The Washington Examiner points out that the Democrat Commissioners are really the individuals causing unreasonable deadlock at the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Instead of drafting regulations to meet the requirements of the Constitution after the Citizens United case, the Democrats are holding out for disclosure requirements that are not required by federal election law. While disclosure requirement may points of discussion for any future federal campaign finance legislation, the Democrats simply want to decree it by regulation and they are willing to hold the FEC hostage to obtain those goals.
It has been over four years since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling opening the doors to corporate and union political funding, but a bitterly divided Federal Election Commission still hasn’t rewritten their rules to reflect the constitutional change.The reason: Democrats on the FEC want to use the rewrite to open the door to sweeping new donor disclosure requirements, while Republicans want to make only the changes needed to comply with the Jan. 21, 2010, decision. Each side blames the other for inaction.
Republicans on the commission have repeatedly tried to update the regulations, offering at least three proposals. Two were killed on 3-3 votes, and the third has failed to move forward due to Democratic opposition.“It’s a point of embarrassment,” said FEC Chairman Lee Goodman, who has made updating the 544-page “Code of Federal Regulations” a top priority of his one-year leadership term.