Bopp seconds request to FEC to allow politicians to raise funds for Super PACs
By Bill Allison May 31 2011 4:21 p.m.Citizens United architect and campaign finance law foe James Bopp Jr. has seconded a request by Democratic campaign finance experts Perkins Coie for the Federal Election Commission to allow politicians and party committee officials to solicit corporations and labor unions for unlimited funds to be spent by independent expenditure-only committees, also known as Super PACs. Bopp's new client, the Republican Super PAC, has already outlined such a fundraising strategy to Republican party officials.
If approved, the Perkins Coie request, made on behalf of the Majority PAC and the House Majority PAC, would give FEC approval for a politician to ask donors that support him to give $1 million, $2 million or $10 million to a Super PAC that would run ads on his behalf.
In his comment on Perkins Coie's letter, called an advisory opinion request, Bopp notes the significance of Democratic groups asking for the ruling. "That these Democratic PACs seek to operate in this fashion is in itself significant. It means that they see no inherent corruption, appearance of corruption, circumvention, or other public-policy evil in a PAC operating in this fashion."
Bopp's letter also bluntly criticizes campaign finance reform groups, including the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, which have warned members of Congress that current rules prohibit politicians from raising money for independent expenditure-only committees, citing "The recent losses the reformers have suffered in the courts and before the Commission."
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