Legal Center Presses for Support of FEC Replacement Legislation

In letters to the full House and Senate, the Campaign Legal Center urged lawmakers to throw their support behind the Federal Election Administration Act of 2006 to replace the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The legislation would create a new and more effective regulatory agency with significant enforcement powers. Federal courts have repeatedly reprimanded the FEC for its failures to enforce the nation's election laws and replacing the Commission has become the only viable alternative.

The House version of the Federal Election Administration Act of 2006 (H.R. 5676) was introduced by Representatives Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA) while companion legislation (S. 3560) was introduced by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI).

To read the full text of the Federal Election Administration Act of 2006, click here .

The full letter to House Members is below.

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July 12, 2006

Dear Representative:

On behalf of the Campaign Legal Center, we are writing to urge you to join in sponsoring H.R. 5676, the Federal Election Administration Act of 2006 introduced by Representatives Chris Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA). Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) have introduced a companion measure in the Senate. This measure seeks to replace the discredited Federal Election Commission (FEC) with a new, more effective regulatory agency structured in a way to significantly improve enforcement of federal campaign finance law.

When it comes to enforcement of federal campaign finance law, especially involving incumbents, the agency is notoriously ineffective. That is why some say that FEC should stand for the "Failure to Enforce" Commission. It has too often exacerbated problems in the nation's campaign finance system. The FEC allowed the creation of the soft money system that arose during the 1990s, and escalated to a $500 million scandal by 2002. Furthermore, after the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), the FEC undermined Congress's efforts to ban soft money by issuing flawed regulation to enforce the new law. Several courts have rebuked the Commission for failing to adhere to the text of the new law. Members of Congress should not have to go to court to force the FEC to do its job properly.

The Shays-Meehan bill proposes a new commission, the Federal Election Administration (FEA), which would consist of a Chairman and two other members. The FEA Chairman, who would serve a ten-year term, would have managerial and administrative responsibilities. The other two members would serve staggered six-year terms. In order to minimize partisanship within the FEA, the two members of the FEA could not be from the same political party. The current FEC, consisting of three Republicans and three Democrats, has been notoriously responsive to partisan interests with Commissioners often more committed to protecting the interests of their parties than enforcing campaign finance law.

As proposed by H.R. 5676, the FEA would retain many of the FEC's responsibilities regarding administering campaign finance disclosure laws and the presidential public financing system, as well as issuing advisory opinions. However, structural differences and increased enforcement capabilities would make the new FEA a much more effective agency.

In addition to structural differences, H.R. 5676 proposes a new enforcement system. Similar to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Labor Relations Board, the FEA would use administrative law judges to conduct enforcement proceedings for violations of law within is jurisdiction. The FEA would also have the power to find that violations of the law had occurred and to impose civil penalties; the current FEC does not have this authority. The use of administrative law judges and the ability to impose civil penalties would make the FEA more effective in meeting its responsibility to enforce campaign finance laws.

The FEC has been marked by partisanship and its failures to enforce campaign finance laws. It is time to replace the FEC with an agency which, by design, will avoid some of the pitfalls and partisan gaming that has rendered the FEC ineffective. We strongly urge you to co-sponsor H.R. 5676 and to push for a much-needed overhaul of enforcement of federal election campaign law.

Sincerely,

Trevor Potter
President

Meredith McGehee
Policy Director