Press Releases

End Citizens United: Trump Should Appoint FEC Commissioner Who Will Enforce the Law

Feb 27, 2017

Opportunity for Trump to reverse course and side with the American people instead of Big Money mega-donors

 
End Citizens United Executive Director Tiffany Muller released the following statement calling on President Trump to side with the American people by appointing a Federal Election Commissioner who will enforce the law and hold special interests, big money donors, and dark money groups accountable for breaking campaign finance laws.

“Our broken campaign finance system is at the root of the dysfunction in Washington.  Without an FEC that is fully willing to enforce the law, corporate special interests will continue to abuse and manipulate an already weakened campaign finance system.

“A strong voice in support of the law will at best maintain a gridlocked FEC, which itself is inadequate.  However, adding a member who’d help tear down the safeguards in the system would be catastrophic for our democracy.  Instead of abetting his mega-donors and billionaire friends, President Trump should follow through with his pledge to ‘drain the swamp.’

“An overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans want to rein in the money in politics.  This isn’t a question of Democratic or Republican values — it’s an issue that affects all of us, regardless of political affiliation.”

Ann Ravel, one of two Democratic commissioners on the FEC, announced that she will resign on March 1, citing political gridlock and lack of enforcement.  By statute, the FEC cannot be comprised of more than three commissioners of any one party.  It is President Trump’s responsibility to appoint the next commissioner.

End Citizens United, a grassroots-funded political action committee (PAC), was established in March 2015 to counter the disastrous effects of Citizens United and reform our campaign finance system.

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