Today, Issue One launched FEC M.I.A. to hold the president and Senate accountable for allowing the nation’s election watchdog to effectively shutter, and call on all six seats on the FEC to be filled by new commissioners.
“The Federal Election Commission was already broken, but now it is in shambles and can’t even perform the most basic law-enforcement functions as the most expensive election in history continues full steam ahead,” said Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee. “With FEC M.I.A., Issue One will continue shining a light on a key feature of our broken political system that both parties often overlook.”
Both parties have held the White House and power in the Senate over the past several years, and neither has spent the political capital to fix the agency’s systemic dysfunction or replace the slate of commissioners serving beyond their appointed terms. In fact, the past three commissioners to leave the FEC did so voluntarily, and have yet to be replaced.
The agency whose task it is to oversee all of this does not have enough commissioners to smack down rule-breakers, issue new advisory opinions, or even hold meetings. While the FEC has been understaffed, underfunded, and subject to gridlock for years — as Issue One detailed in its “Busted & Broke” report — it’s still managed to provide a few guardrails and issue fines for some of the most egregious cases of politicians, super PACs, and dark money groups skirting election law.
Enforcing our campaign laws has to be a cause that rises above partisanship. Republicans and Democrats both have ideas about how to ensure the FEC can avoid systemic gridlock and partisanship. But now that the country is facing a crisis, the minimum both parties can do is make sure there is a cop on the beat watching our elections. President Trump should nominate six commissioners — no more than three from any single party — and the Senate should clear its decks to hold confirmation hearings and consider them.
