In the world of campaign finance as well as in so many other areas, this year’s presidential election is in uncharted waters. President Biden’s sudden withdrawal from the race, coupled with Kamala Harris’s anointment as the presumed replacement, has raised a lot of questions – not least of which is what happens to the considerable Biden campaign war chest. The Harris campaign seems to be taking it for granted that the cash will just roll over to them since Kamala Harris was already on the presumed ticket.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) Chair, Sean Cooksey, is questioning that assumption, and citing federal campaign regulations – and has been the recipient of a mildly threatening letter from House Democrats, which he has posted on X.
House Democrats are now trying to silence me as @FEC Chairman for raising questions about President Biden giving VP Harris all of his campaign cash. All I did was quote federal regulations.
Why are Democrats afraid of the law? pic.twitter.com/pYPJOSkPbh
— Sean Cooksey (@SeanJCooksey) July 23, 2024
The letter has a distinct tone of “Nice little career you have there, Mr. Cooksey. Shame if anything were to… happen to it.”
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For example:
On July 21, 2024, in light (sic) President Biden’s patriotic decision to prioritize the wellbeing of the nation over his own political ambition, you posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) a context-less quote from 11 C.F. R. § 110.1(b)(3). A reasonable observer could interpret the post – for which you provided no explanation or analysis – as to imply that Vice President Harris may not be entitled to the finances from a campaign for which she has been a named candidate for almost four years.
In other words, these congressmen are questioning the person whose job it is to know and interpret federal election campaign finance laws and regulations. But here’s the part where the letter to Mr. Cooksey takes on distinctly threatening undertones:
Americans should have confidence in our democracy, and that the rule of law is being followed and upheld. Efforts to sow doubt and confusion in order to advance a partisan agenda is a disservice to the American people and to the Commission as an institution. I would request that you clarify your July 21, 2024, post and, and, in the future, refrain from making unexplained statements that undermine established campaign finance law and practice.
Dissent, it should be noted, is only patriotic when Democrats do it.
As noted above, we are in uncharted waters as far as this election goes. It’s something of a quandary; under the FEC’s rules, the Democratic candidates, Biden and Harris, have raised more than enough money to qualify as “candidates,” but the Democratic Party has not yet officially nominated them as candidates in the 2024 election; that happens next month, and it is presumed that Kamala Harris, not Joe Biden, will be at the top of the ticket. It’s a pretty big problem for the FEC, and, frankly, the FEC should be allowed to work through it without Congress joggling their elbow. As for the thinly veiled threats and the demand for a response from Mr. Cooksey, were I in his shoes my response would be jotted on a 3×5 card and would read simply, “Get stuffed.”
That probably explains why I’ve never sought, or been offered, any government office.
Mr. Cooksey asks, “Why are Democrats afraid of the law?” I’m not so sure it’s that Democrats are afraid of the law; it’s just that they view it as something they can ignore when it suits them to do so.
