Exclusive: Two FEC officials implore agency to curb 2016 election abuse

Fredreka Schouten | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Two Democratic members of the Federal Election Commission, who say they are frustrated by the agency's failure to rein in campaign-finance abuses ahead of the 2016 presidential race, are making what amounts to a drastic move Monday in the staid world of federal election law.

Commissioners Ann Ravel, who is the agency's chairwoman, and Ellen Weintraub are filing a formal petition, urging their own agency to write rules to clamp down on unfettered political spending and unmask the anonymous money flooding U.S. elections.

FEC petitions of this kind typically are made by outside supplicants — organizations or individuals trying to spur the nation's top election regulators take up some matter. No sitting commissioner has ever filed such a petition in the agency's 40-year history, Ravel said.

The six-member commission is locked in partisan gridlock, however, often deadlocking 3-3 on major cases, ranging from whether foreign interests improperly influenced a California Ballot initiative to whether some tax-exempt groups spending heavily in elections should register as political committees and disclose their donors.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Weintraub told USA TODAY. "The normal routes are not working, so we are willing to take unusual paths to fight the inaction."

Their action will not force the commission to start writing rules, but such petitions typically trigger an opportunity for public comment. The commissioners hope their move will cast a spotlight on the unrestricted and often-secret money increasingly flowing into congressional and presidential elections.

"While it's extremely difficult for the FEC to actually accomplish some of the tasks entrusted with us," Ravel said, "the public will have an opportunity to raise their concerns about the campaign-finance system and disclosure."

The commissioners' unorthodox tactic comes as some presidential candidates and their allies test the limits of campaign-finance rules in an election that is expected to shatter fundraising records. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, for instance, has headlined fundraisers for an aligned super PAC, Right to Rise, prompting two campaign-finance watchdogs to request a Department of Justice inquiry into his activity.

Bush and his allies insist he's not subject to rules barring coordination with outside groups because he's not a presidential candidate. He now is scheduled to declare his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination June 15.

Outside spending has soared in the wake of recent court decisions, including the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, which sanctioned unlimited corporate and union spending to influence candidate elections. Outside groups spent more than $1 billion in the last presidential election in 2012, three times the amount spent in 2008, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Nearly a third of the 2012 outside spending came from groups that do not disclose their donors' identities, Ravel and Weintraub said.

The spread of anonymous spending in federal elections will "continue to diminish public faith in the political process unless the commission acts," they argued in their petition.

Among other things, the petition calls on the FEC to:

Ensure more disclosure of contributors to outside groups active in elections

Bar federal candidates from appearing at fundraisers for a super PAC. Currently, under the commission's rules, candidates can appear at the events but are prohibited from seeking more than $5,000. Even so, critics argue, a politician's presence at the event sends a clear signal that he or she is endorsing the super PAC's fundraising and will benefit from it.

Make it clear that U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies cannot spend money to influence U.S. elections.

Prohibit candidates from using outside groups as arms of their campaigns. Under current rules, candidates cannot raise more than $2,700 from an individual for the primary election. Super PACs and other outside groups can raise and spend unlimited amounts as long as they operate independently of the candidates they support. If an outside group operates as a candidate's "alter ego," it should be subject to the same fundraising limits a candidate faces, the two commissioners argue.

The Democrats' novel strategy reflects the approach that Ravel, a former California election regulator, has brought to her tenure as chairwoman, a position she assumed last December. She increasingly has taken her crusade for greater transparency to the public, citing the agency's paralysis on key issues.

It doesn't seem likely that the commission will reach any agreement.

In a statement issued Monday afternoon, the agency's three Republican commissioners — Matthew Petersen, Lee Goodman and Caroline Hunter — said the FEC already has considered many of the recommendations outlined by Ravel and Weintraub.

They said it would be "more constructive" to focus on "issues that promise bi-partisan progress," such as revising rules for state and local parties, expanding administrative fines and updating "disclosure forms to enhance reporting compliance."

Weintraub, the commission's longest serving member, notes that a recent New York Times /CBS poll found widespread support for changes to the system.

Eighty-four percent of those surveyed said money has too much influence in elections, and 85% said the campaign-finance system should be either completely rebuilt or fundamentally changed. However, groups that oppose further restrictions on campaign spending also point out that the same poll shows that less 1% of those surveyed view political fundraising as the top issue facing the country.

"American realize there are many more important issues than having politicians pass new laws to protect incumbents and stifle dissent," David Keating, president of the Center for Competitive Politics, said in a recent statement.

Pointing to the crowded field of Republican candidates — many of whom are backed by super PACs and other outside groups, Keating said the "ability of people to speak out in politics is giving voters more choices and encouraging more candidates to run … That's good for our democracy."

The deadlock at the FEC has seeped into the popular culture. Comedian Seth Meyers recently made it the focus of a segment of his late-night talk show on NBC.

Fred Wertheimer, president of the campaign-finance watchdog group Democracy 21, said Monday that he backed the move by Ravel and Weintraub. Their decision to file the petition, he noted, gives them standing to go further and sue the agency if their fellow commissioners don't draft rules.

Richard Hasen, an expert on election law at the University of California-Irvine, said it's "quite ironic" to have commissioners petition their "own agency to try to get action on these pressing problems." He said he doubts, however, that it will do anything but "generate continued partisan and ideological gridlock."