Jones Files FEC Complaint Against Unlimited Special Interest Spending In Elections | Eastern North Carolina Now

    WASHINGTON, D.C.     Today, Congressman Walter Jones (NC-3) along with Congressman Ted Lieu (CA-33) and Senator Jeff Merkley (OR) filed a complaint before the Federal Election Commission (FEC) seeking to end super PAC spending in US elections. The complaint seeks to reverse a federal appeals court ruling which created super PACs and has resulted in an explosion of spending in elections across the country.

    The March 2010 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in SpeechNow.org v. FEC, opened the door to super PACs by holding that the federal law limiting contributions to political committees to $5,000 per person each year did not apply to a political committee that promised to make only "independent expenditures." The FEC complaint filed today alleges that super PACs have now become vehicles for wealthy donors to evade campaign contribution limits designed to prevent corruption and the appearance of corruption. The US Supreme Court has yet to review this question.

    As the complaint cites, more than forty percent of federal super PAC contributions, as of April 2016, had come from just 50 funders and their families. By late June 2016, federal super PACs had reported total receipts of more than $755 million and total expenditures of more than $405 million.

    The FEC complaint names ten super PACs as respondents, including the Democratic and Republican super PACs for Senate and House candidates. It alleges that the super PACs "have knowingly accepted and continue to knowingly accept contributions that exceed the $5,000 per contributor limit, in some cases by over a hundredfold." The $5,000 per contributor limit has remained on the books after the SpeechNow ruling. The FEC complaint seeks enforcement of this $5,000 contribution limit.

    According to the FEC complaint, "[t]he availability of quid pro quo transactions through super PAC contributions creates a potential for corruption, and an appearance of corruption that is confirmed by the public. For this reason, enforcing the contribution limits...against super PACs is justified by the interest in preventing corruption and the appearance of corruption."

    "Since the Citizens United and SpeechNow.org decisions in 2010, I have witnessed the influence of money in politics become more and more pervasive," said Congressman Jones. "I see its influence shape policy in Washington to the detriment of the American people all the time. This effort is an important step towards returning the government to the people, and I'm proud to be a part of it."

    For additional information, please contact Sarah Howard in Congressman Jones' office at (202) 225-3415 or sarah.howard@mail.house.gov.