Posted July 28, 2008 by Paul S. Ryan

Newly-Reconstituted FEC Passes First Test

The newly-reconstituted FEC passed its first test today when it rejected a request by Club for Growth PAC for an exemption from the clear statutory “stand-by-your-ad” spoken disclaimer requirement for the PAC’s ten- and 15-second independent expenditure television ads.

In the draft opinion unanimously approved today, draft AO 2007-33 (a minor amendment was made at the meeting), the FEC made clear that Federal law requires every political committee that makes a disbursement for the purpose of financing any radio or television ad to state its name and address, to state that the communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee and to include a spoken disclaimer making clear that the committee “is responsible for the content of this advertising.”

Club for Growth PAC argued for an exemption from these requirements similar to that which the Commission has created, by regulation 11 C.F.R. § 110.11(f)(1), for certain non-broadcast communications, including “small items upon which the disclaimer cannot be conveniently printed,” such as pins and pens, or for an advertisement “of such a nature that the inclusion of a disclaimer would be impracticable,” such as an ad by skywriting or an ad on a water tower.

The Commission today correctly rejected this argument, noting the abundant clarity of the governing statute, which, on its face, encompasses all broadcast ads.  Although Chairman McGahn, for example, noted that he would prefer a different policy result for Club for Growth PAC’s request, federal statute mandates the application of the disclaimer requirements and the Commission is duty bound to apply and enforce the statute.

The Campaign Legal Center, together with Democracy 21, filed comments in response to Club for Growth PAC’s advisory opinion request—urging the Commission to reject the PAC’s requested exemption.  Given the agency’s spotty record for enforcing federal campaign finance statutes, the Campaign Legal Center is encouraged by the fact that the newly-reconstituted Commission did the right thing today by applying the statute as written.