The Washington Times opines on the make-up of the Federal Election Commission this morning.
A trial balloon is being floated that Mr. Obama may just appoint people who he thinks will aggressively pursue campaign finance violations, regardless of their political affiliation.
We have two serious problems with this idea. First, it is good that the two parties balance each other off. It would be a disaster to think of a panel dominated by either Democrats or Republicans. If Mr. Obama were to appoint a majority of Democrats, they could effectively destroy Republicans’ ability to campaign for office. Defending litigation aimed against Republicans would be very costly and could decimate campaign treasuries.
Under 2 USC 437c(a), no more than three members of the Commision appointed under that section may be affiliated with the same political party.