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    FORMER COMMISSIONERS  / COMMISSIONER BRADLEY A. SMITH / STATEMENTS AND OPINIONS**                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  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|April 16, 2002Hon. John S. McCain
    United States Senate
    Washington, D.C. 20510
    Hon. Russell D. Feingold
    United States Senate
    Washington, D.C. 20510
    Hon. Christopher Shays
    United States House of Representatives
    Washington, D.C. 20510
    Hon. Marty Meehan
    United States House of Representatives
    Washington, D.C. 20510
    Dear Senator McCain, Senator Feingold, Representative Shays, and Representative Meehan:
    I have received your letter of April 10 addressed to all members of the
    Commission, expressing your desire to testify at public hearings during the rulemaking
    process for the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 ("BCRA"). Let me assure
    you that I want your input, and indeed, some of us had already discussed specifically
    asking you to testify. I am pleased, therefore, that you have decided to play a
    constructive role in the rulemaking process, and hope that you will personally testify at
    these hearings. I also hope that you will devote attention to making certain that the
    Commission has the resources needed to carry out its greatly increased responsibilities
    under BCRA.
    In another letter also dated April 10, and released to the press prior
    to any attempt at delivery to me, you request that I recuse myself from rulemakings under
    BCRA. You cite no legal rule and no legal or historic precedent for such recusal. However,
    you basically make two arguments: first, that I engaged in "inappropriate
    intervention" in the "climactic debate" over the legislation, and second,
    that because I have made public statements critical of the legislation, it is impossible
    for me to "credibly fulfill [my] duties as [a] Federal Election Commissioner[] to
    fairly write implementing regulations for this new law."
    First, I was pleased that, unlike earlier public statements by Senator
    McCain, your letter and press release accurately stated the nature of my activity. In prior public comments, Senator McCain has erroneously claimed
    that I was "lobbying against a piece of legislation in the Congress," and that I
    had actually gone to the Hill to lobby during the debate.[1] As
    you know, the entire substance of my "intervention" in the House debate was to
    respond to a request from the office of the Majority Whip, as to the interpretation that
    I, as a member of the FEC charged with interpreting the statute, would give to language in
    the bill.
    However, I must reject your characterization of my letter as
    "support[ing] a position that opponents of the bill were taking". Quite the contrary, the letter I sent in response to the request
    from the Whip's office addressed a technical question about the language of the bill,
    which was, in fact, later changed with agreement of the sponsors in order to be sure that
    the bill would operate as intended. It did not address the merits of the bill.[2]
    Second, it is my general policy to respond as fairly and accurately as I
    can to requests from members of Congress for information or for my opinion. For example,
    in March of 2001, I responded to a request from the office of Senator Richard Lugar for my
    thoughts on the Election Reform Act of 2001, then before the Senate. I am sure that you
    agree that it is appropriate for members of an independent agency to avail members of
    Congress of their expertise, and that such expertise should not be limited only to
    proponents of legislation.
    I also must disagree with your suggestion that because I "knew that
    the letter would be used [by opponents of the bill in the floor debate]," I should
    not have acted. To suggest that an official should consider how a Member of Congress might
    use his response before providing an honest opinion would embroil officials in precisely
    the type of partisan calculation over which you express concern. Officials would either
    have to assess the probable use of their advice and expertise for or against possible
    legislative outcomes, or adopt a blanket policy of not responding to congressional
    requests for information. The former policy would require me to do exactly what we agree I
    should not do - to provide advice to congress with an eye on how it will be used in the
    debate. The latter policy would deprive Congress of valuable information - for example, in
    this case, even though the information was requested by an opponent of the bill, our
    timely comments provided an opportunity for supporters to amend the legislation to better
    accomplish the intended objective of immediately limiting soft money. It is unfortunate
    that the request for my interpretation from the Whip's office came during the middle of
    floor debate. But you well know the reason why: the language in question had only been
    made public by the bill's House sponsors earlier that morning. Had the language been made
    available earlier, this situation might not have arisen.
    Thus, I believe that my behavior was not "ill advised." I will
    continue to respond to requests for information or expertise from Members of Congress, and
    I hope that you will feel free to take advantage of that expertise. You can be assured
    that my office will do all it can to assist you.
    Your second argument is that my public comments on the legislation
    should lead me to disqualify myself from the rulemaking, even though you admit that
    "independent regulatory Commissioners are free to express themselves on issues of
    public interest." Nevertheless, you claim that in this case my public comments have
    "impaired [my] ability to credibly fulfill [my] duties as [a] Federal Election
    Commissioner[].
    First, your implication that my public comments should have taken place
    through "formal testimony before Congressional committees" is disingenuous, to
    say the least. As you well know, no hearings were held on the bill in the House or Senate.
    More importantly, I must disagree with you as to the question of my
    credibility. I am confident that each of you, if put in my position, would put aside your
    personal views in order to fulfill your professional, ethical, and legal obligations, and
    so I see no reason to belabor the obvious point that I intend to do the same. Voters
    understand that public officials are often called on to enforce laws with which they may
    disagree, and indeed that this practice is at the core of the rule of law. The FEC was
    structured to be a bipartisan agency. The exclusion of Commissioners from rulemaking
    simply because they were critical of a bill, which was ultimately opposed by 189 Members
    of the House and 40 Senators, is unlikely to inspire public confidence that the
    regulations will be fair and balanced. Indeed, it is ironic that you seem to believe that
    a public campaign questioning the integrity of government officials will somehow lead to
    "public confidence" in the law.
    Although it is currently popular in some quarters to claim that the FEC
    has been timid in its enforcement efforts, those who are familiar with the history of the
    FEC and FECA in the courts know that this is not true. Rather, federal courts have
    repeatedly struck down overly aggressive FEC regulations and enforcement actions as
    exceeding the limits of the statute, the Constitution, or both. Thus
    a fair, balanced, bipartisan approach to drafting regulations that will withstand the
    inevitable legal challenges is vital to the ultimate effectiveness of the BCRA.[3]
    The concerns voiced in your April 10 letter are, in fact, quite similar
    to comments made by Senators McCain and Feingold, and rejected overwhelmingly, at the time
    of my Senate confirmation in May of 2000. They also echo numerous comments made before and
    since my nomination by spokespersons for various advocacy groups that lobbied in favor of
    the BCRA. Though I do not believe this is your intent, many
    Americans see these apparent attacks on the integrity and legitimacy of those who disagree
    with "campaign finance reform" as indicative of a deep-seated desire to silence
    opposing voices.[4] As such, these attacks on the integrity of
    Commissioners may actually detract from the public perception of the legitimacy of the
    Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, and do no justice to the cause for which all of you have
    worked so hard. They certainly do nothing to help the Commission focus on the on the
    difficult task of drafting regulations within the tight time frames called for by the Act.
    Finally, I disagree with your assertion that I have attacked "the
    goals and purposes of the new law." In my writings and speeches, I have made clear
    that the goals and purposes of campaign regulation ought to include fostering informed
    political discussion; promoting competitive elections; insuring that all voices that can
    be heard are heard; preventing political corruption; promoting political equality; and
    protecting the First Amendment rights of American citizens. Presumably these goals and
    purposes are roughly the same as yours when introducing this legislation. Our
    disagreements over tactics and the effects of regulation ought not blind you to the fact
    that our goals and purposes are the same. We can all wear white hats. We are all
    "reformers."
    I hope that in the future you will contact me directly if you have
    concerns about my conduct or the FEC and its policies generally. Within the bounds allowed
    by ethical restrictions, the Commission's rules on ex parte communications, and other
    applicable laws, rules and regulations, my staff and I are always available to assist you.
    Sincerely,
        Bradley A. Smith
        Commissioner[1]*See e.g.* National
    Public Radio, All Things Considered, Mar. 28, 2002; Newsday, Mar. 21, 2002; USA Today,
    Mar. 21, 2002.
    [2] The substance of the issue was
    a provision that would, by its plain language, have allowed hard money debts incurred
    before the November 2002 elections to be repaid after the elections with soft money. The
    House had been presented with the opinions of lawyers (some of whom, according to some
    news accounts, worked for groups lobbying for legislation and may have helped to draft the
    provision at issue) claiming that the law's pre-existing broad restriction on using soft
    money to pay hard money debts would override the questionable language in the bill.
    Generally in statutory construction a more recent provision overrides a directly contrary
    prior provision, and a particular provision overrides a general provision. Thus, it was
    clear to me that the provision would have allowed soft money to repay hard money debts for
    a brief period in late 2002. I note that despite your complaints, you do not argue that my
    interpretation was not grounded in law or was in some way biased, and that you worked to
    amend the language to conform to my opinion.
    [3] *See e.g.* Colorado
    Republican Federal Campaign Comm. v. FEC, 518 U.S. 604 (1996) (striking down on
    constitutional grounds an FEC rule presuming that party expenditures are coordinated with
    candidates); Virginia Society for Human Life, Inc. v. FEC, 263 F.3d 379 (4th Cir. 2001),
    Maine Right to Life Committee v. FEC, 98 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 1996), cert denied 522 U.S. 810
    (1997), and Right to Life of Dutchess County, Inc. v. FEC, 6 F. Supp. 2d (S.D.N.Y.
    1998)(striking on constitutional grounds an FEC regulation defining "express
    advocacy"); FEC v. National Rifle Association, 254 F.3d 173 (D.C. Cir. 2001),
    Minnesota Concerned Citizens for Life v. FEC, 113 F.3d 129 (8th Cir. 1997), and FEC v.
    Survival Education Fund, 65 F.3d 285 (2d Cir. 1995) (rejecting on constitutional grounds
    FEC regulation applying ban on corporate contributions to certain types of non-profit
    organizations); Clifton v. FEC, 114 F.3d 1309 (1st Cir. 1997), *cert denied* 522
    U.S. 1108 (1998)(striking down on constitutional grounds an FEC regulation on voter
    scorecards); Republican National Committee v. FEC, 76 F.3d 400 (D.C. Cir. 1996), *cert.denied*
    519 U.S. 1055 (1997)(striking down on statutory grounds an FEC regulation requiring
    solicitations to include certain disclaimers); United States Chamber of Commerce v. FEC,
    69 F.3d 600 (D.C. Cir. 1995)(striking down FEC regulation on definition of membership);
    FEC v. Christian Coalition, 52 F. Supp. 2d 45 (D.D.C. 1999)(striking on constitutional
    grounds an FEC rule regarding coordination).
    [4] *See e.g.* Ramesh
    Ponnuru, Silencing Dissent, National Review Online Mar. 11, 2002.
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           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