The 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. Too Busy and Too Big to be Bothered All this nettlesome paperwork about financial holdings, gifts, trips and campaign contributions! What’s an above-reproach public official to do? In some cases, it seems the answer is to treat the gift rules and the whole disclosure process with contempt. Texas Congressional Clout DeLayed Tom DeLay’s scorched earth Texas gerrymander has left a sad legacy in the Lone Star State. The power grab also remains Exhibit A for why we need redistricting reform before the next round of gerrymanders commences after the 2010 census. 
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