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1 Daniel I. Weiner, Fixing the FEC: An Agenda for Reform 1 (2019)

handle is hein.brennan/fixfec0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Fixing the FEC: An Agenda for Reform By Daniel I. Weiner Introduction he campaign finance system charged with safe- guarding our elections has itself become a threat to democracy. This is thanks not only to Citizens United, but also to a dysfunctional campaign finance agency in Washington, the Federal Election Commission. Evenly divided and perpetually gridlocked, FEC dysfunction has made it more difficult for candidates trying to follow the law, and easier for those willing to break it. Over the last decade the FEC has abandoned serious allegations of lawbreaking without investigating because its commissioners have divided along party lines. Further, the agency has often failed to pro- vide candidates and other political actors with guidance on key issues and has neglected to update regulations to reflect major changes in the law, media, and technology. This paper sets forth a new blueprint to make the FEC work again. It proposes reforms to curtail gridlock, foster more ac- countable agency leadership, and overhaul the Commission's civil enforcement process. A number of these changes are part of H.R. 1, the historic For the People Act of 2019 that recently passed the House of Representatives.' They deserve to be a bipartisan priority. The FEC was created in 1975 to administer and enforce the system of post-Watergate campaign finance rules designed to prevent corruption.2 It is composed of six commissioners; no more than three can be from the same party. The Commis- sion cannot enact regulations, issue guidance, or even inves- tigate alleged violations of the law without four votes.' While the Commission does have a nominal chair, the office rotates and carries no real power; even purely administrative matters related to budgets, staffing, and other management decisions generally require four commissioners to agree.4 Today, that rarely happens on matters of significance. By long-standing practice, FEC commissioners are usually hand- picked by Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress,' who increasingly disagree not only about the need for new reforms but also about how to interpret existing laws.' The evenly split Commission often cannot agree even on person- nel and other administrative matters, with critical posts often sitting vacant for years.' Since 2010, the FEC's partisan stalemate has allowed more than $1 billion in dark money from undisclosed sources to flood into U.S. elections.' Enforcement of rules that limit cooperation between candidates and lightly regulated super PACs has been stymied, making it possible for super PACs to spend billions working hand in glove with campaigns. Presidential candidates too often have become the equivalent of racehorses backed by rival billionaires.9 And gridlock has prevented any meaningful FEC response to revelations that Russia sought to manipulate the U.S. electorate in 2016.10 A requirement for disclaimers on the sorts of online ads that 1 Brennan Center for Justice

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