The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) held its hearing on Jan. 14th and 15th on the agency's performance, policies, and procedures. RollCall ($$) called it a "marathon bloodletting" for new chairman Steven Walther. The two day public hearings follow a public comment period, during which OMB Watch filed comments. The comment period will be reopened, so if you missed out the first time you will have another chance. An announcement should be in the Federal Register soon.

Of particular interest were Bob Bauer's opening remarks, "It is a fact that the FEC, in the enforcement or Advisory Opinion process, makes or refashions rules or their functional equivalent, for all practical purposes, [ . . . ] No one fusses all too often if the agency fines an individual for giving more, and a campaign from accepting more, than the individual contribution limit allows. But there is a wealth of concern about—among other areas—issue advocacy, fundraising rules, party GOTV activity or individual Internet activity."

This the point at which we hear about "circumvention", "loopholes" and the like—how the agency must stand firm against them. All these alleged evasions are lumped together—for example, "circumventions" are not to be confused with "loopholes"—but however the points are understood, the common thread is that those raising and spending money for political purposes are working the less clearly marked stretch of the road. And keep in mind what they are doing: registering voters, turning them out, raising money, running ads.

The issue that actions other than rulemakings, such as Advisory Opinions (AO) can hold such precedent is a significant one. For example, the recent AO for the National Right to Life Committee leaves little guidance for groups as to what is and what is not issue advocacy.

Meanwhile, the FEC announced that the regulation requiring disclosure of bundled campaign contributions by lobbyists will be not be completed until late January. BNA Money and Politics ($$) reports that the draft explanation and justification for the bundling rule was not yet complete, but should be ready for a vote at the next scheduled open meeting on Jan. 29. "If approved then, the new rule could be in effect for campaign finance disclosure reports filed by federal candidates and other political committees next summer, nearly two years after the bundling disclosure requirement was enacted into law in September 2007."