This was not some small trivial thing about phone calls from the White House. There was a pattern of illegality and illegitimacy throughout this campaign in a way that the more we learn, the more astonishing it is. Also yesterday, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee continued its leisurely examination of how the current complex system of campaign finance laws evolved and the Federal Election Commission's ability to enforce those laws. According to Noble, the FEC is currently pursuing only about one-third of its pending enforcement cases. The call for a stronger FEC was endorsed by two other witnesses, Anthony Corrado, professor of government at Colby College in Maine, and Daniel R. Ortiz, a University of Virginia Law School professor.
Issue advocacy represents a huge, gaping loophole of last resort.
Staff writer Edward Walsh contributed to this report.