FEC Chair: Feds must help Americans make 'thoughtful' contributions
By Rudy Takala (@RudyTakala) • 9/19/15 8:34 AM
The chairwoman of the federal agency responsible for overseeing the nation's campaign finance laws has suggested that federal authorities should help Americans to make "thoughtful" political contributions.
The comment came during a Thursday meeting of the Federal Election Commission. The agency was considering whether to issue an advisory decision for an organization called "Democracy Rules" that created a game-like platform for making political contributions.
According to the rules of the platform, participants vote for one of a few issues in a given category, like immigration, that matter the most to them. Democracy Rules then identifies non-profit organizations or candidates likely to support the objectives of the winning side, and individuals pledge cash — as little as a dollar — in order to receive a vote on who should receive the money. In the last round, participants vote on whether to send the pooled funds to the winning organization or candidate.
The FEC's three Republicans voted to issue an advisory opinion of approval, while the three Democrats voted against granting permission.
"Yes, I believe the American people are intelligent enough to make decisions," said Democratic FEC chairwoman Ann Ravel. "But many of them also contribute to ... sham PACs, over which we have no control. So in some cases, there's a necessity for protection for some people to ensure that they're not, that they're able to make thoughtful, fair decisions."
Ravel was referring to political action committees that raise money for a given purpose, but then use a large amount of that money on administrative costs or other expenses.
The commission's deadlock meant that no opinion was issued. Lee Goodman, a Republican commissioner who chaired the commission last year, criticized the action. In comments to the Washington Examiner, Goodman said, "What we've got is an acute case of technophobia at the FEC." He also asserted that Ravel was trying to turn the FEC into "a consumer protection agency like the Federal Trade Commission."
"I'm a commissioner at the FEC, not the FTC," Goodman added. "When a citizen proposes a new technological innovation to the commission, the first instinct of the commission shouldn't be to fit a new technological square peg into a round regulatory hole. Our first instinct should be to see if this new technology empowers individual citizens to participate and if it poses any risk of corruption to the political process. And if it doesn't, people are entitled to an advisory opinion embracing their technology."
Additionally, Goodman said, Ravel had asked that Democracy Rules change their game to allow people to opt out after pledging their cash in order to vote on an issue position, in effect allowing them to vote for free, as long as they provided notice. Yet even after convincing the group to change its rules, Ravel said in the meeting that she was opposed because participants might not be attentive enough to opt out along the way.
"I was surprised when Commissioner Ravel moved the goal line for a second time ... that was based on a public policy concern foreign to campaign finance law," Goodman told the Examiner.
Goodman also issued a public statement, writing, "More than ever before, Americans are developing and deploying new technology to empower individuals citizens to participate in democracy," Goodman wrote. "Unfortunately, today's three-to-three vote on the advisory opinion requested by Democracy Rules is another example of opposition within the Commission to democratizing technological innovations."
"Obtaining an advisory opinion should not be so difficult, particularly for a citizen requestor who went above and beyond the legal requirements," he added.
Ravel, who has been vocal in her desire to use the commission to advance various types of social change, has sparred with Republican commissioners frequently over the course of the year. She held hearings earlier this year to consider regulating political issue ads placed on Websites like YouTube, Facebook, and the Drudge Report, which met with public opposition that she described as a "misogynist response." She also held a hearing to examine how the FEC could help to elect more women to public office.
Ravel has also expressed frustration with the commission's frequent deadlocks on votes, calling it "dysfunctional," and suggested that the size of the commission be reduced to in order to limit future disagreement.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/fec-chair-feds-must-help-americans-make-thoughtful-contributions/article/2572462
