The FEC has initiated a rulemaking process to redefine “coordinated communications” between outside groups and federal candidates and political parties, according to the latest Nonprofit Navigator newsletter from Washington D.C. law firm and political non-profit specialist Harmon Curran.
Coordinated communications are considered to be in-kind contributions to the candidate or party with whom they are coordinated and thus tightly regulated.
“The proposal that will soon be distributed for comment includes seven different alternatives … [U]nder some permutations of the various options, nonprofits could find themselves effectively prevented from working on policy advocacy with most federal officeholders. The recent efforts to defeat Republican plans to privatize Social Security involved cooperative work between nonprofits and party leaders. Environmental advocates have also worked closely with officeholders in the ongoing battle to prevent drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Some variants of the FEC’s proposed rules would make this degree of coordinated policy advocacy illegal,” the lawyers report.
Detailed information about the rulemaking is available from the FEC’s web site. Written comments on the proposal are due January 13, 2006. The Commission will hold a hearing Jan. 25 and-or 26.
