[EL] The IRS scandal and proposed reforms at the FEC

[Eric Wang]

     Regarding all the debate recently about the Republican FEC 
commissioners' proposed reforms to the agency's enforcement procedures 
-- it seems there should be much more receptiveness (especially among 
FEC OGC staff) to their proposals given the latest spillover of the IRS 
scandal into the FEC.

     At this point, based only on the e-mails that have been publicly 
released, reasonable people may disagree about the significance of the 
communications between FEC and IRS staff. However, if I were a staff 
attorney in the FEC's Office of General Counsel, I sure as heck would 
want the cover of Commission approval before I engaged in any 
investigatory activity. That way, if anything went wrong, the blame 
would be pinned on the commissioners and not the staff.

     What always struck me about Lois Lerner's plight was that she 
would've been much better off had she stayed at the FEC, where the 
commissioners tend to take most of the heat for the agency's actions. 
Thus, former FEC General Counsel Tony Herman's vehement opposition to 
the proposed requirements that the commissioners first approve any 
investigatory activity always struck me as extremely short-sighted. Does 
anyone in the FEC's OGC really want to end up being in the hot seat like 
Lois Lerner?

     Thoughts?

- Eric Wang