SEC Chair Mary Jo White deserves kudos for refusing to let the agency be yanked into this fiasco. Normally one would write, “I can only imagine the pressure she was under.” In this case, however, I know the pressure she was under, because I’ve had a similar experience.
In 2004, I was Chairman of the Federal Election Commission. After President Bush cynically signed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law in 2002, Republicans believed the law would be declared unconstitutional. Democrats, however, set about establishing a network of non-party organizations that would effectively allow them to raise and spend money outside the law’s restraints. These organizations, such as Americans Coming Together, and others, called “527s” – were largely exempt from the law….