Enforcement
News & Commentary | Archive

The statute increases penalties for certain violations, and also creates a framework for more active criminal enforcement of the law. Criminal sentencing standards for campaign finance violations have been established, and the statute of limitations for criminal liability has been extended to 5 years. The FEC and the Department of Justice have begun developing a new protocol or agreement governing their shared responsibility for enforcement of the law.

Thoughts on the FEC and Its Troubles  6/26/09

What is New at the Federal Election Commission  5/18/09

Brad Smith for the Defense (of Deadlocks)  4/14/09

Conflict at the FEC  4/13/09

Varieties of Reform of the Federal Election Commission  2/16/09

Reform Community Expresses Concerns about the FEC  2/12/09

Bundling Rules and Reasonable Disagreement  2/5/09

The FEC Explains Itself, on the Bundling Rules  2/4/09

Politics (and FEC Enforcement) Make Strange Bedfellows: The Soros Book Matter  1/29/09

Von Spakovsky for the Defense (of the Bush Justice Department)  1/28/09

The Republican Commissioners' Statement on the November Fund--and the State of Campaign Finance Doctrine and Enforcement  1/26/09

The Republican Commissioners Reply, in the November Fund Matter  1/23/09

Waiting for Further Explanation from the FEC  1/21/09

More on Agency Procedures  1/14/09

FEC Enforcement: The Matter of DOJ’s Role  1/8/09

Thinking about (and with Some Sympathy for) the Federal Election Commission  1/7/09

FEC Hearing: A New Year's Resolution?  12/16/08

Chairman McGahn and the Old College Try  10/23/08

"Voter Fraud" as Wedge Issue: the DOJ Report on the US Attorney Firings  10/1/08

Brad Smith Replies on Criminal Enforcement of the Campaign Finance Laws  9/30/08

CCP v. Democracy 21, on 527 Enforcement and the Role of DOJ  9/29/08

The McCain Matching Fund Case: Part Two  8/18/08

A New Agency and Its Policy Choices  7/16/08

FEC Commissioners and Their "One Term"  6/17/08

Judging Campaign Finance Enforcement: Setting Expectations and Worrying More About the Right of Association  6/5/08

New Year's Eve  12/31/07

Holiday Tip  12/27/07

A Season of Reform Priorities  12/21/07

No Barking in the Night about the FEC  12/20/07

"Clean and Fair"  12/18/07

Christmas Past, Present and Future at the Federal Election Commission  12/17/07

"Needing"The FEC--And Why....  12/7/07

The FEC On its Sick (Death?) Bed  12/4/07

The Daily Kos, the Daily Paper, the Nightly News, the U.S. Government  7/27/07

More on Family Matters  7/25/07

Election-Year Interventions and DOJ’s Unwritten Exceptions  5/10/07

The Appetite for “Independent” Ethics Enforcement: and the Problem with Satisfying It  4/23/07

The Claim of Fraud as Electoral Strategy  3/14/07

The FEC, in the Limelight  2/13/07

L’Affaire Shelmerdine and the Logic of Regulatory Systems  12/29/06

“Prosecutorial Discretion”  12/27/06

“Independent” Enforcement of Ethical Rules  12/15/06

“527” Questions—and Some Proposed Answers  12/14/06

The "Message" of the 527 Cases  12/13/06

Commission Settles "527" Cases  12/13/06

"Instigators" of Church Politics  12/7/06

Procedural Reform at the FEC—and Its Critics  12/5/06

A Problem with Legal Solutions to Political Problems  12/1/06

The Political Corporation: Round Three  11/30/06

Turning Yourself In to the FEC: A Policy  11/30/06

More on the Political Corporation: Robert Mutch’s Reply in Defense of the l907 Law  11/29/06

Promising Reforms: at the FEC  11/28/06

One Surprising Voice for (One Kind of) Reform  11/21/06

Sierra Club Advocacy and the Reading of Signs  11/16/06

More on FEC Reform: Some Points from Trevor Potter  7/14/06

Another Lawsuit Over McCain-Feingold Implementing Regulations  7/11/06

DeLay in the Time of RICO  1/26/06

Criminal Politics  12/20/05

Political Contributions in the Abramoff Scandal  11/29/05

The DeLay Case  9/29/05

Disagreeing with the Lawyers  9/27/05

The Show Finally Closes  8/12/05

Down on the Farm  8/11/05

The Significance of the CBS Case  7/25/05

The Shays Case  7/18/05

"Just Asking": Investigations and the News Media Exemption  7/14/05

A Farewell to Commissioner Smith  6/16/05

Summary of 6/9/05 FEC Meeting  6/9/05

Regulation of Bloggers and the Principle of Parallelism  5/5/05

Racing to the Bottom  5/4/05

FEC Reform and Partisan Politics  4/7/05

Summary of 1/27/05 FEC Meeting  1/27/05

Figuring Out the Times on Campaign Finance Reform  1/19/05

Reform Studies on Money and Politics: the Absence of "Agenda"  12/7/04

Summary of 10/28/04 FEC Meeting  10/28/04

Kollar-Kotelly and the Law that Is Technically "on the Books"  10/20/04

Sinclair on the Air: Part II  10/13/04

Sinclair on the Air: Media Politics in the 2004 Campaign  10/12/04

The Reform Plaintiffs "Respond" to the FEC’s Motion to Stay in the BCRA Rules Case  10/6/04

Campaign Finance Reform and the March of the Editorials  10/5/04

FEC Seeks Stay of Kollar-Kotelly Decision on BCRA Rules  10/4/04

The Smith Disqualification Motion and the Important Difference between Policy and Enforcement Issues  9/28/04

501(c)s and the "Can of Worms"  9/24/04

The new "527" Bill Unveiled  9/23/04

Kollar-Kotelly Part II  9/22/04

Jockeying Over the Kollar-Kotelly Decision  9/21/04

Judge Kollar-Kotelly Is Unkind to the FEC  9/20/04

Summary of Oral Argument in Bush-Cheney  9/15/04

Summary of the September 9 FEC Open Meeting  9/9/04

When the FEC "Fails to Act"  8/27/04

Responding to One Response on "Split Votes and Swift Boats"  8/23/04

Of Split Votes and Swift Boats  8/20/04

Wisconsin Right to Life II  8/3/04

Election Law and Distinctions: A Last Word  7/27/04

Election Law and the Question of Distinctions  7/26/04

Ben Ginsberg’s View of the FEC’s Shortcomings  7/19/04

FEC Hearing Conducted by Senate Rules Committee  7/14/04

Commissioner Thomas Withdraws Motion to Reconsider Advisory Opinion on Party Fundraising  7/14/04

More Testimony Before the Rules Committee: Potter and Ginsberg  7/13/04

Hearing on FEC Scheduled for Wednesday  7/12/04

The Discovery Channel and the New York Times Brings You: A Documentary on Money in Politics!  7/8/04

Films and the Law: There is More than Moore at Issue  7/1/04

Thomas Withdraws Motion to Reconsider Advisory Opinion on Party Fundraising  6/24/04

Commissioners Debate the Looming Issues Presented by the "Media Exemption"  6/24/04

Commission Meeting Concludes: Employment of Candidates and Independent Expenditures  6/24/04

The More Soft Money Hard Law "A-Count"  6/23/04

Busy Agenda at FEC Tomorrow  6/23/04

Commissioner Thomas Seeks Reconsideration of Decision on State and Local Party Staff Payments Question  6/22/04

More on How BCRA Is Working  6/21/04

"Outrageous": The Washington Post Expresses Concern About "Winks and Nods"  6/15/04

The State of American Democracy  6/14/04

More from Democracy 21 on the "Impartial, Objective and Non-ideological Enforcement" of BCRA  6/10/04

David Broder's Column: Igniting a Discussion of the "Principal Goal" of McCain-Feingold and the Measure of Its Fulfillment  6/7/04

The Democratic Party and Campaign Finance Reform  6/3/04

More on Chairman Smith  6/2/04

The Wertheimer Times Letter and the Style of the Reform Argument  6/1/04

Locating the "Breakdown" of the Public Financing System  5/28/04

More on the Amount of in Money Politics: An Update on the Numbers Provided by the Campaign Finance Institute  5/27/04

Testing the New Law: Is the Question the Amount of Money Spent on Politics?  5/26/04

Testing the New Law: Is the Question the Amount of Money Spent on Politics?  5/26/04

The Impact of BCRA on Parties: Part III of the Continuing Debate  3/29/04

The Impact of BCRA on Parties: Part II of the Continuing Debate  3/24/04

The Impact of BCRA on Parties: The Debate Continues  3/22/04

Shays and Meehan Challenge to BCRA Implementing Rules  3/11/04

Post-McConnell - How Much Has the Constitutional Law Changed?  1/23/04