OVERVIEW
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is charged with interpreting and
enforcing rules and regulations governing the fundraising and spending of
candidates for office in the U.S. Congress (Senate and House).
The FEC is comprised of six commissioners – evenly split between Republicans and
Democrats; a finding or action needs to procure 4 votes for passage. The commissioners
are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
2012 is an important election year but finds that 5 of the 6 FEC Commissioners are
serving despite expired terms and three of the six openly disagree with many of
the fundamental campaign finance laws they are charged to enforce.
Saturday, January 21st is the 2nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision
in Citizens United. That decision (5-4) has led to the explosion of super PACs
and the avalanche of cash to buy advertising seen in just the last month.
Accordingly to the Center for Responsive Politics, as of January 20, 2012,
286 groups organized as Super PACs have reported total receipts of $32,008,813
and total expenditures of $33,239,005 in the 2012 cycle.
Despite this avalanche of unrestrained fundraising and spending, the ability of
the FEC to promulgate rules are hobbled by deadlock and inaction.
ACTION
To inspire an end to FEC inertia, LWVUS is partnering with other national organizations
in “We the People,” a petition-signing initiative to pressure President Obama to
clean house at the FEC and appoint new commissioners.
The petition
is on the White House’s website. This initiative is unique in the fact that it
allows citizens to create and sign a petition that will elicit a direct response
from the Obama administration.
The process to sign the petition has a few steps but our friends at
LWVUS have written these easy-to-follow directions here.
Encourage your family and friends to sign also.
President Obama’s staff has promised action on the request if
we can get 25,000 signatures by Friday, February 20, 2012.
For questions or more information, contact Jan Dorner, President, LWVIL.
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