The judge noted FEC cases can languish for years and that penalties, "if they come at all, come long after the money has been spent and the election decided." Peter Paul and The Hildabeaste come to mind.
Posted on 03/30/2006 10:19:00 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission failed to give a good reason for refusing to rein in nonprofit political groups that spent huge sums in the 2004 presidential elections, a judge has ruled in a case brought by President Bush's campaign and lawmakers.
In a 34-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said the FEC failed to give "a reasoned explanation" for its decision not to issues rules to require so-called "527" groups to register as federal political action committees and face the same strict fundraising, spending and disclosure rules PACs do.
But Sullivan stopped short of saying the FEC had abused its discretion. Nor did he order it to develop rules to crack down on the groups' fundraising and spending.
Instead, the judge in his ruling Wednesday sent the issue back to the FEC and ordered the commission to "articulate its reasoning," or come up with a rule for the groups "if necessary."
The nonprofit groups — nicknamed 527s after the section of the U.S. Tax Code that covers them — emerged as key players in the 2004 presidential election after a new law banned national party committees and federal candidates from raising unlimited, corporate and union donations known as soft money. PACs were already banned from taking soft money.
The 527 groups stepped into the void. Democrats in particular, worried that their party would lag behind the GOP in fundraising, quickly moved to set up soft money groups.
Fueled by multimillion-dollar donations from wealthy businessmen such as George Soros, pro-Democratic groups collected almost twice as much money as their Republican rivals, keeping Democratic nominee John Kerry's viewpoints on the airwaves while he rebuilt his finances after the expensive Democratic primary race. They also helped build pro-Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts.
Groups supporting Kerry or opposing Bush raised $266 million in the 2003-04 election cycle, while those opposing Kerry or backing Bush collected $144 million, a review by the nonpartisan Political Money Line campaign finance tracking service found.
The Bush campaign and lawmakers who sponsored the new campaign finance law pressed the FEC to crack down on partisan 527s while the presidential race was under way, arguing the groups were violating a broad ban on the use of soft money in federal elections.
But a majority of FEC members declined to adopt new regulations, contending the commission lacked authority to do so and that it was up to Congress and Bush to approve legislation doing so if they felt there was a need.
The FEC decision prompted the Bush campaign and lawmakers to sue the commission to try to force it to restrict the groups and led Republican activists to start pouring millions into new pro-Bush groups. They included Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which made headlines in summer 2004 by alleging Kerry exaggerated his decorated Vietnam War service record.
Sullivan said he was "troubled" because the FEC ignored testimony from 31 politicians and more than 100,000 comments from people involved in the political process. The judge said the FEC's handling of the matter "does not reflect reasoned decision-making."
"We are very pleased with Judge Sullivan's opinion," said Fred Wertheimer, president of the Democracy 21 campaign finance watchdog group and an attorney for the two lawmakers who sued, Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Martin Meehan, D-Mass.
Sullivan criticized the FEC's decision to handle complaints about the groups on a case-by-case basis, saying the commission's track record "appears to have been a total failure."
The judge noted FEC cases can languish for years and that penalties, "if they come at all, come long after the money has been spent and the election decided."
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On the Net:
U.S. District Court: http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov
What 1st Amendment?
The judge noted FEC cases can languish for years and that penalties, "if they come at all, come long after the money has been spent and the election decided." Peter Paul and The Hildabeaste come to mind.
wrong approach. just get rid of CFR and put things back the way they were.
I don't understand why every law does not have a sunset provision. Any bill that has proven itself in the real world will get repassed. Bills that fail like CFR will not.
We just need laws to stop the Swift-Boat Vets.......not the great work done by Soros and Hill-Pac.
SmithL,
I agree with the First Amendment argument for the most part, however, if CFR's constitutionally is upheld then the 527's should not be exempt from CFR. Congress was obviously tring to rein in this exact practice....right or wrong.
Of course the most striking thing about the 527's is they were a democrat invention to evade a law they campaigned on for years. At the same time they and the press were castigating the GOP for not dealing with campaign finance, the Democrats were figuring out ways to avoid the law they sponsored.Un-friggin-believable!!!
I'm glad Associated Press ran this article (that was pretty balanced for a change).It reveals the astounding hypocracy and deceit of the Democrat leadership. I won't even start on John McCain....another bad joke.
Freegards,
Presidentfelon
In my never-humble opinion, you're both correct. The law itself is anti-First Amendment.
Und, vere are your papers?
The Supreme Court has ruled that money does not equal free speech. They can perform the same function just without unlimited donations from millionaires. Between Fonda, Soros and the Progressive Insurance, guy the Dems received $50 Million via the 527s.
They rake in taxpayer money with one set of their non-profit groups and promote political candidates with their other set of non-profit groups - all the time explaining that it is all part of the big Planned Parenthood family.
Millions to billions of dollars to support political candidates and billions of dollars given to them by the Federal, State and Local governments.
Just doing an audit on Planned Parenthood Federation of America would probably cook the political gooses of John Kerry, Diane Feinstein, Hillary Clinton, to name a few...
Good post, but
yucky picture. ;o)
Hillary's staff & Google have been attempting to erase those photos from existence -
They were a little bit late -
I have gotten that .gif back in emails from all over the US from people who did not know we created it based on the actual Ny Post front page with a B&W photo of the same Hillary kissing Suhu Arafat scene -
Hillary confessed those photos were her biggest mistake before the 2000 election and vowed make them disappear so the voters would forget them -
I have those on over 9 different servers and sites now - so it is unlikely they will disappear - so far hundreds of thousands of hits on that .gif and more every day being downloaded -
The NY Post thinks it's great - free advertising for them -
WOW!
GOOD for YOU..and I thank you!
That pic will come in very handy at a later date.
And, GOOD for the NY Post!
Unlike another NY paper, they have a good marketing team. ;o)
I didn't know they have been trying to exterminate that pic.
But, I am not surprised on iota.
I hope it comes back to bite her fat ankles.
FYI, I now have a copy on my computer plus also on my server. Let me know if you ever need a copy. The Hildabeaste is a whole lot of trouble. She's just too stupid to realize it.
But it will sink in eventually, well before Nov 2008.
George Soros, Tides, etc who have been reported behind the scenes in the most recent "well staged" immigration walkouts and rallies can work outside the visible "political" box in regard to soft money.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1605274/posts
Oh, please, I just ate... not that dyke, LOL!!!
Oh man!
From the Clinton Library photo archives.....
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