Nick Confessore for the NYT:
Democrats are laying the groundwork for an ambitious reorganization of their struggling network of “super PACs“ that would exploit the loopholes and legal gray areas that Republicans have already used to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the 2016 campaign through such groups.
The plans, laid out by the party’s top election lawyers in an emergency request filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, would pave the way for the creation of a host of new super PACs tailored to individual House and Senate candidates.
But the filing also suggests that Democrats would, if allowed, seek to use tactics pioneered by Republican presidential candidates this cycle, helping prospective candidates establish and raise money for super PACs before they officially declare their intent to run.
Most strikingly, the lawyers are asking the commission to clarify how declared candidates, their campaign staff and their volunteers can help court donors for independent super PACs — even whether a candidate could be the “special guest” at a super PAC “fund-raiser” with as few as two donors. Its answer could have profound ramifications for the 2016 campaign, particularly for Democrats who, like Hillary Rodham Clinton, have been reluctant to engage too closely with super PAC fund-raising….
The lawyers signing the request — Marc E. Elias, Ezra W. Reese, Jonathan S. Berkon and Rachel L. Jacobs — work at Perkins Coie, the marquee Democratic election firm, which also represents the party’s congressional campaign committees, the presidential campaign of Mrs. Clinton and a Democratic super PAC supporting her. Mr. Elias declined to comment beyond the filing….
“I’m somewhat skeptical of the Democratic Party’s motives,” said Lawrence M. Noble, a senior counsel of the Campaign Legal Center, which has sought election commission sanctions against a group of 2016 candidates for alleged campaign violations. “They’re probably trying a combination — to embarrass the Republicans and also to have an excuse for doing it themselves.”
Should the commission deadlock on the request by refusing to act on it or splitting in a 3-to-3 vote, Mr. Noble said, “most of the aggressive lawyers will say it gives them a green light” to engage in similar tactics.