Greg Sargent is pretty sure the Republicans have wrapped up the 2016 election …in dollar bills. The Federal Election Commission has all but given up.
Over the weekend, the New York Times published a sobering interview with the head of the Federal Election Commission, who confirmed that she had largely given up on the agency playing a meaningful role in restraining fundraising and spending abuses in the 2016 campaign.
The commissioners are deadlocked, FEC chair Ann Ravel said, because Republican members of the commission think the FEC should exercise less robust oversight, meaning the agency has become “worse than dysfunctional” at a time when outside money is poised to play an even larger role than it did in the last two cycles. …Sargent,WaPo
Sargent spoke with Ravel who enlarged on the Times interview. The Republicans on the Election Commission are refusing to act, pure and simple. Ravel “confirmed that she was referring to cases against four big spending outside groups — all of them Republican or conservative.”
In these cases, some on the FEC had previously determined there is reason to believe the groups might be functioning more as “political committees” under the Federal Election Campaign Act — meaning their “major purpose” is the “nomination or election of a candidate.” That would mean that under the law, they should register as political committees, which would require donor disclosure.
In all four cases, FEC chair Ravel and other commissioners had wanted the agency to investigate further. The facts involving these cases can be found in Ravel’s statements about the groups: Crossroads GPS, Americans for Job Security, the American Action Network, and the American Future Fund.
These are the cases that Ravel was referring to when she told the New York Times that Republican commissioners would not agree to investigate. …Sargent,WaPo
Cross posted from Prairie Weather
graphic via shutterstock.com