From: Wes Boyd, co-founder
Subject: Legal news about MoveOn
December 13, 2006
Dear MoveOn member,
In the next few days, you may see a story or two about MoveOn.org Voter Fund (our now-defunct 527) paying a fine for its work in 2004, along with a bunch of other organizations. Yes, it's true – we settled with the Federal Elections Commission. I wanted to give you a heads up about why and what this means.
Here's the bottom line: it's annoying – because MoveOn.org Voter Fund didn't do anything wrong. You can read the legal memo below for all the details. In short, we had the best legal advice every step of the way, and the FEC changed its rules AFTER the election. But the alternative – fighting in court for big donors' rights to influence elections – didn't appeal a whole lot either. We figured you'd want us to be focused on the things that really matter: Iraq, global warming, and real solutions for our elections system.
In the end, if this means that the FEC is getting more aggressive about pushing big money out of politics, we're for it – that's good for Democracy. We abandoned the Voter Fund big-donor approach years ago, so in any case it won't have any impact on the work we do together.
And if groups like Swift Boat Veterans are put out of business, because they're 100% supported by million dollar contributions, that would be a great thing for Democracy.
MoveOn today is not affected at all by this. Since 2004, all MoveOn activities related to any election have been organized within the MoveOn PAC, and supported entirely by small contributions. In the 2006 cycle, more than 600,000 contributions totalled $27 million, averaging less than $50 per contribution. The MoveOn.org Voter Fund in 2003-4 raised far less money, $20M, even with half of the money coming from big donors. Again, a good trend for Democracy.
And the 2006 results speak for themselves. Organizations supported by millions of good people, like MoveOn, had a huge impact. And the Swift Boats of the world got nowhere. It's very encouraging.
If anyone has questions about the legal details behind all this, we've posted a short legal brief at:
http://www.moveon.org/content/pdfs/FECbrief.pdf
This will never be seen in court, because we decided to settle and move on.
(Oh, and in case you're wondering, the $150K fine isn't coming from MoveOn members. It's the amount we held from 2004 in the Voter Fund for legal contingencies.)
Onward,
-Wes
P.S. I've attached a brief Wall Street Journal online article about the FEC settlements, below.
December 13, 2006, 12:17 pm
FEC Imposes Fines for '04 Campaign Violations
The Federal Election Commission imposed $630,000 in fines against three groups that played big roles in the 2004 presidential campaign.
The biggest fine went against the Swiftboat Veterans and POWs for Truth, an organization that attacked 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's combat credentials.
It has agreed to pay nearly $300,000 after the FEC found that the anti-Kerry group had failed to properly register as a political committee and violated campaign donation limits imposed on such groups, according to an announcement released by the FEC today.
A political arm of the League of Conservation Voters, an environmental group, agreed to pay $180,000 for a door-to-door canvassing operation that the FEC concluded was designed to promote the election of Kerry.
MoveOn.org Voter Fund, which operated separately from the online arm of the liberal organization, reached a settlement for $150,000. The Voter Fund received much attention when it accepted millions from New York financier George Soros to run television ads attacking President Bush.
All of the groups had organized as 527 organizations, defined under the tax code as not advocating for a particular partisan outcome in the election. The FEC found that through public statements, solicitations for contributions and other communications, "these organizations clearly established they were" advocating for or against specific candidates.
"These unanimous decisions provide important guidance as to when organizations must register and report as political committees," said FEC Chairman Michael Toner.
Wes Boyd, founder of MoveOn, shuttered the organization's 527 branch after the 2004 campaign. In a statement today, he said that if the agreements mean "that the FEC is really pushing big money out of elections, it's good for democracy." –Jeanne Cummings
