Food for thought: wouldn’t it be a clearer violation of an FEC commissioner’s oath of office to in fact enforce the law as Congress wrote it?  Bringing an action to enforce FECA’s limits on independent expenditures, for example, would seem to me to be potentially sanctionable in a court, and at a minimum could subject the Commission to (yet further) liability to pay the respondent’s legal expenses under an EAJA petition. 

 

I see that Ornstein noted what he calls McGahn’s “disclaimer,” but I don’t think he paid enough attention to it.  Whether or not Ornstein (or I) or anyone else is happy about it, the foundation underneath the entirety of campaign finance law undeniably has shifted, a lot, and it really doesn’t seem productive to me to respond to that shift by lobbing this kind of accusation at the administrators of the agency that’s obligated to adapt to the new reality.

 

My only point being that you don’t need to agree with everything these Commissioners (or any Commissioners) have done to think that it’s a mistake to attempt the leap from “I disagree with his decisions” to “he violated his oath of office” with as little run-up as Ornstein offers here.

 

 

________________________________
Joseph M. Birkenstock, Esq.
Caplin & Drysdale, Chtd.
One Thomas Circle, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 862-7836
www.capdale.com/jbirkenstock
*also admitted to practice in CA

 

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