Two weeks ago, we called on President Obama to remove and replace the three Democratic appointees to the Federal Election Commission.
We had good reasons for doing so. In an unprecedented vote that was taken behind closed doors back in May, Commissioners Ann Ravel, Ellen Weintraub and Steven Walther voted to punish FOX News for its decision to include only seven GOP candidates in its undercard debate last August. This can only be viewed as an effort to abridge the freedom of the press and dictate newsroom judgment. It is a clear violation of the First Amendment, and it failed only because the panel split evenly along party lines, 3-3.
But the behavior of these three power-hungry bureaucrats demonstrates such poor judgment that they cannot possibly continue to serve in their current capacity with any credibility. Ravel’s own explanation for her actions, reported subsequently the Washington Examiner’s Rudy Takala, made our own point even better than we did.
“My role in the commission is not to apply constitutional principles,” she said “because I’m not on the Supreme Court.”
That’s funny, because Ravel and her colleagues, like all federal appointees, took an oath of office: “I, Ann Ravel, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”
How easily they forget. In applying campaign laws, common sense would dictate that FEC commissioners not go out of their way to devise novel interpretations of those laws that clearly entail abridging fundamental constitutional rights. Otherwise, in what sense are they supporting, defending or bearing true faith and allegiance to the Constitution, as they all must promise to do?
Democrats complain frequently that the FEC cannot enforce campaign laws because the panel is split evenly between appointees of the two parties. Tie votes result in no action, and they view their role as making action happen. But the panel’s gridlock appears to be the only thing preserving the Constitution at the moment, because one of the parties is at war with the Bill of Rights.
In short, three FEC commissioners believe their oath of office means nothing. Every day they remain in their jobs is an insult to America’s free press and a stain on the Obama administration’s already-tainted record in preserving press freedom.
