FEC Won't Change Interest Group Political Ad Restrictions

The FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION deadlocked 3-3 on a proposal to ease limits on interest group political advertising before elections, killing the plan for the NOVEMBER election. The plan would have allowed interest groups to mention elected officials in ads airing within 30 days of a primary election and 60 days of a general election if the ads addressed policies and did not either support or attack an incumbent member of Congress. Such ads are presently forbidden in those time periods under the 2002 campaign finance reform law. The vote fell along party lines, with Democrats in opposition and Republicans in favor; three legal challenges to the present law are in the federal courts.

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