FEC fights back against Supreme Court

The Federal Election Commission recently entered the growing debate on the Supreme Court’s decision to give corporations the power to control campaign messages. Entrepreneurs with a political agenda who are considering business formation might be interested to learn that the FEC has proposed limits on communication between outside entities and political candidates.The Hill reports that FEC had proposed rules to govern the coordination between politics and business well before the Supreme Court’s decision on the Citizens United case. Still, in light of the high court’s ruling, the agency has set a public hearing for March 2 and 3 to make a public comment on the issue of freedom of speech with regard to corporate political advocacy.

Many believe that the FEC’s currently enforced business and politics coordination rules are too weak, according to the source. But now that the Supreme Court ruled for unregulated corporate and union spending in political campaigns, the FEC has stepped up to increase the restrictions on businesses’ participation in politics.

The proposed legislation bans political spending from corporations with foreign ownership. Moreover, the source says it tightens the language of political coordination to keep business expenditures in check.

Owners of all business types might want to follow the continued debate on this corporate law before investing in any political campaigns. In addition to the counter legislation from the FEC, Congress has recently proposed a bill that will force businesses to offer consumers full disclosure on their political spending.