“[S]uperPACs may not coordinate with any candidate.”
—FEC Chair Caroline Hunter, in a Washington Times oped.
The accurate statement is that Super PACs may not illegally coordinate. So what has this meant so far? Here’s what has counted (or likely counts) as permissible coordination (or as Colbert called it, non-coordinated coordination).
1. A federal candidate may solicit funds for a super pac (but not ask for unlimited sums).
2. A federal candidate may appear in a super PAC’s ads in a long enough period before the election (this issue is currently before the FEC)
3. A federal candidate may use footage from a super PAC ad in his own ads.
4. A super PAC may be made up of the candidate’s former campaign manager, his father, his best friends, and his former co-workers.
5. A super PAC and candidate may share the same lawyer, and some of the same vendors.
And on disclosure? FEC Chair Hunter says that super pacs have to abide by the same disclosure rules as others. But thanks to Commissioner Hunter’s votes, those disclosure rules are ineffective and full of loopholes.