[EL] The plight of the FEC

Fri Mar 29 12:10:09 PDT 2019

There are many problems with the FEC, but the CERP article below on the FEC is basically pure hogwash.

First, it spreads the notion that Commissioner Walther is somehow not a Democratic appointee, even though his name was sent to President Bush by Senate Democrats, led by then Majority Leader Harry Reid, for whom Commissioner Walther had served as a an election counsel. His voting record is not substantially different from even Commission Weintraub, let alone recent past Democrats such as Karl Sandstrom, Bob Lenhard, and even Danny Lee McDonald.

Second, it states that "This 2-1-1 split has lead to outcomes such as the FEC deciding by a 3-1 vote to “not investigate President Donald Trump’s political campaign for enriching his businesses after considering a complaint from a liberal watchdog group, which alleged that Trump’s boasting about his hotels and use of his private jets constituted a violation of campaign law.” Of course, since the 2 Republicans voted not to find "reason to believe," even if we accepted the inaccurate suggestions that Walther is somehow not a Democratic appointee, or that his decision not to vote to open an investigation was partisan rather than based on the law,  the "2-1-1 split" would not have "lead" to that result at all, but been irrelevant to whether or not the FEC would have pursued an investigation.

Finally, it notes that "President Trump has yet to advance a nomination for any Democratic Party slots. In contrast, he has nominated a Republican commissioner to replace one of the three sitting Republican commissioners, all of whom are serving expired terms." Of course, he's yet to nominate anyone for the Democratic Party slots because, per tradition, he is waiting for Democratic congressional leadership to recommend someone, which they haven't done. Obviously, Democrats--including the CERP--would be beside themselves if Trump went ahead on his own in nominating Democratic commissioners.

Not to mention that their aren't "three sitting Republican commissioners."

Bradley A. Smith

Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault

   Professor of Law

Capital University Law School

303 E. Broad St.

Columbus, OH 43215

614.236.6317

http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx

________________________________
From: Law-election [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] on behalf of Rick Hasen [rhasen at law.uci.edu]
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2019 11:09 AM
To: Election Law Listserv
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/29/19

The Plight of the FEC<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2felectionlawblog.org%2f%3fp%3d104410&c=E,1,QKjPIQnmCjONmC_2oonaEbQumZxXy_DzRYIyj6zCpcaQaIrCnhwxXycl25qoonpVN_KBBzdagSRW7Xf3v5LnvVFd6Y5YMYWSObttiLv56eQ1DrsYXg,,&typo=1>
Posted on March 28, 2019 7:58 am<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2felectionlawblog.org%2f%3fp%3d104410&c=E,1,EZat7MlrFmbz2ex2928JK-tjHes-RANqBnSW0Zo-HEkzcEbkRWEOSPZQEsa41FIjp5IPi4irQ-gXX_YaFNXpw2JdY-E-FqZrmDYaoex9w679JxQ,&typo=1> by Rick Hasen<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2felectionlawblog.org%2f%3fauthor%3d3&c=E,1,1_EJCmMP3oiNBWaa_N3GizxaP4GTpN_auORCCZcnjt4GHIAhgwqjuym8ym-0Byquw6KAKHleib217_QSDlW2fGncm9mGk7pYXXMj9jeaxT7GxqMBHLHfow,,&typo=1>

>From an Eleanor Eagan Jeff Hauser analysis<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fcepr.net%2fblogs%2fcepr-blog%2fthe-overlooked-executive-branch-scandal-of-the-trump-era-independent-agencies&c=E,1,VrdxUsXAvqKIChYxQvBy_wDRJazagwIldnDo1DioHopqSOqErbZiofCVx6oMkMVjjTQTvT2_Ib6MJWqDrQn4YeyzDQSTOf1Ktmn1Ir2HflR8ILe5&typo=1> of independent agencies:

Finally, the plight of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an example of how Trump’s slowdown can exacerbate pre-existing threats to the public good. All of the commissioners are serving expired terms<https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/fec-commissioners-terms-expired-long-ago-trump-congress-won-t-n870071>, a problem with its roots in pre-Trump Washington dysfunction. As no more than three members of the same party can be on the commission at any one time, the six member commission is generally split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. At the moment, however, there is only one <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.theguardian.com%2fworld%2f2019%2fmar%2f08%2ftrump-inauguration-money-shell-companies-revealed&c=E,1,UXPjYYn9L4Ln_31UMokIloOPts07ytNcLeuXyHtHJKXcikTdIj1BLpQXSujfEKEj3oSV7oMQKYo1Y1dZWuwadErq2GgJMJVzEn-UTbmZ&typo=1> Democratic commissioner while there are two Republican commissioners and an Independent<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.fec.gov%2fabout%2fleadership-and-structure%2fsteven-t-walther%2f&c=E,1,GjxRyExY_aJ-H9YslgSg2LYJVo6tl0wlo4IiFpPdbrxD7cUnf6FrJxI-7Vu0rVH3AP4sBbf2yTySf_QOX2uV2FRTTJdAeMC-6praIm8Xig,,&typo=1> often but not always aligned with the Democratic Commissioner. This 2-1-1 split has lead to outcomes such as the FEC deciding<https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/15/trump-self-enrichment-complaint-fec-campaign-629911> by a 3-1 vote to “not investigate President Donald Trump’s political campaign for enriching his businesses after considering a complaint from a liberal watchdog group, which alleged that Trump’s boasting about his hotels and use of his private jets constituted a violation of campaign law.” Weintraub has also been notably more concerned than Walther<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fthehill.com%2fhomenews%2fcampaign%2f342115-fec-wrestles-with-confronting-russian-influence-in-2018-elections&c=E,1,GfSaC6c01DX62jc2LAtOrLqNrsE7hbQX2JJsBY2HrrukpdUGPeQX8slvFmA-2nTtedwa0BjRtdzWyMcSW9ua2-5YKY3C6XTwrwwHIKiY7d0WzhUzGkg8nQ,,&typo=1> with foreign interference in US elections.

[This post has been updated in light of a correction posted there.]
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Posted in campaign finance<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2felectionlawblog.org%2f%3fcat%3d10&c=E,1,9zudIX6tv14ORzrjLh9e6Y4EDqECpVoVFODRF35cOTInsnu7NwO_kjR2R3I4c2f8eGktoPAfS4PbYrqee-fwTazWxF4J6NxucHTLnppy&typo=1>, federal election commission<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2felectionlawblog.org%2f%3fcat%3d24&c=E,1,cFM84QHJsQIs4eJ475IypaYvHWz-W4jJttVX_sTaNKwLZE9KXw6iTuJ9Ej8IS7w8FYKIbEM8yV8u_gi7CpOwJmQFgeltsn-g-jPGA9vaeQ,,&typo=1>

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