[Mary Jo] White Put Politics Before Prosecution ~ Kelly Patricia O’ Meara - Insight Magazine
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Posted on 11/28/2001 1:17:36 PM PST by Native American Female Vet
FEC lawyers recommend giving Dems break on soft-money rules to make up for slow fund raising after attacks
By Sharon Theimer, Associated Press, 11/28/2001 17:03
WASHINGTON (AP) Democrats, arguing their finances have been hit hard by slow fund raising after the terrorist attacks, are getting a sympathetic ear from the Federal Election Commission's lawyers.
FEC attorneys are recommending that the commission grant the Democratic National Committee's request for a break on a ''soft money'' spending rule.
The DNC says it canceled or postponed at least eight fund-raisers in the three weeks after the attacks, depriving it of an anticipated $1.65 million.
Because of that, the DNC wants the commission to extend the amount of time it and other fund-raising committees have to cover operating expenses using soft-money campaign contributions.
The commission plans to consider the request and the FEC lawyers' recommendation Thursday.
Soft money contributions can be made in unlimited amounts, but there are limits on how party committees such as the DNC and its Republican counterpart can spend them.
The Republican National Committee has not commented to the FEC on the Democrats' request. Asked whether the GOP would take advantage of an extension, spokesman Trent Duffy said no decision had been made.
While both major parties are prolific soft-money raisers, the Democrats tend to rely more heavily on it, while the GOP typically has a ''hard-money'' advantage.
When it comes to operating expenses, party committees are allowed to first cover the cost using hard money, donations that are limited in size but can be spent by recipients in any way.
They can then reimburse themselves for 40 percent of those expenses using soft money.
Party committees now have 60 days to make the reimbursement. The DNC wants the FEC to extend the time limit to 120 days.
That would give it until March 1 to use soft money for expenses incurred through the end of this year. The DNC says most of the contributions it would have taken in at the fund-raisers would have been soft money.
The commission's lawyers say that rather than temporarily waiving the rule, the FEC should simply stop enforcing it for transfers until March 1. Campaign-finance watchdog groups including Common Cause, Democracy 21 and the Center for Responsive Politics oppose the DNC's request.
The groups feel soft money allows special interests to wield undue political influence and should be banned rather than given what they view as another loophole.
The FEC is ''talking about not enforcing a lawfully enacted rule they made, and publicly announcing that they will not enforce that rule, and that is wrong,'' said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics and former general counsel for the commission.
Noble said the DNC has failed to show it is facing a funding emergency due to the terrorist attacks.
DNC attorney Joseph Sandler said the commission has used discretion in enforcing its rules before. He said the DNC has proved hardship and is seeking relief through a request that deals only with the timing of transfers between party accounts, not the overall amount of soft money that a party can spend.
On the Net:
Federal Election Commission: http://www.fec.gov/
Democratic National Committee:
http://www.democrats.org/
Republican National Committee: http://www.rnc.org/
Tell them to turn to their ardant supporters, the trial lawyers, the education unions and the Hollywood celebrities, like Barbra Streisand et al.
Wouldn't be the first time, Rodney, and I'm damn sure it won't be the last. The RNC has an uncanny ability to make big DNC-related news disappear.
Let's see if they'll ask those scam artists at the Red Cross for some dough.
Why doesn't the DNC get with Hilliary and have a yard sale up there in Chapaqua. They could sell all the stuff she stole outa the white house. Or the DNC could let Hilliary invest some of their cash in CATTLE futures.
But perhaps that is why the FEC turned down the DNC request.
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