FEC Attorneys Give McCain a Pass on Financing

[Hope And Change]

McCain Gets a Bye from FEC Lawyers

CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Aug. 14, 2008 – 4:02 p.m.

By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff

Attorneys for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) have recommended giving Republican presidential candidate John McCain a pass on his decision earlier this year to withdraw from the federal public financing program for his campaign for the GOP nomination.

In a memo released today, the FEC attorneys suggested that McCain was not legally bound to stay in the system — which pairs taxpayer funding with restrictive spending limits — rejecting Democratic allegations that campaign loans he had received before renouncing public money were based on his participation in the funding program. The FEC attorneys concluded that McCain did not “unquestionably pledge” to stick to public funding as collateral for his loans and, therefore, did not violate the law by later withdrawing from the program.

Under normal circumstances, the law requires a vote of approval from a majority of FEC commissioners before a candidate could withdraw from the program, as noted in the lawyers’ memo. But at the time McCain pulled out, at a crucial early juncture of the nominating campaign, the commission was operating with only two of six members, the result of a stalemate in the Senate over nominations of new members, which left it without the quorum needed for that requirement to be carried out.

The commission, which now has a full panel of members, will consider the attorneys’ recommendations at its meeting next Tuesday and are expected to put the matter, which has become a lingering political issue, to rest.

The FEC opened an inquiry into McCain’s withdrawal in response to a complaint and lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee. The Democrats pointed to the provision of campaign law that forbids a candidate from withdrawing from the public funding system if he or she has already received public money or “pledged public funds as security for private financing.”


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