Federal Election Commission Hearing Drills Down on Dysfunction, Partisanship
On Wednesday, the Committee on House Administration held an oversight hearing for the Federal Election Commission (FEC), giving lawmakers a chance to question members of the Commission about their ability to enforce campaign finance laws and overcome gridlock. Democratic ranking member Rep. Joe Morelle of New York expressed his concern with the agency’s failure to take up investigations recommended by its non-partisan staff; the most glaring example might be the FEC’s decision to drop its investigation of a hush-money payment made by former President Donald Trump to pornographic-film actress Stormy Daniels. In that case, the agency’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) released an internal report recommending that the FEC find Trump and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, responsible for violating campaign finance laws. The commissioners, however, declined to investigate along partisan lines. Earlier this month, Republican commissioner Allen Dickerson attempted to hamstring the OGC with a rule change that would have required them to get the Commission’s approval for any investigative activity, effectively preventing documents like the hush-money report from reaching the light of day. Interestingly, the rule and its implications were not discussed at the oversight hearing. You can read CfA’s letter opposing the policy change, here.
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