still not up to the job. Its failure has been so persistent over so many years that Congress is now weighing a bipartisan bill that would replace the FEC altogether. |
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