In a surprise announcement, the bitterly divided Federal Election Commission announced Thursday that it will begin implementing the four-year-old Citizens United campaign finance law, brushing aside years of acrimony with a bipartisan agreement in time for the midterm elections.
“These rules are like fine wine. They’ve been four years in the making,” said FEC Chairman Lee E. Goodman, a Republican.
Vice Chairwoman Ann M. Ravel, a Democrat, called it a compromise and one in which she demanded and won transparency agreements. She pledged to vote for it, meaning it will pass by at least a 4-2 vote when brought up before the commission Oct. 9.
The announcement, made jointly by the duo at a legal conference in Washington, is a slap at congressional Democrats who are trying to overturn Citizens United, a 2010 Supreme Court decision that ended restrictions on corporations and unions from spending money from their general treasury funds to support or oppose candidates.
What’s more, the duo announced an agreement on the related McCutcheon case from the court this year. That decision gave even more freedom to Americans to spend freely on politics, though contribution limits to candidates remain in place.
The commission will also hold a public hearing to get input on issues related to the 2014 McCutcheon case.
Goodman and Ravel said that it was time for the FEC to begin acknowledging the laws set in stone by the Supreme Court’s decisions. For example, the FEC rulebook still includes spending bans struck down in the Citizens United case because the commission could never agree on the language. They did not enforce the old rules, however.
The commissioners would not provide details of the new wording, but promised to have it available before their Oct. 9 meeting. Goodman said they will be detailed, and, for example, will deal with the issue of whether unions and corporations can do voter registration drives.
“We’ve drawn some reasonable lines,” said Goodman. “It’s important to give guidance,” added Ravel.
“I think this is a big day for the commission,” added Goodman, who with Ravel have broken the deadlock that has been typical on the commission.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
