Senator Obama might have ulterior motives regarding the FEC?
Perish the thought.
By Moe Lane Posted in 2008 | Shocked | SHOCKED to find gambling going on at this establishment | Tales of the Machine — Comments (12) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
I mean, just because the FEC is about to grind to a halt because Senator Barack Obama has objected to one of Bush's picks:
The potential for an FEC shutdown has been looming for weeks, as a handful of Democratic senators voiced opposition to one of Bush's nominees to the commission, Hans A. von Spakovsky. Their concern stemmed not from von Spakovsky's work on the FEC but from his tenure in the Justice Department's civil rights division.
His critics contend that von Spakovsky advocated a controversial Texas redistricting plan and fought to institute a requirement in Georgia that voters show photo identification before being permitted to cast ballots.
"I am particularly concerned with his efforts to undermine voting rights," Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said in a statement released in September after he placed a hold on von Spakovsky's nomination. Obama and others gathered more opposition to von Spakovsky's nomination by drawing civil rights advocates into a lobbying effort for its rejection. They attracted the involvement of a number of groups, including the NAACP and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, that typically would not be engaged in a battle over an FEC nomination.
...with the result that the GOP has decided to follow suit in blocking the Democratic nominees, which means that there won't be a quorum starting January 1, which means that candidates looking for federal matching funds may find themselves increasingly strapped for cash, which includes former Senator John Edwards, which means that Obama, who is not accepting federal matching funds, has found himself somehow in the situation where his most important rival for the anti-Hillary Democratic vote is facing a long, slow financial strangulation.
What an amusingly serendipitous coincidence!
Read on.
We tend to forget that, while Senator Obama has almost no national experience in politics, he has cemented his relationship with the Illinois Democratic Party (it would be cruel of me to say that he has been successfully co-opted by the Illinois Democratic Party). This won't magically give him campaigning ability, but has it taught him a trick or two about how to manage one's primary political opposition? It's an interesting question, if one that we are unlikely to have asked until he stops being the official Fresh-Faced Outsider Who Is Shaking Up The Race And Engaging Ordinary People for 2008. I do know that if a Republican Senator had found himself in a situation where his stance on a particular nomination just happened to negatively impact his immediate primary rival we wouldn't be able to move for all the accusations of Rovian plots, but that's just my VRWC cynicism talking, no doubt.
Still, if he has set things up this way, I must admit to being at least slightly impressed. It's precisely the sort of outstretched foot-in-one's-path that the old Daley machine would have delighted in.
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Senator Obama might have ulterior motives regarding the FEC? 12 Comments (0 topical, 12 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
1), that the situation will actually be resolved by March; and
2), that the difficulties involved in loans and whatnot will not be a significant damper on campaigns relying on matching funds.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
1) As I understand it nothing needs to be resolved, they just have to wait until March instead of Jan. This would be true even if the nominations went through immediately. This is more of an issue because the primary is occurring so early in the year and candidates have raised so much money by this point that matching funds actually matter right now.
2) I read somewhere that Edwards (not sure about McCain) has already secured a promised loan against the matching funds so that's not going to be an issue either.
Obama is only blocking von Spakovsky. The retaliation from the GOP isn't his doing. Still, it makes me wonder if Sentators who are seeking the Presidential office should back away from interfering with the FEC given the potential conflict of interests.
The GOP is reacting to Senator Obama's grandstanding; he could end this tomorrow, if he liked. He won't, of course. Doing so would be a tacit admission that even he doesn't really think that requiring people to show a picture ID is an act of racism.
Moe
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
There's some truth in both lines. On Dec. 20, the Commissioners, as one of their last acts, approved federal matching funds payments for 8 candidates, including $8.8 million for Edwards. And it is true that he won't get the money until March anyway, and so will probably borrow against the anticipated receipts. But clearly Obama benefits if the nomination battle stretches on. For one thing, Edwards will be eligible for about $12 to $13 million more in matching funds, to somewhere around $21 million total for the primary(the exact max is not yet determined). Having to pay a bank premium for a loan effectively reduces the amount of his taxpayer provided campaign slush fund by a couple million over the course of the primaries. Moreover, that cost could get higher as time goes on - if the FEC deadlock is not resolved, there will be no Commission to approve the rest of his payments. Presumably, it will happen sometime, but you have to think the delay and uncertainty will raise his borrowing costs still higher.
Finally, as Moe says, if this were a Republican (other than McCain) blocking funds to his opponent, you can be sure we'd hear what a conflict of interest this was.
But of course, when you think about it, all campaign finance law presents a stark conflict of interest for the politicians considering the law. Which is one reason why we shouldn't have these laws.
Brad Smith
Commissioner, FEC 2000-2005
P.S. If you need any other reason to check "no" on the box on your 1040 about directing $3 of your taxes to the presidential fund, consider that the FEC (following the law) has approved about $11 million in payments to various Democrats so far, but only about $7.9 million to Republicans, and this disparity will probably grow. So if you check "yes" on the box next year, you're basically giving money to Democrats.
Capital University website
Center for Competitive Politics website
I doubt that Senator Obama is motivated by a desire to shut off funds to Edwards - though again, imagine the stories we would see if a Republican were in that position. Rather, Obama simply thinks it is good politics right now, helping him with black voters, to support trumped charges against Commissioner Von Spakovsky.
Brad Smith
Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
Capital University website
Center for Competitive Politics website
It's the one area that I can have a direct impact on where money is actually spent.
___________________________________
Two thirds of the world is covered by water,
the other third is covered by Champ Bailey.
Brad,
I always appreciate reading your comments on the FEC.
I have a few questions that hopefully you can answer. I did not know that the commissioners had to approve matching fund certifications. What would stop three commissioners from voting against approval of matching fund certifications? For example, in 2004 President Bush was running unopposed for re-election so all matching funds would have gone to Democratic candidates running against President Bush. Could the three Republican commissioners voted against all matching fund submissions? Another scenario would be if an incumbent President was being challenged for the nomination of his party, the commissioners he appointed could deny matching funds to his opponent. Could three commissioners vote to deny matching funds to this primary opponent?
I know that if you accept matching funds you are limited to how much you can donate to your own campaign. It used to be $50,000 in 1992 and was not changed by inflation but I don't know if McCain-Feingold changed that. Since Senator Edwards is taking matching funds would he be allowed to loan money to his campaign?
Kevin Allen
The answer to your first question, Kevin, is the law. The law provides the requirments to get matching funds. Commissioners merely must certify that the law has been complied with. It is pretty straightforward, and any Commissioner who didn't certify a candidate entitled to funds would be violating the law, breaking his oath of office, and subjecting himself to possible impeachment. Of course, I suppose in some sense, three Commissioners prepared to do that could gum up the system - but we are still under a rule of law, and we are not at the day where I can conceive of three commissioners trying such a blatant power move (which, moreover, might be rapidly addressed in court).
On the second question, the limit is still $50K, and that is the most that Edwards can loan to his campaign.
Brad Smith
Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
Capital University website
Center for Competitive Politics website
As I understand the FEC the commissioners set policy and the staff implements it. The disbursements for matching funds have already been authorized for 7 primary candidates for 2008 (John Edwards has the most at $8.8 Million. McCain is second at $5.2 Million.)
However the FEC cannot distribute funds to primary candidates until enough funds are reserved to fund the conventions and general election campaigns for the Republican and Democratic Candidates. (I don't believe any third parties have qualified for general election funds in 2008.) The FEC estimates that it will not be able to begin disbursing funds to primary candidates until March of 2008 according to this FEC press release: http://www.fec.gov/press/press2007/20071207cert.shtml
Candidates can take certification of matching funds to a bank and get a loan based on the amount of matching funds they will receive. In the past I think candidates can get loans for up to 80-90% of the amount they have been certified to receive in matching funds.
With the primaries starting so early this year, having to wait until January 2nd to receive the money would be useless for Iowa and New Hampshire.
So while Senator Obama is blocking an apparently well qualified candidate for the FEC, it doesn't appear to have the benefit of hurting Senator Edward's campaign.