PRESS STATEMENT

Media Contact: Kay Guinane, (202) 234-8494

FEC Decision Is a Blow to Civic Participation
Statement of OMB Watch on FEC's Failure to Consider Grassroots Lobbying Exemption
August 29, 2006

In a series of stunningly contradictory votes, Democrats on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) blocked a proposed interim rule that would have exempted grassroots lobbying broadcasts from a federal rule banning ads that mention an incumbent before an election.

While opinions differ on what should be done about genuine issue ads that have been swept up in the ban, the public deserves consideration of the merits of proposals to protect grassroots lobbying. Today, the Democrats on the commission blocked such discussion. It was a loss for civic participation and grassroots involvement in democracy.

A majority of the six FEC commissioners, of which three are appointed by each major political party, must approve any action undertaken by the commission. The grassroots exemption was proposed by Commissioner Hans A. von Spakovsky, a Republican, and was supported by his Republican colleagues. Today's votes on the grassroots exemption failed on a 3-3 party-line vote, with Democrats rejecting all proposals.

First, Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, a Democrat, objected to the proposed interim rule because a full rulemaking process has not taken place. But when just such a procedure was proposed, she and her fellow Democrats blocked it. They then effectively blocked discussion of the issue for the foreseeable future by voting down a motion authorizing the FEC's attorneys to prepare draft rules for discussion, claiming they want to wait for guidance from the courts. But the law gives the FEC, not the courts, the authority to create exemptions from the "electioneering communications" rule.

The Democrats' apparent obstructionism raises serious questions about how they and the reform law experts that opposed the interim rule view the democratic process.

The electioneering communications rule bans broadcast ads 60 days before a general election or 30 days before a primary for federal candidates. Do the commission's Democrats believe legitimate grassroots lobbying cannot exist during those times?

Unless we close down government during the campaign season, legislatures will vote on bills during the blackout period, and the public will want to engage on legislative issues. But neither the Democratic commissioners nor the reform experts seem to recognize this reality. And neither has offered an alternative that would help separate the sham ads from the real thing.

Instead they make sweeping claims about creating loopholes, without offering evidence of abuse. In 2004 charities and religious organizations were exempted from the "electioneering communications" rule, and there was no flood of sham issue ads. But the theoretical possibility that some sham ad might some day squeeze through the narrow limits of the proposed exemption has been used to justify silencing an important civic voice. So fear rules. But is it fear of corruption or citizen participation?

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