By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff
Thu Aug 14, 4:02 PM ET
Attorneys for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) have recommended giving Republican presidential candidate John McCain a pass on his decision earlier this year to withdraw from the federal public financing program for his campaign for the GOP nomination.
In a memo released today, the FEC attorneys suggested that McCain was not legally bound to stay in the system -- which pairs taxpayer funding with restrictive spending limits -- rejecting Democratic allegations that campaign loans he had received before renouncing public money were based on his participation in the funding program. The FEC attorneys concluded that McCain did not "unquestionably pledge" to stick to public funding as collateral for his loans and, therefore, did not violate the law by later withdrawing from the program.
Under normal circumstances, the law requires a vote of approval from a majority of FEC commissioners before a candidate could withdraw from the program, as noted in the lawyers' memo. But at the time McCain pulled out, at a crucial early juncture of the nominating campaign, the commission was operating with only two of six members, the result of a stalemate in the Senate over nominations of new members, which left it without the quorum needed for that requirement to be carried out.
The commission, which now has a full panel of members, will consider the attorneys' recommendations at its meeting next Tuesday and are expected to put the matter, which has become a lingering political issue, to rest.
The FEC opened an inquiry into McCain's withdrawal in response to a complaint and lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee. The Democrats pointed to the provision of campaign law that forbids a candidate from withdrawing from the public funding system if he or she has already received public money or "pledged public funds as security for private financing."
Responding to the memo, DNC Director of Communications Karen Finney said, "The Commission owes the public and is required by law to conduct a full investigation. The Commission also must, as the FEC Office of General Counsel concluded, vote affirmatively to release McCain from the system."
As a practical matter, the agency's long-delayed decision over the issue will have little bearing on the presidential race. This is primarily because McCain never received any government money and long ago exceeded the spending limitations that the public funding system requires of all primary campaign participants.
The primary stage of the presidential campaign will end anyway when the major parties officially nominate their candidates at national conventions to be held by the Democrats in Denver during the last full week of August and by the Republicans in St. Paul the first week of September.
While Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has made clear his intention to reject public financing this fall -- which will make him the first major party presidential nomination to do so for a general election since the system went into effect in 1976 -- McCain is taking a different tack than he did during the primaries. He has indicated that he intends to participate in the public funding system this fall.
If that decision holds, McCain will receive more than $84 million in taxpayer money to fund the rest of his campaign. In exchange, his personal campaign won't be allowed to raise or spend private contributions through the November election.
