Why? Because they can’t do anything. The Federal Election Commission is comprised of six members, three Democrats and three Republicans. Notwithstanding the fact that an even number of committee members guarantees more gridlock, it truly is a shame that in today’s polarized time, the administrative agency with the jurisdiction to actually accomplish something in the name of campaign finance reform is held powerless to partisan interests.
The latest example: they refused to ease limits on political advertising, blocking an effort to let interest groups run radio and television ads mentioning elected officials within weeks of an election. Normally, I would support the refusal to ease spending limits. However, the devil is in the details. The measure failed with the commission’s three Democrats voting against the proposal and the three Republicans backing it.
So basically, the result got there by engaging in the same scorched Earth politics the FEC was supposed to reduce, not by any preconcerted effort to refuse to allow special interests to continue to keep the Congress on its leash. Well, a minor victory is better than no victory at all.