Amid Flood of Dark Money, Groups Make Simple Request of FEC: 'Do Your Job'
Amid Flood of Dark Money, Groups Make Simple Request of FEC: 'Do Your Job'
Deirdre Fulton
Common Dreams
Decrying the unprecedented flow of so-called "dark money" into the U.S. political process, a coalition of civic and religious organizations, environmentalists, and academics on Tuesday submitted comments to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), calling on the agency to—put simply—do its job.
"Since the 2010 Citizens United decision, each election cycle has seen dramatic changes in the campaign finance environment," the groups declared in comments (pdf) that press the FEC to address critical regulatory shortfalls. "Yet, the rules and regulations of the Federal Election Commission have not kept pace."
In fact, they continued, "Today's flood of dark money in federal elections via both electioneering communications and independent expenditures is almost wholly the creation of the Federal Election Commission and the Commission should take responsibility for correcting this problem."
While Citizens United undoubtedly "opened a floodgate of outside spending," the groups wrote, the FEC's failure to update its rules accordingly—or, in the case of disclosure rules, to actually defy both the law and the Supreme Court decision itself—has only intensified the problem.
While super PACs—which can solicit unlimited donations and have thus far raised $211 million in this election cycle—are ostensibly independent from the candidates and campaigns they support, watchdogs say the reality tells a much different story.
"Frequently, the coordination between super PACs and their candidates is laughable and the subject of televised comedy acts," the coalition wrote, making it "indisputably obvious" to both the public and election experts that "the lax coordination rules enable candidates to evade the contribution limits by setting up a closely coordinated super PAC."
Furthermore, by essentially throwing up its hands—FEC chief Ann M. Ravel told the New York Times in May that the agency's internal gridlock made it "worse than dysfunctional"—the agency is only inviting further wrongdoing.
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