Tell US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow a vote on new FEC commissioners

Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) has launched a new campaign website called Fix the FEC. Since early this year, the Federal Election Commission has been without a quorum of its commissioners (there are only two of the normal six commissioners), rendering many of it's regulatory responsibilities useless.

Fix the FEC is very well-designed and easy to use. First and foremost, it asks the public to send a letter to US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to let the senate vote in new commissioners to return the FEC to quorum. You can send your letter right from the site's homepage. Then, you can send a letter to your family and friends about the campaign from another webpage. Background information about the current FEC crisis, its latest news and an FEC violation tipline are also easily located on Fix the FEC.

I highly recommend you participate with CREW using this great activist campaign website, Fix the FEC.

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Presidential candidate fundraising in 2007

The Campaign Finance Institute has issued a press release on this election cycle's presidental candidate fundraising, and how it compares with the odd year of previous cycles. The data includes all of 2007, up to the latest from the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

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The Federal Election Commission will be without quorum effective December 31st

According to an article in today's Washington Post, the FEC (Federal Election Commission), the regulatory agency for congressional and presidential campaigns, will be without a voting quorum of four commissioners effective December 31st. This means that decisions will not be able to be made on campaign finance and other campaign issues as the primary election season begins. There is a deadlock in Congress over the choosing of new commissioners including the controversial Hans A. von Spakovsky.

Congress will need to begin anew the selection process for new FEC commissioners in mid-January, 2008.

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Tell the FEC NO on this Friday's ruling about presidential public financing

Public Campaign has issued a letter to the FEC (Federal Election Commission) concerning the public financing of presidential elections. The FEC is considering a ruling that would prevent some small-dollar donations given through the web from triggering public matching funds for candidates who have opted into the system.

The FEC vote for this is scheduled for this Friday, December 14. Public Campaign urges us to turn down this new rule, so that small donors can keep a stake in the race for presidential campaign contributions. If you agree, please take action here to "sign" Public Campaign's letter to the FEC.

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Government Reform-Related Databases

We've added a new list on the left panel of this page, called "Government Reform-Related Databases". It is a links list of user-friendly search engines for money in politics data.

Developing internet technology has enabled public interest groups such as the Sunshine Foundation to make government data more accessible to the general public. As more come online, I will add them here.

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