Democratic women on the Federal Election Commission are demanding that candidates be barred from helping super PACs raise money, a major flip-flop of an earlier Democratic decision to let candidates solicit money for Democratic super PACs.
The latest move would likely hurt Republican presidential candidates that are helping super PACs raise millions of dollars to run against Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Clinton, meanwhile, just issued an email to supporters complaining about the GOP fundraising. “Our opponents have billions of dollars at their disposal,” she warned in urging supporters to become “launch donors” as she officially joins the race on Saturday.
FEC chair Ann Ravel and fellow Democrat Ellen Weintraub on Monday filed a petition with the elections agency asking for new rules on fundraising. The duo have been pushing efforts to limit fundraising of so-called “dark money,” a term typically targeted at Republicans, and regulate political speech on the internet.
A key element of their proposal would be to reinforce rules prohibiting coordination between super PACs and the candidates they support. Currently, the rules let candidates help super PACs raise limited amounts of money. The Democrats want candidates barred from attending super PAC events.
“The Commission’s regulations should be revised to fully and clearly prohibit coordination between candidates and outside spending groups with which they are closely associated. In so doing, the Commission should adopt rules that prohibit candidates from attending super PAC fundraising events,” said the petition.
In 2011, Democrats on the FEC pushed for a rule that candidates can and should help Democratic super PACs raise money. It was unanimously approved.
The bid by Ravel and Weintraub could hurt ongoing fundraising efforts by Jeb Bush, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and other Republicans who have had success soliciting funds for friendly super PACs.
Since the agency is politically split between three Democrats and three Republicans, it is unlikely that the petition will be agreed to.
Theirs is just the latest attack on Republicans. At a recent FEC meeting, Republican Lee E. Goodman noted that the Democratic-chaired agency has been resolving far more cases against Republicans than Democrats, by a ratio of 24-9. What’s more, there are 49 cases against Republicans to just 16 against Democrats queued up for further action.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
