Coordination between campaigns and outside groups is notoriously hard to prove — the FEC hasn’t been able to enforce it since the 2010 Citizens United decision that allowed for unlimited independent spending. But in this case, Clinton’s campaign took the rare step of openly admitting that it was coordinating with Correct the Record, and ultimately didn’t face consequences.

Republicans on the commission have repeatedly voted to dismiss complaints against committees of both parties. They often argue that Democratic-appointed commissioners overstep their bounds in enforcing campaign finance law and endanger free speech rights in the process.

“It’s yet another example of the partisan split on the commission not being partisan in the traditional sense,” Fischer said. “Here it was Democratic commissioners voting to enforce campaign finance laws against a Democratic candidate and Republican commissioners doing the opposite.”