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GUEST POST - VIDEO

FEC Needs To Enforce Campaign Finance Law

Says President Obama needs to nominate new commissioners

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by Meredith McGehee

Campaign Legal Center t

EDITOR'S NOTE: In this video Guest Post, Meredith McGehee encourage President Barack Obama to appoint new members to the Federal Elections Commission. The panel as it now stands is impotent to enforce campaign finance laws.

Meredith McGehee is policy director for the Campaign Legal Center. Follow her organization on Twitter at @CampaignLegal.

A Note from Politix: We want to offer our users high-quality, informed perspectives from outside writers. We're excited to bring you Guest Posts from top writers, elected officials, thought leaders, organizations and others. We'd love to make Politix a welcoming place for activists, intellectuals and others to contribute their views, so please help us grow by keeping your comments respectful and on topic.

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Does the Federal Elections Commission need new enforcement powers?

Comments (view in Forum)

  • MongoAPillager
    !
    usually laws are the last ditch attempt to legislate morality,my speakers are down so i can't get the total jist of the story,but i,m sure in this case as most cases the laws are there just not the will to enforce,
  • u
    AceLuby
    !
    What we need is two things: removal of non-profit status of PACs and Super PACs, and taxing campaign contributions at something like 75%. Congress has the power to do this and it does not go against citizens united. SOMETHING needs to happen because I don't think I can deal w/ this every 2 years.
  • u
    mtkopf
    !
    I would go further. All donators to PACs and superpacs must be disclosed. All personal campaign funds not used during election cycle MUST be forfeited to govt to pay down deficit. This does two things: it keeps the playing field level by stopping an incumbent from amassing a war chest to be unleashed on any and all challengers. Second, it prevents incumbents from trading favors for donations during their whole tenure. Another thing I just thought of is it would prevent officials from using campaign funds ala Jesse Jackson Jr. redecorating houses for girlfriends etc.
  • marine1
    !
    There are so many smoke and mirror commissions in Washington that muddy the waters, if you give them more authority, the only thing they will do is stir up more mud. Democrat mud +Republican mud = American sludge.
  • o
    talkenhed
    !
    FEC has always been impotent and tied up is partisan knots. I thought Citizens United would place our electoral process in the hands of Corporations & power brokers like Rove, Adelson, Koch's would rule. Turned our corps weren't people and throwing Millions didn't buy the election
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
    !
    Does the Federal Elections Commission need new enforcement powers?

    How about the reverse? Since they are not effective anyhow, why not restrict more of their powers? We're big boys here in America. We can handle it. Every issue doesn't need a nanny style government to handle it.
  • o
    woodtick57
    !
    How 'bout stupid citizens quit voting on who has the most TV commercials and then all the campaign money in the world won't make a spit of difference...the US electorate has the ability to solbe this problem for free and for the betterment of our nation....no new laws needed at alll....
  • u
    CommonSense
    !
    I used to say some of the same things.
    Without realizing it I was one of those "stupid citizens". Even though I was well informed of what's going on and what has been going on I fell to the arguments that Romney was so bad I needed to vote for Obama.
    Some things are plain "evil" and support for those things should never be given even if the alternative is worse. It is better to "throw your vote away" than to vote for evil. At least your vote helps send the message you want instead of contributing to a false perception of large public support when many 'supporters' were just voting against the other candidate.

    I can handle "bad". The bailouts to the banks instead of to the everyday people caught in the mortgage crisis, bad. Didn't push for truly universal health care, bad. Opposes legalizing marijuana, bad. If it was just these things I would've been right to vote for Obama, but there's "bad" and then there's "EVIL".
    Evil done by Obama:
    -Refuses to Allow the Chagossian people home.
    -Warrantless spying continues
    -Torture continues
    -Obama has declared he has the power to order executions without trial for even American citizens suspected of terrorism even if his only evidence is "trust me".

    It is because of lesser-than-two-evilism that we find ourselves in this situation. That's all a candidate has to do. All he has to do is make himself look "less evil" than the other candidate. If people had some standards for casting a vote for someone in the first place other than just "he's better than the other guy" we would not have fallen this far.

    We can get our country back. But first we need to stop voting for evil people.
  • Dan_Tien
    !
    @woodtick57 The 1st Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech. It does not guarantee a high volume loudspeaker.
  • u
    tomincali
    !
    they have too much as it is. talking about finance law, funny how not too long ago someone got money sent to them from a drug cartel,yet returned it. makes me wonder why would an illegal drug operation want to help pay for a president in another countries campaign and that country is a major consumer of illegal drugs. haven't heard if that part has ever been checked out.
  • Bobolinsky
    !
    Ms. McGehee needs to work on her teleprompter/cue card reading... Overdoing the head movement to mask the eye movement. But that's a little thing... I wouldn't have mentioned it but we've all become such teleprompter experts over the last 5 years.

    I'm curious as to whether Ms. McGehee expects to be taken seriously that she and The Campaign Legal Center are non-partisan. That segment about the reality of Super PACs that runs from 2:30-3:00... All the visuals are of republicans... Romney, Rove, Gingrich, Adelson, Santorum, and Romney again. A bunch of republicans that the Left loves to hate sandwiched between Mitt Romney.
  • Bobolinsky
    !
    On the topic of campaign finance law though...

    I'm in the camp that it was never an issue that Americans were too concerned with much and McCain-Feingold was the result of a successful astroturf campaign orchestrated primarily by Soros-backed groups under the Open Society Institute...

    Soros and Campaign Finance Reform
    http://theeprovocateur.blogspot.com/2008/03/s...

    ...talk about "dark money"...
  • Bobolinsky
    !
    In a follow up to the last comment... It looks like Government Controlled Campaign Finance isn't something that Politix Users are much interested in either.

    Better luck next time Ms. McGehee.
  • PoliticalSpice
    !
    Yes! With all the nonsense financial rform they passed in dc the one thing that worked well for decades until its repeal is what they choose to ignore. Re-instating glass seagull is vital. Therefore it probably won't happen :(
  • u
    Vivilbee
    !
    Get rid of the PACs and superPACS altogether. It's turned into an all-out shouting match and mud slinging brawl. I think Americans are tired of the negativity and would respond better to a dignified and civil political conversation that engages voters to learn about the issues each candidate stands for. I am often disappointed by the lack of knowledge and interest the American people display on shows like Jay Leno's Jaywalking and Watters World, in regards to important issues and world events. This evidence, as well as observations I have made in my own communities(including from those close to me), have led me to believe that a large majority of the American ppl are pledging their votes based on ignorance and "groupthink." I recently was one of these people until this last election where I empowered myself with knowledge, and was able to develop my own political viewpoint, which was shockingly different to those around me, and therefore able make informed decisions and vote accordingly. I know others like me are out there, but they aren't listening anymore due to partisan war.
  • Eady
    !
    I THINK THE ENTIRE CAMPAIGN SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE OVERHAULED. THERE IS ENTIIRELY TOO MUCH MONEY SPENT AND WHEN A POLITICIAN ISW CAMPAIGNING HE'S NOT DOING HIS JOB EFFECTIVELY/