The Federal Election Commission signed off on the plans of two independent political groups to spend freely on politics yesterday in a post-Citizens United consensus decision.
On a 5-1 vote, the FEC approved two advisory opinions applying the logic of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United and an appellate court decision in SpeechNow.org v. FEC. The Center for Competitive Politics, along with the Institute for Justice, represents SpeechNow.org.
According to the FEC release:
In Advisory Opinion 2010-09 (Club for Growth), the Commission concluded that Club for Growth—a 501(c)(4) corporation—could establish and administer a political committee that will make only independent expenditures, that will register and report with the Commission, and that will solicit unlimited contributions solely from individuals in the general public, including contributions given for specific independent expenditures.
In Advisory Opinion 2010-11 (Commonsense Ten), the Commission concluded that Commonsense Ten, a registered non-connected political committee that intends to make only independent expenditures, and that will report the contributions it accepts and the independent expenditures it makes, may solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, political committees, corporations and labor organizations for the purpose of making independent expenditures.
Commissioner Walther dissented in both Advisory Opinions and issued a statement.
A report in CQ-Roll call notes that the political speech rights of the Club for Growth have been vindicated after being clipped back by the FEC:
Less than three years ago, the FEC slapped the Club for Growth with a $350,000 penalty for spending millions in unrestricted soft money on ads during the 2004 elections. But at an open meeting Thursday, commissioners overwhelmingly approved a request that would essentially allow the conservative anti-tax organization to do the same thing in 2010.
The Associated Press and SCOTUSblog also covered the FEC developments.
