NYT: For more than a decade, Democrats seeking more robust enforcement of election laws and transparency measures have been routinely routed at the F.E.C., the nation’s top campaign watchdog agency. They have complained bitterly that Republicans have weaponized the commission’s … Continue reading
Category Archives: federal election commission
FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub’s WaPo oped: But when the FEC’s professional legal staff recommended the commission investigate, two Republican commissioners instead tanked the case without a word about its merits. Since Cohen had already been prosecuted, they said, “pursuing these matters … Continue reading
NYT: The Federal Election Commission said on Thursday that it had formally dropped a case looking into whether former President Donald J. Trump violated election law with a payment of $130,000 shortly before the 2016 election to a pornographic-film actress … Continue reading
NYT: The Federal Election Commission voted unanimously on Thursday to recommend that Congress ban political campaigns from guiding donors by default into recurring contributions through prechecked boxes, a month after a New York Times investigation showed that former President Donald J. Trump’s … Continue reading
Free Speech for People: The Federal Election Commission divided 3-3 on Free Speech For People’s 2017 complaint against the oil company Citgo, its Venezuelan state-owned parent company, and President Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee. The FEC’s general counsel agreed with Free Speech For … Continue reading
NYT: Yet as the Senate prepares to begin work on a sweeping voting rights and elections overhaul bill, the two parties are bitterly divided over a proposal to restructure the enforcer of campaign finance rules, a central plank of the … Continue reading
The Democratic commissioners issued a statement on the 3-3 deadlock. … Continue reading
Congratulations! … Continue reading
WaPo: The Senate on Wednesday confirmed three members to the Federal Election Commission, restoring the agency’s ability to conduct official business after months without a voting quorum and bringing the panel to its full slate of six members for the … Continue reading
Lachlan Markay for the Daily Beast: The good news is that the nation’s top campaign finance watchdog may soon be functional again. The bad news is that its current chairman has gone off the rails.Trey Trainor may not be a … Continue reading
Ken Doyle for Bloomberg Government: The Federal Election Commission is set to be revived after being sidelined during the most expensive election in U.S. history.Senate Rules and Administration Committee Chairman Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) scheduled a confirmation hearing for Wednesday for Democrat Shana … Continue reading
The Hill: President Trump on Wednesday announced his intent to nominate Sean Cooksey and Shana Broussard to serve as members of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The potential nominations come four months after Republican FEC Commissioner Caroline Hunter resigned, leaving the agency without a … Continue reading
Quite a story in ProPublica today: Debbie Chacona oversees the division of the Federal Election Commission that serves as the first line of defense against illegal flows of cash in political campaigns. Its dozens of analysts sift through billions of … Continue reading
Karl Sandstrom at Law360. … Continue reading
Church Militant interviews Trey Trainor on video: The Marxist Left is going to have a complete and total meltdown over this. Church Militant sat down recently in our studios with the chairman of the Federal Election Commission, Trey Trainor (a Trump appointee), who … Continue reading
Daily Beast: Donald Trump’s first addition to the nation’s top election regulator has launched a broadside against anti-corruption groups that, he claims, are trying to advance a left-wing agenda by attempting to spur enforcement of federal election laws.Trey Trainor, the … Continue reading
Some thoughts: The @kanyewest candidacy may seem like a joke to some, but getting this filing would tell us a lot more about who is paying and who is benefitting. Have we ever seen a presidential candidate spend this much … Continue reading
Big win for more effective disclosure rules. … Continue reading
You can read the letter here. It begins: We the undersigned, nonpartisan staff members of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) affirm our commitment to make our workplace a model of inclusion and equal opportunity for all, regardless of racial, class, … Continue reading
Allen Dickerson of the Institute for Free Speech is the president's new @fec nominee, per new announcement from the WH. The president's only other @fec nominee, Trey Trainor, was nominated in September 2017 and confirmed in May 2020. pic.twitter.com/cJOCUk5oqt— Carrie … Continue reading
Politico: The Federal Election Commission is losing its short-lived quorum after Caroline Hunter, a longtime Republican commissioner of the FEC and former chair of the agency, is resigning, according to a resignation letter obtained by POLITICO.Her departure from the agency means that … Continue reading
Revealing Dave Levinthal interview. … Continue reading
Wiley analysis. … Continue reading
WaPo: The Senate on Tuesday confirmed a conservative Texas lawyer nominated by President Trump to the Federal Election Commission, restoring a voting quorum on the agency for the first time since August amid a mounting backlog of complaints and requests for guidance … Continue reading
Washington Post: Senate committee Thursday voted to advance President Trump’s nominee to fill a vacancy on the Federal Election Commission, which would restore the agency’s ability to conduct official business.The Senate Rules and Administration Committee voted along party lines to nominate … Continue reading
Ken Doyle: Advocates of stricter campaign finance law enforcement fear a Senate Republican push to restore a quorum on the Federal Election Commission could thwart their ability to pursue alleged violations in court.The Senate Rules and Administration Committee is expected … Continue reading
Gonna break some precedent to not confirm in party pairs, but it will restore a quorum if Trainor confirmed so the FEC can then defend itself when it is sued for inaction and partisan deadlock. … Continue reading
This development is one to watch. … Continue reading
Issue One report. … Continue reading
Politico: The Federal Election Commission — which is charged with policing federal campaign finance law — has been sidelined for months leading up to the presidential election because it lost its quorum. But a hearing Tuesday to fill a seat … Continue reading
Issue One: In response to the news that Senate Republicans will hold a confirmation hearing next week for Federal Election Commission (FEC) nominee Trey Trainor, Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee released the following statement:“It is unacceptable that the watchdog … Continue reading
Dave Levinthal: 1/ NEW: Following today's House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on campaign finance, @FEC Chair Caroline Hunter sends pointed letter to @ProfCiara regarding her testimony about foreign spending in U.S. elections. pic.twitter.com/rfgnMwfvYw— Dave Levinthal (@davelevinthal) February 7, 2020 … Continue reading
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
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