Roger Sollenberger
4/20/24
(Daily Beast) On Thursday, the Federal Election Commission released a decision that may have profound consequences for the GOP’s acute fundraising problems, with long-term implications extending to both parties. The most immediate impact of the ruling—which came from the FEC’s three GOP commissioners, not only blocking Democratic dissent, but contradicting the independent Office of General Counsel—may be the financial lifeline extended to the RNC just when it was needed most.
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Kappel explained that, in the decision, the FEC Republicans ruled that money in a national party’s legal proceedings account can be used to fund any type of overt campaign ad as long as the ads raised funds that went back into the legal proceedings account. The content of those ads doesn’t matter—they do not need to focus on legal or recount matters, but could feature any candidate or issue.
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The ruling came in response to a complaint from two nonprofit watchdogs, Campaign Legal Center and End Citizens United, which questioned the legality of millions of dollars in ad buys that the NRSC made from its “legal” account during the 2022 midterms.