Dec 13, 2006 -- Today's FEC 527 Actions: Statement by Campaign Legal Center Executive Director J. Gerald Hebert & Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer

The three settlements announced today by the Federal Election Commission involving 527 groups which spent money to influence the 2004 presidential election are a case of "too little, too late."

These cases do not provide the public or 527 groups with clear standards and guidance as to when 527 groups spending money to influence federal elections must register with the FEC and comply with federal campaign finance laws.

Clear standards and guidance regarding the activities of 527 groups are essential to enforcing and complying with the campaign finance laws and could be provided by either FEC regulations being issued or by legislation being enacted. Our organizations called on the FEC to issue regulations in early 2004 that would have prevented the kind of 527 spending that took place in the 2004 and 2006 elections.

The settlement in the Swift Boat case arises out of a complaint filed by Democracy 21, the Campaign Legal Center and the Center for Responsive Politics more than two years ago.

In the Swift Boat case, the FEC has imposed a fine of less than $300,000 on a group which raised more than $25 million, illegally spent almost $20 million on TV ads that attacked Senator John Kerry - and had a major impact on the 2004 presidential election through its illegal activities.

Effective enforcement of the campaign finance laws cannot be established through a case-by-case approach that resolves massive violations of the campaign finance laws more than two years after a presidential election with a fine that is a small fraction of the millions of dollars illegally spent to influence that election.

Political operatives can be expected to look at this kind of penalty as no more than the cost of doing business.

The Swift Boat complaint is one of five complaints our groups filed in 2004 against six 527 groups for spending money illegally in the 2004 federal elections. In the other four complaints, no action has been taken to date by the FEC, except for dismissing one group from one of the four complaints.

In 2006, 527 groups continued to spend tens of millions of dollars of soft money to influence federal elections. Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center filed two more complaints, against four new groups earlier this year for spending soft money illegally in the 2006 federal elections.

The Commission's actions today fail to ensure that 527 groups will not again be spending tens of millions of dollars illegally to influence the 2008 federal elections - as they did in 2004 and again in 2006.

In order to end the widespread practice of 527 groups spending soft money to influence federal elections, either the FEC must issue regulations or legislation must be enacted that makes clear to all 527 groups that they are required to comply with federal campaign finance laws when they raise and spend money to influence federal elections.

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