[EL] HuffPost: FEC enforcement "gag" order

[Steve Hoersting]

Didn't see Holman mention the statutes - either on the authority of staff
to commence (not follow through on) investigations, or on the ability of
DOJ to represent the FEC without FEC consent.

No one passingly familiar with the IRS scandal can miss the subtext and
intent of the Holman op-ed -- a dynamic McGahn is trying to keep from
spreading to another federal agency.

Steve

Sent from my phone.
On Jul 23, 2013 4:36 PM, "Rick Hasen" <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:

>  I found your suggestion that the Democratic Commissioners boycott
> tomorrow's meeting to be especially intriguing:
>
>  One Democratic commissioner left in February, leaving three Republicans
> and two Democrats on the Commission. McGahn is hoping to take advantage of
> the partisan imbalance by proposing a "gag" order in new enforcement
> guidelines <http://www.fec.gov/agenda/2013/mtgdoc_13-21-a.pdf>, to be
> approved by a 3-2 majority, that would: (i) prevent FEC staff from viewing
> public resources in conducting their investigations, such as candidate and
> government Web pages, news reports, business databases and social media
> sites; and (ii) prohibit FEC staff from sharing information with the
> Department of Justice (DOJ), which handles criminal investigations of
> campaign finance scandals.
>
> If the ability of FEC staff even to conduct an investigation can be
> hamstrung from the onset, then the Commission need not face many more
> embarrassing obstructionist votes. Just as importantly for those seeking to
> block enforcement of the campaign finance laws, the DOJ will also be
> hobbled in its criminal investigations.
>
> Prior to announcement of McGahn's proposal, FEC General Counsel Anthony
> Herman unexpectedly resigned from the agency last month. After the
> announcement, Herman felt compelled to warn the FEC and the public of the
> pending danger to campaign finance enforcement and submitted public
> testimony to the Commission.
>
> If the Republican commissioners continue to vote as a bloc on this
> proposal, they will effectively neuter the enforcement ability of FEC staff
> and hinder Justice investigations of egregious violations.
>
> Though it is a big ask of the remaining two Democratic commissioners, they
> could take a page from McGahn's playbook and not show up at the next FEC
> meeting, thereby denying quorum and any agency decision on the gag order.
>
>
> On 7/23/13 1:25 PM, Craig Holman wrote:
>
>  Colleagues:
>
>  On Thursday, July 25, the Federal Election Commission will vote on a
> proposal by departing Commissioner Don McGahn that would hamper the ability
> of the FEC staff to conduct investigations of violations of campaign
> finance law. As is widely known, the agency has been beleaguered by
> Commission deadlocked votes since 2008, preventing many an enforcement
> action. Among the proposals: unless the Commission approves ahead of time –
> (1) Prohibit FEC staff from looking at certain public resources in the
> conduct of investigations, such as candidate web pages; and (2) Prohibit
> FEC staff from sharing information with the Department of Justice, which
> handles criminal complaints of egregious violations of the campaign finance
> law. Lisa Gilbert and I have published an op-ed about this maneuver in
> today’s Huffington Post.
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-holman/a-parting-shot-to-neuter_b_3641120.html
>
>  Craig Holman, Ph.D.
> Government Affairs Lobbyist
> Public Citizen
> 215 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
> Washington, D.C. 20003
> T-(202) 454-5182
> C-(202) 905-7413
> F-(202) 547-7392
> Holman at aol.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing listLaw-election at department-lists.uci.eduhttp://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>
>
> --
> Rick Hasen
> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000949.824.3072 - office949.824.0495 - faxrhasen at law.uci.edu
> hhttp://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/http://electionlawblog.org
>
>
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