By Bob BauerLarry Lessig and Brad Smith remain at odds over the complaint Professor Smith’s organization, the Center for Competitive Politics, filed against Mayday PAC for violating the disclaimer rules. While not using precisely this word, Lessig believes that the CCP action was petty. The problem, he says, was a breakdown in approval procedures and vendor performance, and no one was harmed. Smith has no use for the excuse and he says that an organization dedicated to regulating political activity ought to be held to account for violating the regulations it is dedicated to promoting.It is a familiar scene—a spat between adversaries, one of whom has resorted to complaint to make a point. In this case, CCP has made what it believes to be a telling point, supported by a clear violation of law, about campaign finance and policy—about the costs of the Mayday reform program. Most often, the complaint wars break out among electoral competitors, and the claims are more speculative and the aims nakedly political. The public is treated to certain claims about the rules, what they call for, and the ways in which they are violated, and the complainant pressing for action is all set to denounce the agency for not taking it – – whatever the merits of its cause.
