In contrast to some of the press coverage, here’s Commissioner Weintraub’s statement on the recent Majority PAC AO:

A funny thing happened at the end of the long and contentious meeting where this Advisory Opinion was discussed. It turned but that commissioners agreed more than they disagreed on the principles underlying the requestors’ plans regarding testing the waters activities and the relationships between candidates and the Super PACs that support them. Commissioners agreed unanimously on five of the twelve questions (questions 4,5,6,8, and 9), and four commissioners agreed on the answers to questions 11 and 12 (Chair Ravel and I dissented on those). But even on the questions where we disagreed, our positions were not diametrically opposed. There was some common ground. And that should give pause to anyone who is making plans based on the assumption that the testing the waters phase of a candidacy is a regulation-free zone.