Apr 20, 2007 -- Legal Center Weekly Report: April 20, 2007

Legal Center Policy Director Testifies Before House Special Task Force on Ethics

On April 19, Campaign Legal Center Policy Director Meredith McGehee testified before the House Special Task Force on Ethics outlining the need to make fundamental changes to the ethics process by creating an outside enforcement entity. The testimony stressed that this enforcement entity is the lynchpin to meaningful ethics reform.

McGehee supported the establishment of an Office of Public Integrity - as outlined in legislation, H.R. 422, introduced by Task Force member Marty Meehan (D-MA). The bill incorporates the essential elements needed to reform the current discredited congressional ethics process. She ended her testimony by stating, "Voters, do in fact, care about ethics as the last election demonstrated, according to the polls. And it is the responsibility of Members of this body to uphold the integrity of the institution."

FEC Sides with Reform Groups Counting Fees Against Contribution Limits

An FEC advisory opinion (AO 2007-04) issued Thursday agreed with arguments made by reform groups against opening what could have been a significant loophole in campaign finance law. The Campaign Legal Center, together with Democracy 21, filed comments earlier in the week urging the Commission to rule against a request made made by Atlatl, a corporation proposing to offer a fundraising service to federal committees and charging the processing fee to contributors rather than the committees.

The FEC concluded that contributor payment of the "convenience fee" would be a contribution to the recipient committee.

The opinion correctly recognized that the convenience fee is a cost negotiated by, and imposed upon, the political committee, which is the beneficiary of the services provided by Atlatl. Thus, the payment of the convenience fee made to Atlatl by the individual donor is an in-kind contribution by the donor to the political committee which benefits from the services provided by Atlatl. Accordingly, the donor's payment of the fee should be treated as a contribution by the donor to the committee, and counted against the donor's contribution limit to the committee. The decision was in keeping with a long line of Commission Advisory Opinion precedent. A decision in favor of Atlatl would have permitted federal political committees to off-load their fundraising expenses to contributors, with the effect of evading federal contribution limits.

Reform Groups Oppose Proposal to Establish Review of Ethics Rules

On April 16, reform groups sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging her to oppose a call by House Minority Leader John Boehner to establish a bipartisan task force to review the new ethics rules, which the House adopted in January by a vote of 430 to 1.

The reform groups include the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

The letter states, ''Our organizations strongly urge you not to establish such a task force. We see no need for a task force and no basis for treating the Boehner proposal as a serious effort to strengthen and improve the House ethics rules, in light of his past positions on congressional ethics rules.''

Legal Center Staff Host Australian ACYPL Delegation

On Wednesday April 18, Trevor Potter, Legal Center President and General Counsel, and Paul S. Ryan, Legal Center FEC Program Director and Associate Legal Counsel spoke to an Australian delegation of the American Council of Young Political Leaders. The organization fosters relations between the next generation of political leaders by hosting international educational conferences. Potter and Ryan spoke to the group about campaign finance laws on the federal, state, and local levels.

CLC Staff Speak to Northwestern Students

This week, Paul S. Ryan and David Vance, Legal Center Director of Communications and Research spoke to a group of graduate students from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Vance and Ryan addressed campaign finance laws in speaking with the students who are currently reporting from Washington for a variety of news outlets around the nation.

Philadelphia Ethics Board Approves Enforcement Regulations

On Tuesday, April 17, 2007, the Ethics Board of the City of Philadelphia, see http://www.phila.gov/ethicsboard/, deliberated upon a set of enforcement regulations at its public meeting, and approved the regulations by unanimous vote. These regulations, which set forth the investigative and adjudicative procedures of the Board, will allow the Board to fully enforce the City's fledgling campaign finance law. Legal Center Associate Counsel Tara Malloy consulted with the Board in its drafting of the enforcement regulations and appeared at the April 17 Board meeting.

Legal Center Blog Highlights

Each week, the Campaign Legal Center staff posts blog entries on its site, www.clcblog.org . This week's entries include Click to read this week's entries: " Testimony Before the House Special Task Force on Ethics ," and " FEC Web-based Fundraising Decision Could Have Broad Repercussions " or to sign up for blog updates, click here .

Week in the News

To read a variety of this week's editorials and articles on a variety of Campaign Legal Center issues, please click here .