WaPo: There’s little evidence that the film, directed by Joel Gilbert, moved votes. It was not a “birther” advertisement — Gilbert never questioned that Obama was eligible to be president — but in focus groups conducted for Republicans, it… Continue reading

WaPo: Former House speaker Newt Gingrich will not face a Federal Election Commission investigation into allegations that he broke federal law by using his 2012 presidential campaign to promote books that he and his wife wrote, documents released Friday… Continue reading

Bauer: FEC Commissioner Weintraub believes that she has hit upon a regulatory maneuverto stop publicly traded corporations from making independent expenditures, or unlimited contributions to independent expenditure committees.  At a time when newspaper editorialists carry on with attacks on… Continue reading

FEC Commissioner Weintraub on Democracy Now.

NYT letters to the editor on FEC Commissioner Weintraub’s NYT oped.

Matea Gold for WaPo: The three Republican appointees on the divided Federal Election Commission have indicated that political donors who give through private companies solely to shield their identities can be sanctioned, signaling that the agency may scrutinize a… Continue reading

Allen Dickerson: In an opinion piece published yesterday in The New York Times, Ellen Weintraub, a member of the Federal Election Commission, suggests a way to “blunt the impact” of Citizens United v. FEC. There are reasons to question… Continue reading

LAT editorial.

Larry Noble responds to Bob Bauer.

NYT Taking Note blog.

Bauer: The Federal Election Commission’s job is hard, harder than many will admit, but the agency somehow manages to make it even harder. So now, five years after the fact,the FEC has decided not to investigate a donor’s alleged… Continue reading

Russ Choma for Mother Jones: In 2011, former Bain Capital executive Edward Conrad decided to give $1 million to the super-PAC supporting the presidential bid of his pal Mitt Romney. But he didn’t contribute the cash directly. Instead, he… Continue reading