FEC Deadlocks, Refusing to Grant Permission to American Crossroads to Run “Fully Coordinated” Ads With Candidates

The Federal Election Commission today voted to a 3-3 deadlock in response to an advisory opinion request from Super PAC American Crossroads for permission to “fully coordinate” ads with candidates, using unlimited corporate and individual contributions, without those ads being considered prohibited “coordinated expenditures.”

“The result of today’s deadlock is that American Crossroads did not get the green light it sought  from the FEC to fully coordinate ads with candidates,” said Campaign Legal Center FEC Program Director Paul S. Ryan.  “Instead, any ads run by American Crossroads that feature federal candidates will be subject to legal scrutiny and may be deemed illegal.”

The Campaign Legal Center, together with Democracy 21, filed comments with the Commission on November 14, urging the Commission to reject American Crossroads’ request for permission to coordinate its ads with candidates.

“American Crossroads’ request was absurd and flew in the face of decades of Supreme Court decisions upholding laws to prevent political corruption,” said Ryan.  “The Supreme Court has long recognized the importance of contribution limits to preventing corruption, and that expenditures coordinated with candidates must be treated as contributions in order to prevent easy circumvention of the limits.  We applaud Chairwoman Bauerly and Commissioners Weintraub and Walther for their efforts today to maintain the integrity of the contribution limits.”

To read the comments filed by the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, click here.