Two stories today about campaign funds active longer than their campaigners. One focuses on FEC requests for explanation from retired officeholders still spending from campaign accounts. The other describes the plans that Rep. Cummings had for his unspent campaign money … Continue reading
Category Archives: federal election commission
The Hill: Lobbyists and lawyers who specialize in U.S. elections wrote to President Trump and congressional leaders on Monday, urging the confirmation of another federal election commissioner to end “an untenable situation.”The Federal Election Commission (FEC), the government’s campaign watchdog … Continue reading
Court order. Comment from Marc Elias via email: “The idea that a so called good government group would use the fact that the FEC is shorthanded to try to score a victory in court and not let the case be … Continue reading
Empty Wheel ponders. … Continue reading
Bloomberg editorial. … Continue reading
Ellen Weintraub WaPo oped. She has also posted this State of the Commission report, as the FEC continues without a quorum. … Continue reading
CPI: These are dark times at the Federal Election Commission, which has now gone two months without enough commissioners to enforce federal campaign finance laws. That’s because U.S. senators and President Donald Trump have failed to strike an agreement to fill any of … Continue reading
Interesting CEPR blog post. … Continue reading
Politico oped. … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
Start here: I will not be silenced. The independence of the United States Federal Election Commission will not be compromised. /1 pic.twitter.com/T5XfjvQWNw— Ellen L Weintraub (@EllenLWeintraub) October 10, 2019 … Continue reading
NPR reports. … Continue reading
Ellen Aprill has an important new piece at Tax Notes building off the Price for Congress request for an advisory opinion, and lucky for us you can get it from behind the paywall: An August 22 deadlock by the Federal Election … Continue reading
Statement: Late last week, my colleague, Ellen Weintraub, unilaterally and without advance notice, made public a draft interpretative rule regarding the Act’s foreign national ban and placed it on the agenda for the open meeting of October 17, 2019. Approval … Continue reading
Can’t make this up folks: 3/GOP FEC Commissioner Caroline Hunter took the altogether unprecedented step of objecting to its being added to the Digest and blocked publication of the whole Digest as a result.— Ellen L Weintraub (@EllenLWeintraub) September 27, … Continue reading
This cannot be acted on by an FEC without a quorum, and surely this would divide the commission along party lines, but Ellen Weintraub’s analysis seems solid. … Continue reading
They don’t like that she’s exercising her First Amendment rights or that she’s speaking out against foreign interference in the 2020 elections. … Continue reading
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for TPM Cafe. … Continue reading
Could happen. More likely nothing happens. … Continue reading
Ken Doyle: The Federal Election Commission’s paralysis on key campaign-finance matters could be extended indefinitely as leaders in Congress skirmish over how to appoint new commissioners.Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), want to install six new commissioners. The move … Continue reading
Anna Massoglia: Ex-@FEC vice chair Matthew Petersen—whose departure effectively thwarts any FEC enforcement action going into 2020 elections—is joining Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky, a political law firm known for creative legal maneuvers hiding "dark money" donors https://t.co/8EL1aDrPjx pic.twitter.com/7bLEJSlNXK— Anna Massoglia … Continue reading
NPR reports. … Continue reading
[Bumped to the top with corrected link] Mother Jones: At the most recent FEC meeting last week, commissioners punted—for the fourth meeting in a row—on the question of how to attach the same kind of disclosures that appear in television … Continue reading
Kate Ackley for Roll Call. … Continue reading
“When I saw …that Don McGahn went to be the White House counsel, I predicted…that what that meant was that all agencies in the federal government whose job it was to protect the public interest were going to be rendered … Continue reading
CPI investigates. … Continue reading
Paul Bedard: FEC Vice Chair Matt Petersen resigns, fought internet regs, leaves agency in voting limbo. Championed 1st Amendment and the little guy. Told Trump, 'The legitimacy of government action is bolstered when everyone feels they have received a fair … Continue reading
See here. If the FEC deadlocks, Price will have to decide whether to go forward with his plan and risk liability for doing so. But given how lax FEC enforcement is these days, it is not clear how much of … Continue reading
FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub (whose full statement is here): BREAKING: @FEC's Republicans block all investigation of & enforcement against Russians Torshin & Butina re the NRA & the 2016 presidential election. Result: FEC does nothing to find out the truth … Continue reading
Open Secrets: Deadlocked on a party-line vote, the Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint that Hillary Clinton’s campaign illegally coordinated with a super PAC during the 2016 presidential election cycle.Continuing a recent trend with the embattled regulatory agency that … Continue reading
Here’s last week’s roundup of the latest at the FEC. Includes, among other things, an advisory opinion allowing a vendor to offer cybersecurity services to campaigns at low- to no-cost, and an advisory opinion allowing a congressional campaign to distribute … Continue reading
CPI reports. … Continue reading
NYT: The Federal Election Commission said on Thursday that a Silicon Valley security company could immediately start helping 2020 presidential candidates defend their campaigns from the kinds of malicious email attacks that Russian hackers exploited in the 2016 election.The F.E.C. … Continue reading
Bloomberg reports. … Continue reading
Release: Free Speech For People has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission for failing to investigate a $150,000 “hush money” payment made in 2016 to Karen McDougal, one of President Trump’s former mistresses, under federal campaign finance law. The investigation … Continue reading
Politico: The head of the Federal Election Commission released a statement on Thursday evening reiterating, emphatically, that foreign assistance is illegal in U.S. elections.“Let me make something 100% clear to the American public and anyone running for public office: It … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
This is very good news. You can find the advisory opinion here. It is unanimous, except the Republican commissioners would not have imposed the disclosure requirements or source limitations. From Chair Weintraub’s letter: Under the unusual and exigent circumstances presented … Continue reading
Here at the Daily Caller. … Continue reading
Boston Globe: Lawyers at the Federal Election Commission found that Boston’s Thornton Law firm likely used a phony program to repay partners for political donations, but the case was dismissed after commissioners deadlocked on whether to pursue it.FEC staff lawyers … Continue reading
Huge decision not to take the case en banc today. Under the ruling, if the FEC deadlocks (typically along party lines) on an enforcement matter and those blocking enforcement claim “prosecutorial discretion,” there can be no meaningful judicial review of … Continue reading
CPI: The Federal Election Commission’s four leaders are offering lawmakers clashing perspectives on the agency’s very purpose.The FEC’s greatest challenge to fulfilling its mission is a misperception that “adherence to the rule of law and sensitivity to Americans’ First Amendment … Continue reading
Michelle Ye He Lee for WaPo. … Continue reading
TAP: Of all the Federal Election Commission’s many chronic breakdowns in recent years, its failure to take the slightest action to either stave off or respond to Russian meddling in the 2016 election is the most damaging to American democracy.The … Continue reading
Mother Jones: A gun safety group, Giffords, and a campaign finance watchdog, the Campaign Legal Center, are suing the Federal Election Commission for failing to act on multiple complaints alleging that the National Rifle Association unlawfully coordinated with Donald Trump and other … Continue reading
Release: Today, Common Cause, the Campaign Legal Center, and Democracy 21 filed a supplementto a complaint filed in July 2017 against President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign committee for soliciting contributions from foreign nationals in the form of opposition research offered by Russians. … Continue reading
Release: New data and analysis from the Brennan Center show that the deadlocked Federal Election Commission has failed to provide guidance to candidates, parties, and others seeking to understand their legal obligations; update regulations to reflect changes in the law; … Continue reading
WaPo: The Federal Election Commission could decide today whether nonpartisan groups can offer political campaigns free cybersecurity services, an issue that has made bedfellows of Republicans and Democrats but divided cyber pros and campaign finance hawks.The proposal’s authors, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 … Continue reading
Release: Today, Campaign Legal Center Action (CLC Action) filed suit on behalf of Giffords against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for failing to announce any action against the National Rifle Association (NRA) for using shell corporations to coordinate campaign spending with … Continue reading
Mike Gilbert and Samir Sheth: he Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently levied a record-breaking fine against Right to Rise, a Jeb Bush-connected super PAC, for soliciting an illegal contribution from a foreign national. The fine brought cheers for the FEC, an agency infamous … Continue reading