The Federal Elections Commission has slapped a conservative group - the Progress for America Voter Fund, which raised $54 million dollars in the 2004 election cycle - with a $750,000 fine as part of settling a case of alleged campaign finance violations. The organization, a "527" group, admits to no wrongdoing and blames poor FEC guidance for its infractions, reports CNN.
"Despite Congressional pressure to impose some set of rules or provide guidance for so called '527' groups, the FEC still refuses to do so," the group's legal counsel Benjamin Ginsburg said in a statement posted on the groups website. "Given the ambiguous legal nature of this situation and the cost of litigating this dispute, PFA-VF has decided it is a more prudent use of its resources and energy to conclude this proceeding."
You can - and should -read PFA-VA's statement on its website. This is one of those cases that makes me wonder what has happened to the First Amendment. Campaign finance "reform" has always been about putting limits on the rights of Americans to assemble, organize and speak out about issues. The worst example: the McCain-Feingold law, one of the authors of which is currently running for the GOP presidential nomination.
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