With a Democrat’s Help, the F.E.C. Goes From Deadlock to Deregulation
With a Democrat’s Help, the F.E.C. Goes From Deadlock to Deregulation
www.nytimes.com
The F.E.C. Was Deadlocked for Years. Then a Democrat Sided With the G.O.P.
19 comments
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This is how democracy dies.
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I wonder how much Commissioner Lindenbaum charges for her vote.
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I'm sure there's no "conflict of interest", "insider trading", or "anti-bribery" training for her and I, an engineer with no direct reports below me and no power to make financial decisions, have to recertify those things annually.
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Wierd how theres always enough Democrats willing to come out at just the right time to prevent progress or outright claw it back, but never enough republicans swapping over. Doesn't seem accidental when it only goes one way.
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Well not always - this story is about how for years and years there was a deadlock between the two parties at the FEC that has now been broken by a Democratic board member shocking everyone and siding with the Republicans.
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We saw the writing on the wall with the first draft of the House's 2021 Freedom To Vote bill. It was unlimited campaign contributions on steroids. It made Citizens United look like child's play and essentially killed off 3rd party ability to findraise and gain ballot access.
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Link without paywall: https://archive.is/TvS0F
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
Divided equally between three Republicans and three Democrats, the Federal Election Commission deadlocked so often it became a political punchline as investigations languished, enforcement slowed and updated guidelines for the internet era stalled.
Conservatives who for years have dreamed of loosening restrictions are delighted, even though many of the rulings were sought by one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent attorneys, Marc Elias, who was seeking political advantage and clarity for his clients.
Those on both sides of the ideological divide agree on one thing: The changes amount to some of the most significant regulatory revisions since the campaign finance law, the McCain-Feingold Act, was put in place two decades ago.
One decision this spring that is already reshaping the 2024 presidential race allowed super PACs and campaigns for the first time to work together to plan and execute costly door-to-door canvassing operations.
The dysfunction was so bad that by 2021, Ms. Weintraub pushed the Democrats to adopt the unusual tactic of refusing to close stalled investigations in hopes the commission would get sued for failing to act.
Interestingly, the campaign arm of the Senate Republicans lobbied against some of the looser rules that Mr. Elias successfully sought, warning against making sweeping changes in an election year.
The original article contains 1,691 words, the summary contains 207 words. Saved 88%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
19 comments
Behold the fruits of "no matter who."
No matter who also gave us Manchin's successor, Fetterman
Its interesting right? In a Machiavellian sense.
The timing just.. all came together for Manchin to have played his role, and now Fetterman gets to be "that 'Democrat' ".
Maybe the Fetterman one hits a bit closer to home because I don't think Manchin really ever presented himself as anything other than what he was. Regardless, the useful tool of an "unreliable Democrat" remains firmly in place.
If you check out the offending appointee, there's not really anything in her history that suggests she'd be expected to vote like this. Like sure, who knows what beliefs she professed in private vetting, but public information doesn't look like Biden appointed a risky choice likely to be friendly to big money.
FTA:
Pretty surprising, wasn't like some staffer for a more conservative dem or something, all public indicators were pointing to a progressive person. She also had the support of Bernie Sanders and other progressives, so the people in this comment thread implying omg Biden snuck a conservative onto the FEC are seriously misguided here or didn't read the article.
So if you vote blue, at any time without warning, your chosen candidate could flip and vote opposite of their what their constituents wanted like Sinema and Fetterman did. Manchin was always Manchin but the Democrats ability to run to the right after they get power is staggeringly consistent.