Court Eyes FEC Role in Campaign Finance

[Dover]

WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission tried to convince a skeptical federal appeals court Thursday that the agency did not water down rules that are supposed to limit the influence of money in politics.

Two judges on the three-member panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia suggested the FEC had defined terms in the realm of political fundraising too narrowly, making a landmark 2002 reform law easy to circumvent.

At issue are the FEC rules implementing the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which bans corporate, union and unlimited donations to national political parties. That practice had flooded the political system with big special-interest checks.

Is it a solicitation when a U.S. senator says to donors, "It's important for our state party to receive at least $100,000 from each of you in this election?" Judge David Tatel asked.

That's a gray area, FEC lawyer David Kolker replied....>>

http://story.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050513/ap_on_go_co/campaign_finance

[Nothing Without Hope]

1. Thank god for those wonderful "activist judges" who actually believe

in the Constitution and the rule of law. What happens next in this, I wonder?