Subject: RE: FEC Deadlock today on 527s
From: "John Pomeranz" <jpomeranz@harmoncurran.com>
Date: 5/14/2004, 12:26 PM
To: "Donald Simon" <DSimon@sonosky.com>, "Larry Gold" <Lgold@aflcio.org>, AllisonHayward@aol.com, Vewu@aol.com, MFORSYTHE@bloomberg.net, TP@capdale.com, Rick.Hasen@lls.edu, election-law@majordomo.lls.edu, owner-election-law_gl@majordomo.lls.edu, RBauer@perkinscoie.com

To continue our deconstruction of the rhetoric concerning the FEC...

I find it interesting that many critics of the FEC declare it to be fatally flawed because of the ease with which 3-3 votes can occur when the commissioners split along party lines.  In the debate around this NPRM (and, for that matter, the related ABC Advisory Opinion), I don't believe that any of the votes have split along party lines.  While Congress should have foreseen (and probably did) that creating an FEC with an even number of commissioners could limit the commission's effectiveness, expectations that party loyalties will always determine outcomes seems simplistic in light of recent events.

John Pomeranz
Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP
1726 M Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC  20036
p: 202.328.3500
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e: jpomeranz@harmoncurran.com