Federal Election Commission

WASHINGTON -- While President Clinton awaits the verdict of the House on impeachment, he can at least breathe easier on the matter of his 1996 campaign fund raising, thanks to Attorney General Janet Reno.Ms. Reno's decision not to appoint another independent counsel to look into allegations that Mr. Clinton violated federal law in soliciting and spending funds for his re-election campaign was not unexpected, after her repeated unwillingness to do so in the past.But the evidence remains that Mr. Clinton blithely thumbed his nose at the law. A clear condition of the federal campaign subsidy that he accepted for the 1996 general election campaign was that he not raise or spend any additional money for his own election.

WASHINGTON -- Major trouble looms for all but the most well- heeled of prospective candidates for the next presidential election.The reason: The federal fund that will subsidize qualified candidates through the year 2000 presidential primaries is so meager that as of now, the recipients will be able to draw only a small portion of what they will need to make it through the first critical contests.Splitting the pieAccording to the Federal Election Commission, which doles out the subsidy from a pool based on the $3 checkoff on individual income tax returns, only $25 million will be available to be split up among as many as 10 likely candidates.

WASHINGTON -- The paper tiger of federal agencies -- the Federal Election Commission -- outdid itself the other day by failing to muster enough votes to accept a Democratic National Committee offer to pay up for campaign finance violations in the 1995-96 cycle.The Democrats accepted the commission staff's finding that it had ''reason to believe'' the party committee improperly used ''soft'' money in federal elections through a $4.6 million television ad campaign advocating national health-care reform, and expressed its readiness to settle.

WASHINGTON -- Ross Perot turned to a federal court yesterday to get himself included in presidential campaign debates, asking a judge to bar any encounter between President Clinton and Bob Dole unless Perot is on the stage, too.Perot, the Reform Party's presidential candidate, will continue his legal challenge "through the Supreme Court, if necessary," his national campaign coordinator Russell Verney told reporters here.The lawsuit complained: "Declaring the election essentially over for all candidates but two before a single debate takes place will only deepen the nation's cynicism about government."

THE SURPRISE IN the Federal Election Commission (FEC) lawsuit against the Christian Coalition for allegedly crossing the line dividing voter education from political partisanship is not the suit itself, but that it has taken so long.Since religious conservatives became active in politics in the late 1970s, many liberal coalitions have been trying to intimidate them and invalidate their full participation in the political process.The FEC objects to the "scorecards" the Christian coalition distributes, saying they "express advocacy" for certain candidates and should be reported as "in kind" contributions to those candidates or as independent expenditures.

WASHINGTON -- In a test of free speech against questionable campaign practices, the Federal Election Commission will examine whether some "issue-oriented" political advertisements that promote the views of private interest groups violate federal laws.The advertisements, which appear on television and in the form of "voter guides," are advocacy statements from interest groups -- the Christian Coalition, for instance, or labor unions -- that often indicate a preference for particular candidates without explicitly urging people to vote for them.

WASHINGTON -- Ever since its creation 42 years ago, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, more commonly referred to as ''the Jewish lobby'' or ''the Israeli lobby,'' has ridden the waves of controversy.It's still surfing. The latest wave is a ruling by the federal Court of Appeals here that the Federal Election Commission erred in finding in 1992 that AIPAC did not have to disclose campaign-related spending under the federal campaign-finance law because the organization's ''major purpose'' is not electing candidates.

WASHINGTON -- The Democratic National Committee said last night that it had suspended the fund-raising activities of a senior party official with long-standing ties to a prominent Indonesian family and asked the Federal Election Commission to begin an expedited investigation to determine whether he had solicited any improper donations.The decision to relieve John Huang, a vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee's finance arm, of his fund-raising duties amounted to an acknowledgment that reports that he had organized a fund-raiser at a Buddhist temple and had solicited an illegal contribution of $250,000 from a South Korean conglomerate were making him a political liability.

When Congress created the Federal Election Commission in the wake of Watergate more than two decades ago, one hope was that better disclosure would limit abuses of money in politics. There is little question that the FEC, although understaffed and starved of resources by Congress, helps journalists, public interest groups, political challengers and citizens to learn more about campaign cash.However, anyone who has spent much time with FEC records knows there are serious shortcomings in the disclosure system.

WASHINGTON -- Ross Perot's surprise plan to start a third national party that would field a presidential candidate in 1996 is throwing the Federal Election Commission into a tizzy over questions of how the effort can be legally financed. The immediate question is whether Mr. Perot can bankroll it himself, or will be restricted by federal limits on political contributions.The federal campaign-finance law stipulates that an individual can spend all he wants on a candidacy of his own, as Mr. Perot did in 1992, but can contribute only $1,000 to someone else.

Sen. John McCain is scheduled to arrive in Baltimore this evening for his first high-profile fundraising visit to Maryland since becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, the latest foray by a presidential candidate mining the state's steady supply of campaign cash. Tonight's reception at the Center Club downtown will be hosted by former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and marks perhaps his most visible effort in McCain's behalf to date. Political analysts don't expect McCain to fare well against Democrat Barack Obama in Maryland, where Democrats outnumber Republicans roughly 2-to-1.

WASHINGTON - Wealthy political candidates caught a break yesterday as the Supreme Court struck down a campaign finance rule that benefits their opponents. By 5-4, the court ruled that Congress went too far when it loosened fundraising restraints for politicians facing millionaires who invest in their own campaigns. The court's majority declared that the campaign finance double standard violated First Amendment free-speech guarantees. "The argument that a candidate's speech may be restricted in order to level electoral opportunity has ominous implications because it would permit Congress to arrogate the voters' authority to evaluate the strength of candidates competing for office," Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the majority.

For the year's second quarter, John P. Sarbanes raised more funds than his Democratic competitors in the 3rd Congressional District race, according to paperwork filed yesterday with the Federal Election Commission. Sarbanes, son of incumbent U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, raised $303,050 this quarter and has $585,465 on hand. In second place is state Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, a Pikesville Democrat who collected $193,000, with $271,000 on hand. Former Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Peter L. Beilenson took in $136,690, with $291,538 on hand, while businessman Oz Bengur reported $132,132 and has $121,259 on hand.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission said yesterday that advocacy groups that were established to get around fund-raising restrictions in the new campaign finance law may continue to spend unlimited donations for television commercials and other communications, though they must do so under far more restrictive rules. The commission's ruling on so-called "527 committees" could have profound effects on the 2004 election by helping the Democratic Party, which has been much more aggressive than Republicans in creating these committees to help the party compete with the Republicans' overall 2-1 fund-raising advantage.

The World Three suicide bombers drove a vehicle packed with explosives into an Israeli-owned resort near Mombasa, Kenya, killing themselves and 13 other people. Just before, two shoulder-launched missiles were fired at a nearby airport in an unsuccessful attempt to bring down an Israeli airliner flying to Tel Aviv. Likud Party voters overwhelmingly picked Ariel Sharon over Benjamin Netanyahu to run for prime minister in next month's Israeli elections. Six voters died when two Palestinian gunmen - who were also killed - opened fire on a polling place in the northern town of Beit Shean.

Only 69.2 percent of Maryland residents who are eligible to vote are registered. This is the seventh-lowest in the nation among the 48 states that require voters to register before election day. The national average is 76 percent. Percent of eligible State ........................voters registered..................Rank Arizona..............................59.9................................48 Wyoming............................61.5................................47 California.....

THEY CALL IT the Federal Election Commission, but it ought to be thought of as Loophole Incorporated. Finding ways around the campaign finance laws has been a growth industry, but now come the regulators to make the holes bigger -- and right in the face of the much-ballyhooed McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law. The commission seems unrelenting and unrepentant in its determination to undermine the new law named for its chief Senate sponsors, Democrat...

WASHINGTON -- Not satisfied with enactment of the strongest campaign finance reform since the Watergate years, reformers are about to launch another drive to put backbone in the election enforcement agency that for years has been a pushover for errant candidates and influence-buyers. The idea is to abolish the Federal Election Commission and create a new agency led by a strong-minded independent director with the muscle to achieve real compliance with the new law. The proposal is being crafted by a task force under the aegis of Democracy 21, a pro-reform think tank headed by Fred Wertheimer, a leader in the recently successful drive to curb the flow of unregulated "soft" money into federal elections.

WASHINGTON -- While President Clinton awaits the verdict of the House on impeachment, he can at least breathe easier on the matter of his 1996 campaign fund raising, thanks to Attorney General Janet Reno.Ms. Reno's decision not to appoint another independent counsel to look into allegations that Mr. Clinton violated federal law in soliciting and spending funds for his re-election campaign was not unexpected, after her repeated unwillingness to do so in the past.But the evidence remains that Mr. Clinton blithely thumbed his nose at the law. A clear condition of the federal campaign subsidy that he accepted for the 1996 general election campaign was that he not raise or spend any additional money for his own election.

WASHINGTON -- Major trouble looms for all but the most well- heeled of prospective candidates for the next presidential election.The reason: The federal fund that will subsidize qualified candidates through the year 2000 presidential primaries is so meager that as of now, the recipients will be able to draw only a small portion of what they will need to make it through the first critical contests.Splitting the pieAccording to the Federal Election Commission, which doles out the subsidy from a pool based on the $3 checkoff on individual income tax returns, only $25 million will be available to be split up among as many as 10 likely candidates.