Bloomberg BNA:

A petition for tougher Federal Election Commission rules restricting government contractors’ contributions to super political action committees is set to be considered by the FEC at a commission meeting set for Nov. 10, but the petition’s sponsor doesn’t expect the FEC commissioners to muster a majority vote to act on it.

“I hope they go ahead” to advance a notice of proposed rulemaking, Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the nonprofit Public Citizen who requested a new FEC rulemaking effort, told Bloomberg BNA in a phone interview. “But, I wouldn’t expect it.”

Court decisions and FEC rulings have allowed super PACs influencing federal elections to receive corporate contributions, though reported contributions from large, public companies like Chevron remain rare. Despite this general rule, the FEC has indicated that a long-standing ban on federal campaign money from corporations that are government contractors remains in effect and applies to super PAC contributions.

Many big companies do at least some business with the government and could be affected by tough campaign finance rules affecting contractors. However, the ban on contractor campaign money has been interpreted so narrowly by the FEC that it is ineffective, according to Holman and other critics.