Happy Holidays, Super PACs: The FEC Removes Yet Another Block Against Dark
Money
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/happy_holidays_super_pacs_fec_removes_ye
t_another_block_against_20151227/
Posted on Dec 27, 2015
By Nadia Prupis / Common Dreams
Mark Van Scyoc / Shutterstock
The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) has quietly released a new advisory
opinion that will make it even easier for candidates and their staffers to
solicit for super PACs donations.
The opinion states that candidates can ask for funds from donors as long as
they are meeting in small groups-as small as three people, according to The
Washington Post, which first reported on the story Thursday.
In addition, campaign staffers and consultants will be allowed to solicit
large donations for a super PAC as long as they make clear they were not
directed to do so by the candidate, the Post's Matea Gold reports.
Gold continues:
Federal candidates are still not permitted to explicitly ask a donor to give
more than $5,000 to a super PAC. But the latest decision means that an
elected official or candidate can meet privately with just one wealthy donor
and one super PAC operative to discuss fundraising for the group, said Ellen
Weintraub, one of two Democrats on the six-member panel who opposed
loosening the rules.
All that is required under the guidelines is a written invitation, a formal
program and a disclaimer that the candidate is appearing as a "special
guest" who is not soliciting large checks.
The new rules further blur the lines between candidates seeking public
office and the private entities that fund their election campaigns, removing
yet more safeguards against political malfeasance and raising new
transparency concerns. According to the Post, the opinion came in response
to a request from two Democratic super PACs, including one with ties to
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev).
"This is actually very dangerous if you're worried about corruption, the
notion that these kind of small back-room meetings can take place,"
Weintraub told the Post. "The fewer people you have in the room, the fewer
protections you have against something unsavory happening."
FEC's opinion, largely unnoticed since it was offered in November, comes
after years of criticism from throughout the progressive sphere over the
agency's weak enforcement of campaign finance rules that have become
precious since the Supreme Court in 2010 ruled in favor of corporate dark
money interests in Citizens United v. FEC. In October, a coalition of
activists and organizations released a letter slamming the agency's weak
enforcement of those rules and calling on commissioners to simply do their
jobs.
"Today's flood of dark money in federal elections via both electioneering
communications and independent expenditures is almost wholly the creation of
the Federal Election Commission and the Commission should take
responsibility for correcting this problem," the letter stated.
The cost of the 2016 election cycle is expected to top $10 billion. The
coalition, which includes Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth, and the
Center for Media and Democracy, called on the FEC to, among other things,
"update its coordination rule to ensure that unregulated super PACs and
other outside electioneering groups are truly independent of candidate and
party committees."
http://www.truthdig.com/ http://www.truthdig.com/
Happy Holidays, Super PACs: The FEC Removes Yet Another Block Against Dark
Money
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/happy_holidays_super_pacs_fec_removes_ye
t_another_block_against_20151227/
Posted on Dec 27, 2015
By Nadia Prupis / Common Dreams
Mark Van Scyoc / Shutterstock
The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) has quietly released a new advisory
opinion that will make it even easier for candidates and their staffers to
solicit for super PACs donations.
The opinion states that candidates can ask for funds from donors as long as
they are meeting in small groups-as small as three people, according to The
Washington Post, which first reported on the story Thursday.
In addition, campaign staffers and consultants will be allowed to solicit
large donations for a super PAC as long as they make clear they were not
directed to do so by the candidate, the Post's Matea Gold reports.
Gold continues:
Federal candidates are still not permitted to explicitly ask a donor to give
more than $5,000 to a super PAC. But the latest decision means that an
elected official or candidate can meet privately with just one wealthy donor
and one super PAC operative to discuss fundraising for the group, said Ellen
Weintraub, one of two Democrats on the six-member panel who opposed
loosening the rules.
All that is required under the guidelines is a written invitation, a formal
program and a disclaimer that the candidate is appearing as a "special
guest" who is not soliciting large checks.
The new rules further blur the lines between candidates seeking public
office and the private entities that fund their election campaigns, removing
yet more safeguards against political malfeasance and raising new
transparency concerns. According to the Post, the opinion came in response
to a request from two Democratic super PACs, including one with ties to
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev).
"This is actually very dangerous if you're worried about corruption, the
notion that these kind of small back-room meetings can take place,"
Weintraub told the Post. "The fewer people you have in the room, the fewer
protections you have against something unsavory happening."
FEC's opinion, largely unnoticed since it was offered in November, comes
after years of criticism from throughout the progressive sphere over the
agency's weak enforcement of campaign finance rules that have become
precious since the Supreme Court in 2010 ruled in favor of corporate dark
money interests in Citizens United v. FEC. In October, a coalition of
activists and organizations released a letter slamming the agency's weak
enforcement of those rules and calling on commissioners to simply do their
jobs.
"Today's flood of dark money in federal elections via both electioneering
communications and independent expenditures is almost wholly the creation of
the Federal Election Commission and the Commission should take
responsibility for correcting this problem," the letter stated.
The cost of the 2016 election cycle is expected to top $10 billion. The
coalition, which includes Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth, and the
Center for Media and Democracy, called on the FEC to, among other things,
"update its coordination rule to ensure that unregulated super PACs and
other outside electioneering groups are truly independent of candidate and
party committees."
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