The Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) filed comments with the Federal Election Commission supporting two draft advisory opinions affecting independent political groups.
The Club for Growth and Commonsense Ten, a new group formed by Democratic consultants, requested advisory opinions concerning how recent court decisions such as Citizens United v. FEC and SpeechNow.org v. FEC impact their plans to raise money from individuals, companies and unions.
“The consensus draft opinions from the Federal Election Commission are reasonable responses to game-changing court decisions expanding the freedom of political speech,” said CCP Vice President of Policy Allison Hayward, who authored the comments. “These guidelines will provide clarity to groups across the political spectrum as midterm elections approach.”
CCP also commented that the FEC need not require Commonsense Ten or the Club for Growth independent expenditure committees to register as a “political committee” to raise and spend funds independently (both conceded political committee status for the purposes of these AOs).
“Independent expenditure reporting is perfectly tailored to provide information to regulators and the public about independent expenditures,” Hayward wrote. “Perpetual political committee reporting is burdensome, cumulative, and unnecessary.”
A separate draft opinion submitted by Commissioner Steven Walther (concerning only the Club for Growth) “fails to take seriously recent court decisions,” Hayward wrote. “It elevates superficial distinctions between SpeechNow.org and the Club for Growth’s proposal, and incorporates interpretive advice that is no longer valid to justify a hyper-regulatory answer.”
