Free Republic

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is looking to target right-wing media outlets under the guise that they could’ve helped Russia interfere into our presidential election, reported The Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard Tuesday. The commission will decide at this Thursday’s meeting whether or not to investigate websites like the Drudge Report, Breitbart and others on the right for violating election spending rules by allowing advertising on their Facebook pages by Russian entities. The call for investigation was spearheaded by the FEC’s Democrat commissioner, Ellen L. Weintraub, who has been trying to accomplish this for months. In May, she told Politico, “I...

Sen. Ted Cruz improperly accounted for Goldman Sachs loans he acquired during his 2012 Senate campaign, the Federal Election Commission ruled on Thursday. In a unanimous vote, FEC commissioners decided that the nearly $1.1 million in loans made to the to the campaign by Goldman Sachs and Citigroup should have been disclosed to voters and the American public. The final report from the FEC is expected in 30 days, and further action, such as penalty for Cruz, will be decided, should the FEC decide to initiate an “enforcement action” at a later date. But Cruz’s office said this is “old...

The former Federal Election Commission chairwoman Ann M. Ravel says that political speech must be controlled on social media. She presented her remarks in a speech at UC Berkeley, calling for regulations against “fake news.” Speaking at an event called “Future of Democracy,” Ravel argued the proliferation of “fake news” and political advertising on platforms like Facebook influenced elections. She warned that the lack of disclosure by the creators of these campaigns was becoming a huge problem. “We know that there’s a lot of campaigning that’s moved to the internet, whether it’s through fake news or just outright advertising and...

The former Federal Election Commission chairwoman Ann M. Ravel says that political speech must be controlled on social media. She presented her remarks in a speech at UC Berkeley, calling for regulations against “fake news.” Speaking at an event called “Future of Democracy,” Ravel argued the proliferation of “fake news” and political advertising on platforms like Facebook influenced elections. She warned that the lack of disclosure by the creators of these campaigns was becoming a huge problem. “We know that there’s a lot of campaigning that’s moved to the internet, whether it’s through fake news or just outright advertising and...

The campaign by Democrats on the Federal Election Commission to regulate the internet, from Twitter and Facebook to Drudge, is back after some liberal commissioners threw in the towel amid GOP opposition. Seizing on an exit report card of the agency by ex-Commissioner Ann Ravel, the left is complaining that the internet isn't being regulated for political content and spending, but should be.Using the "altFEC" twitter account, one of several "alt" sites set up by government workers in agencies resisting the new Trump administration, the proponents reference Ravel's critical report. "It means that the @FEC's disclosure rules have not been...

Ann Ravel--Her whining at taxpayer expense will soon end Federal Election Commission member Ann Ravel, a left-winger who proposed regulating political speech on the Internet, announced she is stepping down from the FEC on March 1. Ravel, appointed by President Obama, caused a firestorm in 2015 when she said

<p>A Democratic member of the Federal Election Commission with ties to Santa Clara County resigned her post Sunday, saying that political gridlock over the issue of campaign finance abuses left her feeling “like I couldn’t stay.”</p> <p>Ann M. Ravel, a former Santa Clara County counsel who also once chaired the California Fair Political Practices Commission, submitted her resignation to President Donald Trump on Sunday. She shared the letter in a posting on her Twitter page.</p>

Democratic commissioner has been no-show from public meetings since early December A Democratic Federal Election Commission official who pushed to regulate the internet and has been absent from public meetings for months is resigning, according to an announcement. Ann Ravel, who wanted to regulate political speech on the internet from websites such as the Drudge Report, announced Sunday that she is stepping down from her post.

Deborah Coughlin, the president of New York City’s elite Metropolitan Republican Club that recently wrongly and forcibly removed all Trump supporters from its board, broke federal campaign finance laws in order to donate thousands of dollars to Democratic New York Senator Chuck Schumer in 2003. Schumer has been one of the most anti-Trump Senators since President Donald J. Trump took office in January. In a story that GotNews broke and that the New York Post has now picked up, a deeper dive into the financials surrounding the scandal-plagued board of New York City’s Metropolitan Republican Club has produced more troubling...

A document from the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) indicates that Donald Trump took steps last week to outmaneuver nonprofit organizations, leaving them unable to officially campaign against him over the next few years of his Presidency. Filed on January 20th, 2017, the letter states that, while not an official announcement for reelection, Donald Trump has filed an FEC Form 2 in order to “ensure compliance with the Federal Election Campaign Act.” This is an unprecedented, although legal, move for the President to make. Barack Obama did not file for his 2012 re-election bid until April 2011. Having filed (even if...

“Republicans in name only” or “RINOs.” An email from John Podesta to Huma Abedin that was released as document number 1078645 is about to turn the speculation that certain prominent Republicans who opposed Donald Trump into the truth that they were, in fact, not just disloyal to Trump and the party but were on Hillary Clinton’s payroll. The email, sent in July of this year, describes how funds were being diverted from Clinton’s campaign to the Super PACS of Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, and John Kasich.

Madison — Green Party candidate Jill Stein will not appeal a judge's rejection of her lawsuit to force a hand recount of nearly 3 million presidential ballots in Wisconsin, clearing the way for machines to be used in the statewide effort beginning Thursday. Also Wednesday, Stein filed another recount petition in Michigan and the Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a federal elections complaint against both Stein and Democrat Hillary Clinton. The complaint alleges that Stein — who received only a small share of the vote — is improperly fundraising to pay for a recount that primarily benefits Clinton, the second-place...

One of the pictures showed a member holding a folder from the National Democratic Institute, funded in part by Soros' Open Society Foundation. On Election Day, the observers will fan out across Washington, Maryland and Virginia to observe presidential election polling places. On the day after the election, the group plans to address the results. . . . The group sponsoring the convention Ravel is speaking to "free and fair" elections around the world. It has advocated especially for women candidates, and with along with the State Department it called for candidate quotas favoring women.

Today, Monday November 7th, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein filed a complaint at the Federal Election Commission in Washington, DC, against both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for illegal coordination with their Super PACs. Under current FEC regulations, Super PACs, known technically as “independent expenditure-only committees” and colloquially as “dark-money groups,” may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, and individuals, but are not permitted to contribute to or coordinate directly with parties or candidates. Such coordination would be functionally equivalent to an in-kind donation to the campaign from these dark-money groups. Stein’s complaint outlined a body of...

“The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly.  It is also unlawful to help foreign nationals violate that ban or to solicit, receive or accept contributions or donations from them.  Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to fines and/or imprisonment.”A major “get out the vote for Hillary” rally in Miami last week-end headlined by Jennifer Lopez and paid for by the Democratic Party featured-- as the opening act--...

Before the recent torrent of daily Podesta email dumps brought renewed attention to Wikileaks (and accusations Julian Assange was working with the Kremlin despite his recent denial, which ultimately cost him his internet access), the media's attention was closely focused on the recently emerged hacker known as Guccifer 2.0, who claimed to be behind the hacking of the nearly 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails and other documents distributed over the summer by WikiLeaks, and who likewise was accused of cooperating with Russia. Earlier today, after a two week silence, Guccifer 2.0 reemerged, with a post on his blog, in which...

Federal Election Commissioner Ann Ravel wished to step down until she met with President Barack Obama in early 2016, who persuaded her to stay on board through the November election in return for two favors, a senior federal government official has told The Daily Caller. Ravel, a Democrat, told the senior government official about the arrangement in private and even showed the official pictures of her and Obama in The White House. The official told TheDC Ravel had wished to step down and move back to California before the Jan. 28 White House meeting. Obama told Ravel she could move...

The Democratic National Committee, already engulfed by the WikiLeaks Donna Brazile scandal, is again on the defense Wednesday as some Democratic Senate candidates in tight races scramble to return thousands of dollars in campaign donations following allegations of a massive straw-donor scandal, which Republicans say may be wider than initial reports. Despite the fanfare, one high profile Democrat, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), says she won't return the donations until it is proven that they were given illegally. The Campaign Legal Center, which represents the public interest, confirmed to FOXBusiness.com, it has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over...

An hour to go before we launch part 3. @HillaryClinton @dncpress and critics, be careful what you wish for... #Veritas

Part III of the undercover Project Veritas Action investigation dives further into the back room dealings of Democratic politics. It exposes prohibited communications between Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the DNC and the non-profit organization Americans United for Change. And, it’s all disguised as a duck. In this video, several Project Veritas Action undercover journalists catch Democracy Partners founder directly implicating Hillary Clinton in FEC violations. “In the end, it was the candidate, Hillary Clinton, the future president of the United States, who wanted ducks on the ground,” says Creamer in one of several exchanges.