Seven organizations sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) objecting to the request for comments on agency procedures; "The path to solving the larger problems with the FEC does not lie in a rulemaking about how to craft procedural protections for respondents in enforcement matters."

The groups sent the letter charging that the agency is "dysfunctional" and should "be doing a better job of enforcing the campaign finance laws under existing circumstances." It also proposes structural changes, such as changing the nomination process, or replacing the FEC with a new agency.

The groups disapprove of the FEC's inability to consider overdue rulemakings. For example, new "coordination" rules after Shays v. FEC have not yet been dealt with. Coordination rules apply to communications that refer to federal candidates within 120 days of an election, or 90 days before a primary, and are "coordinated" between the candidate or party and the party paying for the ad, which is someone other than that candidate or political party. The most recent action, a June 2008 D.C. Circuit ruling, called for stricter coordination rules. "Outside the 90/120-day windows, the regulation allows candidates to evade—almost completely—BCRA’s restrictions on the use of soft money." As we noted in June 2008 this assumes "that all joint efforts between public officials and nonprofits are somehow campaign related."

According to BNA Money and Politics ($$), Chairman Steven Walther in response said, "he hoped the FEC would be able soon to tackle pending regulatory items. He mentioned specifically a new coordination rule and finalizing another rule governing payment for candidates' travel in private aircraft."

While the letter seems to blame the agency's disorder on the Commissioners' "distinct lack of interest in enforcing" campaign finance laws, OMB Watch's comments noted the problems are rooted in laws that are too vague to enforce. While yes, the Commissioners have the ability to address these problems we noted, they have failed to do so.