December 13, 2006
FEC Settles With MoveOn Voter Fund, Swift Boat Vets
The FEC unanimously decided to settle with three 527's "accused of violating" federal campaign finance laws during the '04 presidential election. Among them: The League of Conservation Voters, MoveOn.org Voter Fund and Swiftboat Veterans and POWs for Truth.
In sum, they must pay a combined amount of $630K.
The announcement settles charges the 527's "failed to register and file disclosure reports as federal political" cmtes, and "accepted contributions in violation of federal limits and source prohibitions." FEC Commission Chair Michael Toner said the Commisssion's findings "send a strong message" that the FEC handles such cases with "serious legal consequences." Vice chair Robert Lenhard said the "bipartisan and unanimous nature" of the decision shows the FEC "is willing to regulate election activity more aggtressively than it has in the past."
No wonder so many groups find it so easy to flout the law: it takes the FEC a year and a half to get around to making them pay for it. (We're not suggesting that the above groups wilfully violated the law, just that the enforcement delay is an incentive for others to break it.)
Posted at 11:41 AM
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