Eric Wang
According to Ruth Marcus’s June 14 op-ed column, “The FEC’s cry for help,” a petition filed by two commissioners at the Federal Election Commission with their own agency is a plea for their colleagues to “actually perform their duty” and “to write rules to ensure ‘dark money’ disclosure and super-PAC independence.” As if such rules did not already exist.
The FEC has explicit and robust rules addressing coordination and disclosure of “electioneering communications” and independent expenditures. Candidates, advocacy groups and super PACs are well aware of those rules and devote significant resources on legal compliance. While there has been a longstanding debate at the FEC over how the agency does its job, the commissioners’ petition is not prompted by a lack of existing rules regarding these issues.
