Bauer on FEC Chair Ann Ravel’s Daily Show Appearance

Bob:

To be clear, and to be fair: Commissioner Ravel did not appear to choose the particular example; there is plenty to complain about in the design of the campaign finance law and ample grounds on which to question, on a number of issues, the FEC’s performance; and certainly no opinion is expressed here about the legal affairs of the Fiorina Super PAC.  Nor is there any doubt that The Daily Show, like the Colbert turns with Trevor Potter, can be exceedingly entertaining and score a useful point here and there.

Commissioner Ravel concluded, however, that as Chair of the agency, she could help inform the public about the agency’s failings, and perhaps help bring pressure to right the ship, by appearing in a Daily Show routine.  It is not clear that, as an official communication, this will work as intended. Certainly, the audience would not likely have come away with the impression registered by the judge presiding over the challenge to the “name” rule: “U.S. federal election law is complex.”  Id. at *2.

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