Last week I had a post called “A Cry for Help at the FEC” about an FEC request for comments on proposals related to its enforcement policies.  A reader of mine read this as a cry for help from FEC staff.  But I’ve heard from enough other knowledgeable insiders and others that this is probably a misreading of the FEC process, and that this may have developed out of earlier congressional action to make the FEC enforcement process more transparent.  The cover memo also indicates that the General Counsel’s office had been asked to put this on the agenda—it does not appear to have originated with staff.

Notably Democratic commissioners Bauerly and Weintraub were the two votes against the proposal. This may have been because the proposal could be seen as inviting further limits on the FEC enforcement process.

Or at least other readers have so suggested.  Again, I’m not a close enough observer at the FEC to understand these internal politics.