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To: On the Road to Serfdom
Here is some info from the RNC:

Legal Analysis of FEC Decision to Refrain From Taking Action

In the wake of McConnell v. FEC ("McConnell"), 540 U.S. ____, 124 S.Ct. 619 (2003), the FEC decision to take no action has left unchanged the legal landscape regulating the political activity of Section 527 organizations.

So long as non-federal Section 527 organizations eschew the use of the "magic words" of "express advocacy," the Commission has indicated it will not regulate the organizations’ ability to raise and spend unlimited non-federal dollars on issue advertisements outside the electioneering communication period, as well as GOTV efforts and other similar activities. Section 527 organizations that have a federal component are subject to the allocation rules provided in 11 CFR § 106 and must pay for their activities with a split of federal and non-federal dollars (similar in nature to the pre-BCRA spending allocation rules political parties had to follow). See AO 2003-37 (ABC PAC).

The FEC’s decision does not change the rules governing "electioneering communications", meaning that "soft money" broadcast communications are still banned within 60 days of general election and 30 days of a primary if it mentions or refers to a clearly identified federal candidate or political party. This provision does not stop mail, phone or internet public communications.

Importantly, Section 527 organizations making "electioneering communications" within the 60/30 day windows can only do so with money from individuals deposited into separate segregated accounts containing contributions only from individuals to pay for these communications. This separate account cannot include any corporate, trade association or union funds.

Non-federal Section 527 organizations are free to spend unlimited amounts of corporate and union funds to pay for any of their activities at any time except for electioneering communications in the 30/60 day window. Section 527 organizations with a federal component would always be required to allocate their generic activities between federal and non-federal funds. If only federal candidates are referred to, 527s with a federal component would be required to pay for the activity solely with federal funds.
208 posted on 08/22/2004 5:23:53 PM PDT by July 4th (You need to click "Abstimmen")
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To: July 4th
And what happens when a 527 donates money to another 527? The Democrats are doing exactly this with their Joint Victory Fund, run by Clintonite Harold Ickes.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/527/search.aspx?act=com&orgid=684

Which is donating 21 and 13 million to two Democrat 527s. Is this money thus "washed clean" if it had a corporate or union origin? Can it be used within the 60 day run up?
218 posted on 08/22/2004 5:36:05 PM PDT by dennisw (Allah FUBAR!)
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