The Donald is Already Trying to Stack-The-Deck at The Federal Election Commission

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CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY
Published — August 26, 2019
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Federal Election Commission to effectively shut down.

Now what??

"Federal Election Commission Vice Chairman Matthew Petersen announced his resignation today. 

Dave Levinthal                              Federal Politics Editor and Senior Reporter

"This means the agency that enforces and regulates the nation’s campaign finance laws will effectively shut down — something that hasn’t happened since 2008 — because it won’t have the legal minimum of four commissioners to make high-level decisions.

Petersen’s resignation, first reported by the Washington Examiner, will throw the FEC into turmoil for weeks — and perhaps months — as the nation enters the teeth of 2020 presidential and congressional elections

For now, the FEC can’t conduct meetings.It can’t slap political scofflaws with fines.

It can’t make rules.It can’t conduct audits and approve them.

It can’t vote on the outcome of investigations.

And while staff will continue to post campaign finance reports and attend to day-to-day functions, the commission itself can’t offer official advice to politicians and political committees who seek it

No more than three FEC commissioners may identify with any one political party. And the president of the United States alone has the power to nominate commissioners to the six-member FEC.
Trump has so far made a single nomination: Trey Trainor, a Trump-supporting Texas attorney and Republican. Trump first nominated Trainor to the FEC in September 2017. . . Since then, Trump has twice renominated Trainor after the U.S. Senate failed to grant Trainor a confirmation hearing.

The U.S. Senate has yet to take action on Trainor’s nomination. He would fill the seat Petersen says he’ll vacate Aug. 31.
The U.S. Senate has long observed a tradition in which the president nominates FEC commissioners in pairs — one Republican, one Democrat, one reason Trainor’s nomination may have stalled.
The White House has repeatedly declined to answer questions about the FEC, which for years has been marked by internal discord and deadlocks.

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While FEC commissioners often toil in relative anonymity, a few achieve high profiles:
> Former Republican FEC Chairman Trevor Potter, for example, served as Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign general counsel — then made regular appearances earlier this with comedian Steven Colbert, who had a long-running gag about super PACs and secret political money.
> Another former FEC chairman, Don McGahn, became Trump’s 2016 campaign general counsel. After Trump won the election, McGahn — long an advocate of a weak FEC and campaign finance deregulation, in general — served until late 2018 as Trump’s White House counsel.

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RELATED CONTENT: If Petersen's resignation follows that pattern, it's likely that he will get a calling from someone running for office from Utah

Twitter, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, File

BYU grad’s resignation leaves FEC shorthanded

By Dennis Romboy, KSL | Posted - Aug 26th, 2019 @ 9:02pm

https://www.ksl.com/article/46626261

" SALT LAKE CITY — A BYU graduate who has served on the Federal Election Commission for more than a decade announced his resignation Monday, leaving the panel without enough members to make decisions.
Matthew S. Petersen, the commission’s vice chairman, will step down at the end of the month. . .
> Petersen joined the FEC in 2008 and served as its chairman in 2010 and 2016. He worked as the Republican chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration before his appointment to the commission. He earned a degree in philosophy from BYU in 1996 and a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1999

> Petersen’s departure leaves the FEC with three commissioners: Ellen Weintraub, a Democrat; Caroline Hunter, a Republican; and Steven Walther, an independent. President Donald Trump nominated Republican attorney Trey Trainor in 2017 to fill an opening, but the Senate has yet to vote on his nomination.

>

The commission requires four members to make decisions. FEC guidelines also say that no more than three commissioners can be of the same political party.
Peterson’s fellow commissioners say he brought collegiality and a steady, even-handed and positive approach to FEC deliberations as well as a sense of humor."