On the heels of the latest scuffle at the Federal Election Commission over Democratic moves to hide critical votes, a GOP commissioner is pushing to make all key votes public.
Commissioner Sean Cooksey said he will propose the sunshine act at the next meeting.
“This policy proposal would bring new levels of transparency and accountability at the FEC,” he said.
Earlier this month, Cooksey blew the whistle on the growing trend by Democratic commissioners to hide votes and even block the agency from defending its decisions in court, a practice unheard of in other agencies.
And it follows a partisan fight on the commission over a Democratic move to hide a vote involving a Democratic National Committee contractor accused of colluding with the Ukrainian government to hurt the 2020 Trump campaign.
Cooksey has proposed an end to so-called zombie cases, in which the agency refuses to close a case even after a vote to end enforcement. Long-serving Democratic Commissioner Ellen Weintraub has pushed that practice.
He said those cases have increased 225% in the last year, from four to 13.
Now, he also wants votes to block defending FEC actions in court made public.
“Publishing Commission votes related to agency litigation furthers the FEC’s transparency and accountability mission. The Commission has no legitimate interest in withholding entirely this information,” he said in a memo to the commission.
