FEC Weighs New 'Soft Money' Restrictions

WASHINGTON - Some tax-exempt groups facing the possibility of new government restrictions on their fund-raising and spending said Thursday they were prepared to go to court to overturn any broad limits federal election officials might impose.

The threat came as the Federal Election Commission began work on a proposal that could quash the plans of several partisan groups to spend millions of dollars in big donations on this year's elections - or give them the go-ahead.

Although an FEC decision is about two months away, the Sierra Club and several other nonprofit organizations said they are worried any new commission rules would sweep them in even though their main purpose is lobbying, not election activities.

Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, speaking at a news conference with other Democratic-leaning groups including the AFL-CIO and America Votes, a coalition of organizations, said the groups would sue to overturn any rules they thought quashed their ability to speak out about politicians and government policy.

Pope suggested the Sierra Club would even consider ignoring any new FEC restrictions and proceeding with its activities as planned, letting the chips fall where they may.

"I suspect that's what people will have to do," Pope said in an interview after the news conference.

At issue is how the nation's campaign finance law affects nonparty groups that raise corporate, union and unlimited donations known as "soft money" and spend it on get-out-the-vote activities, ads mentioning congressional and presidential candidates, and other activities that could affect this fall's elections.

The law bans national party committees from raising soft money and broadly restricts the use of such donations by others at election time. Several partisan activists, mostly Democrats so far, have formed new groups to spend soft money in this year's elections.

The commission last month placed some limits on outside groups' use of soft money, but the decision covered only organizations that register with the FEC as political committees. By doing so, groups tell the FEC that one of their top priorities is spending money for or against federal candidates.

The FEC is considering whether a range of tax-exempt political groups should be swept into such restrictions even if they do not consider themselves political committees.

Under proposals the commission voted Thursday to circulate for public comment, such groups could be required to register with the FEC as political committees if they spend certain amounts on activities the FEC believes influence federal elections. If they became political committees in the commission's view, they could no longer spend big corporate or union contributions on a range of activities.

The FEC plans hearings next month on the issue and is expected to decide on any new rules in May. Several commissioners said Thursday that their minds aren't made up on whether new rules are needed or, if so, what form they should take.

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On the Net:

FEC: http://www.fec.gov/