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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn case you missed it: The Federal Election Commission Is About to Partially Shut Down
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/08/the-federal-election-commission-is-about-to-partially-shut-down/
For years, the Federal Election Commission has been barely functional. But at the end of this monthas the 2020 campaign heats up and unprecedented amounts of money flow to candidates for national officemuch of the agencys work will shut down entirely. There will be no new fundraising rules, no punishments for rule-breakers, no decisions about the outcomes of investigations, no advisory opinions issued to candidates who want to know if a specific campaign finance practice is illegal.
Thats because in order to do any of that, the FEC needs a quorum of four of the six members that, by law, make up the commission. As of September, three of those positions will be vacant. Two seats have been unoccupied for months (since 2017 and 2018, respectively). On Monday morning, one of the remaining Republican commissioners announced his resignation as of the end of the month. Theres little indication that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will move the fill the empty seats anytime soon.
The lights at FEC headquarters wont literally go outcampaigns and political committees will still have to file fundraising reports, and the commissions staff will still post that information information online. But the commissions leadership will be unable to take any formal actions. New rules will be frozen. Campaigns and political committees will be unable to get advice from commissioners on how to apply rules. And much of the FECs oversight activity will grind to a halt. When commission staff conduct investigations of possible violations, it requires votes from the commissioners for any action to be taken on the outcome of those investigations. Similarly, for fines to be imposed on rule breakers, it requires a vote.
Mondays resignation of Republican commissioner Matthew Petersen leaves one Democrat, one Republican and one independent commissioner. And the timing couldnt be worse: The 2020 election is predicted to be the most expensive election in history, and a raft of unresolved questions are facing the FEC when it comes to how to enforce rules to keep foreign influence out of American democracy. Rick Hasen, a prominent election law and campaign finance attorney and professor at the University of California-Irvine, said that without a quorum, any chance of the FEC being able to respond to the threat of outside interference is gone.
FM123
(10,050 posts)The federal agency charged with policing violations of campaign finance laws just lost its power to enforce those laws just as the country heads into the 2020 elections.
MyOwnPeace
(16,888 posts)Look at that face..............
You KNOW Moscow Mitch wouldn't let anything illegal happen, would he?
(I'm sorry if you really did go back to "look at that face".....)
DarthDem
(5,253 posts)Who couldn't answer basic questions about the law when the occupant of the Oval Office nominated him to be a federal district judge in 2017. His hearing went viral, as I'm sure most here will remember.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)That is the only way they can stay in power. Ain't gonna work this time. Hopefully all will be exposed.
Barr is involved, I'm certain of that.
redstatebluegirl
(12,264 posts)He is more powerful than the President right now and was during President Obama's time in office. No one person should have this much power over our systems.
triron
(21,916 posts)She seemed unaware of the danger posed by the criminal enterprise at the WH and DOJ.
I just thought: WTF?