Starting Tomorrow, No One Enforcing Federal Campaign Finance Rules

But maybe the SDDP doesn’t have to worry right away about that FEC audit. By the end of business today, the Federal Election Commission will lack a quorum:

The commission’s vice chairman, Matthew Petersen, announced his resignation earlier this week, to take effect at the end of the month. With Petersen gone, the FEC will be down to three members and won’t have a quorum.

In addition to collecting campaign finance data, the FEC investigates potential campaign finance violations, issues fines and gives guidance to campaigns about following election law — but not without a working quorum of at least four commissioners [Brian Naylor, “As FEC Nears Shutdown, Priorities Such as Stopping Election Interference on Hold,” NPR, 2019.08.30].

What’s hold-up here? It sounds like the key players whose campaign finances we should be most interested in watching are the least interested in making sure the FEC can keep that watch:

Former FEC Chairman Michael Toner, who runs the election law and government ethics practice at the D.C. firm Wiley Rein, said he would not be surprised if the agency is without sufficient commissioners through next year’s elections. The White House has nominated one person, Republican Trey Trainor, to serve on the commission, but the Senate has not taken up his nomination. Nor have congressional Democrats and the White House announced any Democratic nominees.

The president makes nominations to the FEC, and the Senate confirms them. Presidents historically have deferred to the Senate party leadership when it comes to nominations from the other party.

“This could be a very long wait for the FEC to regain a quorum,” Toner said, adding that filling the agency did not seem to be a priority for congressional Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, or for the Trump administration [Kate Ackley, “Could Take FEC a While to Regain a Quorum, but Don’t Expect a ‘Wild West’,” Roll Call, 2019.08.28].

FEC staff will still be on the job, taking and publishing reports from candidates who bother to file them, but…

…much of the agency’s work will shut down entirely. There will be no new fundraising rules, no punishments for rule-breakers, no decisions about the outcomes of investigations, no advisory opinions issued to candidates who want to know if a specific campaign finance practice is illegal [Russ Choma, “The Federal Election Commission Is About to Partially Shut Down,” Mother Jones, 2019.08.26].

If you’re an honest candidate, 2020 may be a terrible time to run for Congress. Starting tomorrow, there’ll be no one at the FEC to give you advice on how to follow the law and no one to drop the hammer on your less scrupulous opponents.

But if you have engaged or anticipate engaging in activities at which a full-cylindered FEC would look askance, enjoy your reprieve… and remember: FEC violations have a five-year statute of limitations.