Category Archives: federal election commission
Aprill: “A Tax Lesson for Election Law”
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… Continue reading
FEC Commissioner Hunter Responds to FEC Chair Weintraub’s Attempt to Put Foreign Interference Draft in FEC Digest, Confirms FEC Foreign Contribution Ban (Without Opinion on Whether Opposition Research is a Thing of Value)
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
FEC Commissioner Hunter Blocks Publication of Weekly FEC Digest Because it Includes FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub’s Statement About What Counts as a Thing of Value for Purposes of Ban on Foreign Contributions to Campaigns
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 on… Continue reading
FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub Releases Draft Letter Setting Forth Her View of FEC Law that Candidates Soliciting Opposition Research Not at Market Rates Violate the Federal Law
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.
More Attacks from the Right on FEC Chair Weintraub
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.
“The FEC Is Paralyzed. It Couldn’t Come At A Worse Time.”
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for TPM Cafe.
The First African-American Commissioner for the FEC?
Could happen.
More likely nothing happens.
“Congressional Standoff May Delay Federal Election Oversight”
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… Continue reading
Ex-FEC Commissioner Petersen Left FEC Without a Quorum In Order to Work at Holtzman Vogel
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—… Continue reading
“As FEC Nears Shutdown, Priorities Such As Stopping Election Interference On Hold”
FEC Commissioner Petersen Intentionally Left Internet Disclosure Regulations Hanging, Knowing He Was Leaving
[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… Continue reading
“Could take FEC a while to regain a quorum, but don’t expect a ‘Wild West’”
Quote of the Day
“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