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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Geoff Altman who wrote (26138)	2/17/2008 5:49:20 PM
From: Mr. Palau	Respond to of 71588

"Feb 4, 2005 -- Legal Center Weekly Report: February 4, 2005 Media Event with Sen. McCain and Dr. Martin Kaplan on the Hill on Feb. 15 The Media Policy Program of the Campaign Legal Center will join with Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Martin Kaplan, Director of the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California, for a public event on February 15, 2005. Dr. Kaplan will release the findings of his study of local news coverage in the 2004 election. The event will held on Capitol Hill; more details on what, where, when will be available in next week's report. Lawmakers Introduce 527 Reform Act of 2005 A bipartisan group of lawmakers formally introduced the 527 Reform Act of 2005 at a Capitol Hill press conference on February 2. Senate Rules Committee Chair Trent Lott (R-MS) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced the legislation, joined by longtime reform advocates Sens. McCain (R-AZ), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Reps. Christopher Shays (R-CT), and Martin Meehan (D-MA). In a press release following the Capitol Hill event, the Campaign Legal Center expressed its approval of the legislation: "We're very optimistic that there is bipartisan support for the bill," said Gerry Hebert, director of litigation for the Campaign Legal Center. "The 527s managed to open up an enormous loophole in the soft money ban, and it will only get bigger in future elections if the breach isn't repaired. This bill will simply require that 527s that want to influence federal elections have to play by the same rules as every other political committee, and only raise and spend hard money." Hebert also noted that the bill became necessary as a result of the failure of the FEC to enforce the campaign finance laws as they applied to 527 groups."

To: Geoff Altman who wrote (26138)	2/17/2008 5:51:01 PM
From: Mr. Palau	Respond to of 71588

"Jul 22, 2005 -- Legal Center Weekly Report: July 22, 2005 Legal Center Files Amicus Brief for McCain and Feingold in Shays II Case On July 15, 2005 , in Shays and Meehan v. FEC, the Campaign Legal Center submitted a Memorandum to the Court on behalf of U.S. Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold, who are participating in the case as amici curiae. This lawsuit challenges the failure of the FEC to regulate 527's as political committees subject to the requirements of federal campaign finance laws. In the Memorandum, amici argue that the district court should grant Shays and Meehan's motion for summary judgment. More specifically, the Memorandum argues that the FEC's failure to regulate 527 organizations as political committees undermined BCRA's purpose, and has led to the creation of a new soft money loophole in circumvention of FECA and BCRA. The Memorandum also points out how the FEC has played a shell game on the 527 issue. The FEC claimed in early 2004 that the 527 issue should be dealt with in a formal rulemaking, rather than on a case-by-case basis, and now claims in its court filings that the issue is more suitable for case-by-case adjudication rather than through the rulemaking process, the Memorandum notes. The Memorandum is critical of the FEC for "talking out of both sides of its mouth" on this issue, stating: "Just as it shirked its duty to the American people when it created the soft money loophole in the 25 years prior to BCRA, it has once again failed to fulfill its statutory duty to enforce the campaign finance laws."