FEC Rejects Limits on 'Soft Money' Groups

Yahoo! News ^ | 5/13/04 | Sharon Theimer - AP

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - Federal officials Thursday rejected new limits for political groups pouring millions into ads and voter drives in the presidential election, and Republicans predicted the decision would prompt a surge in big donations for their side.

Several Democratic groups have already begun spending large donations on efforts critical of President Bush (news - web sites) or supportive of Democratic candidate John Kerry (news - web sites). Republicans had asked the Federal Election Commission (news - web sites) to stop the activities under the campaign law that broadly banned from federal elections the big checks known as "soft money."

But four of the six FEC members on Thursday refused to step in, tabling the issue for at least three months. Even if the commission acts then, it is unlikely any new rules would affect the November presidential and congressional elections.

David Keating, executive director of the conservative, anti-tax group Club for Growth, said the FEC's decision in essence tells major GOP contributors "come on in, the water's fine."

"I think that will reassure a lot of the donors that have been hesitant to donate to the types of advertising campaigns the club is launching this weekend on Bush and Kerry's policies," said Keating, whose group supports many Bush policies and opposes many of Kerry's.

Jim Jordan, a spokesman for three pro-Democratic groups targeted by Republican complaints, said he was pleased with the FEC decision and wasn't worried about a possible surge in soft money by GOP-leaning groups.

"Republicans were always going to be lavishly funded, regardless of how they ultimately decide to funnel that money," said Jordan, spokesman for America Coming Together, America Votes and Media Fund.

Democratic commissioner Scott Thomas, who joined Republican Michael Toner to favor fund-raising and spending limits for such groups, predicted the decision would allow both Republicans and Democrats to engage in no-holds-barred spending this election year. He predicted pro-Republican groups, who have held back pending the FEC decision, would quickly surpass the Democrats.

"I think it is possible the Democrats could wind up, from this point on, worse off," Thomas said, adding that he thinks much of the soft money that used to go to parties before the law went into effect in 2002 will flow to new tax-exempt groups that don't have to disclose their fund raising and spending.

Democratic commissioner Ellen Weintraub, one of four commissioners who voted against new limits, said she supported a proposal by FEC lawyers to take another three months to study the issue.

"I said at the outset I didn't think we had given ourselves enough time to do the job right," Weintraub said.

The FEC lawyers this week urged commissioners to delay a decision until late summer, saying the issue was of such importance that more time was necessary to consider it.

Under debate is how the campaign finance law affects nonparty groups that are spending soft money — corporate, union or unlimited contributions — in the presidential and congressional elections. The law broadly bans soft money from federal elections, including the raising of the big contributions by national party committees.

The Republican Party, Bush's re-election campaign and several campaign watchdog groups accuse Democrats of violating the ban by creating a network of pro-Democratic soft-money groups that are raising and spending millions of dollars to air anti-Bush ads and pay for get-out-the-vote activities. Critics call the groups a shadow party.

That spending helped flood the airwaves with negative commercials about Bush at a time when the Republican incumbent was airing millions of dollars of ads critical of Kerry, who was working to rebuild his campaign's finances before going up with his own commercials after the primaries.

The anti-Bush groups argue that their spending is legal, in part because they stop short of calling for Bush's defeat or for Kerry's election. The FEC was considering whether the use of soft money to promote or criticize a federal candidate is enough to violate the soft-money ban, and the FEC on Thursday decided against saying yes.

Thomas and Toner had urged the commission to make most partisan tax-exempt groups follow donation limits and disclose contributions and spending to the FEC.

___

On the Net:

Federal Election Commission: http://www.fec.gov/

[Solson]

This should really be breaking news. This is very important!

[Redbob]

Sounds like the "all clear" for groups like, oh, FreeRepublic," for instance!

Two big things here are that there is NO limit on dollar amounts of contributions, NOR any limit on corporate contributions to the "soft money" groups.

[BaBaStooey]

McCain just choked on whatever he was eating for lunch. Its almost like parts of the McCain-Feingold bill don't even exist, because the FCC is taking a blind eye to enforcing it.

[fooman]

I had posted the WSJ version of this earlier. Freepers cant post enough of these articles.

It is hugh and series and we and the fort 500 should pump ONE BILLION dollars into groups that will defeat Kerry and his band of kommies.

[thoughtomator]

I wonder how long it will take McCain to realize how thoroughly he was played by the Democrats? Will it ever sink in far enough for him to repudiate what his own bill has become? Will he admit error? Apologize, even? (Not holding my breath.)

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

All McCain wants to know is when his next television appearance will be.

[lilylangtree]

America Coming Together is billionaire George Soros group.

[lilylangtree]

America Votes--"'America Votes pulls together some 20 progressive interests in a kind of shadow party,' [BusinessWeek] magazine reports. The organization's founders include AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Gregory T. Moore, executive director of NAACP National Voter Fund.

[keithtoo]

Remeber when the Dim's and stooges like McCain were going to 'GET THE BIG MONEY OUT OF POLITICS AND RETURN IT TO THE PEOPLE'.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[lilylangtree]

Lest we forget Media Fund:

Media Fund, 2004 Election Cycle
Formed: 2002 | Web Site

One of the leading Democratic interest groups dedicated to defeating President Bush in November. Plans to raise close to $100 million for a massive issue-ad campaign to support the Democratic presidential nominee. The ads will air in 17 battleground states.

Affiliated Personnel:

Harold Ickes, president and founder (deputy White House chief of staff under President Clinton)
Ellen Malcolm, fundraiser (president, EMILY's List)
Budget:

$10 million raised by Jan. '04, with a goal of $95 million
527 Activity:
Total Receipts: $15,046,011
Total Expenditures: $10,634,541
Note: This data is based on records released by the Internal Revenue Service on Monday, May 10, 2004.

Events:

Event Type
Budget
Date
Candidate
Position

TV Ad
$4 million
4/16/2004
George W. Bush (R)
Negative

This Media Fund ad, running in the same 17 swing states as several of its other ads, criticizes the new Medicare law supported by President Bush. The ad shows a woman buying prescription drugs who worries about being “buried under a pile of medical bills” she can’t pay for. It goes on to fault both President Bush for offering “no plan to curb costs” and the new law because it would “ban the government from negotiating lower prices from drug companies.”


TV Ad
$2 million
4/5/2004
George W. Bush (R)
Negative

The latest ad from the Media Fund borrows both audio and video from an October MoveOn.org Voter Fund to criticize President Bush's spending priorities. Specifically, the spot lists some of the improvements that could be made to education, child welfare, and the electric grid system with the $87 billion being used for Iraq. MoveOn.org donated the idea and production of the spot to the Media Fund as an in-kind contribution. It is running in key battleground states including Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania.


TV Ad
The ad buy is said to be "significant"
3/29/2004
George W. Bush (R)
Negative

John Kerry (D)
Positive

The Media Fund’s latest ad compares George W. Bush and John Kerry, focusing on how their economic policies will impact the middle class. The ad ends by saying that Bush’s priorities won’t strengthen America. The ad ran the last week in March in 17 key states.


TV Ad
3/18/2004
George W. Bush (R)
Negative

The ad criticizes President Bush for recent job losses and for supporting "tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas." The spot is running in 17 key states this week.


TV Ad
$1 million initially, with $5 million for the total campaign
3/10/2004
George W. Bush (R)
Negative

This ad began running March 10 in 17 swing states and will air for two weeks. The ad describes the “negative effects” that George W. Bush’s priorities are having on the American dream.

[rllngrk33]

Now that the FEC has said it's not going to make a decision for 3 months, it's time to ramp up the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy attack machine.

[pawdoggie]

The deathknell of McCain-Feingold. CFR is now like those "blue laws" that everyone violates, and no one ever gets prosecuted for. And we needed to violate the First Ammendment to get this result?

[Akira]

bump...there goes your favorite law, down the drain.

[fooman]

This was the strategery all along....

[PhiKapMom]

You would be turning blue in a hurry if you waited for McCain to denounce this! :)

Cannot wait to start donating to groups to defeat Kerry!

[expatpat]

It's worse now than before CFR, since there is no accounting for where the 527 money is coming from (China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, wherever).

[Sunshine Sister]

This is big news!!!!!

[Sunshine Sister]

Ping!

[F.J. Mitchell]

McCain has exposed himself to the whole country as a stupid,useful idiot,RINO, sucker for the slick liberal snake Feingold. Everyone saw this coming from the get go. Everyone that is except poor gullible, believer in fairy tales- John McCain.