It's kind of shocking, when it comes to how irresponsible it is. It's emblematic of a desire to, essentially, increase corporate power.
See this page in the PDF
Federal Election Commission
because they stay in office until a new commissioner has been confirmed, many commissioners continue to serve past their terms.° Currently, the longest serving commissioner still at the FEC is Ellen Weintraub (D), whose regular term expired in 2007.
Under FECA, no more than three commissioners may be from the same party.°® While that means that a commissioner could be an independent or amember of the Libertarian or Green Parties, in practice, this has meant that the FEC has always had three Democrat and three Republican commissioners.’
There is a long-held political tradition since the FEC’s founding that when a commission slot held by a member of the opposition political party opens up, the President consults with, and nominates, the chosen nominee of the opposition party’s leader in the Senate. In exchange, the Senate party leader and his caucus agree to approve the President’s nominee to fill an empty position for the President’s political party. It has also been customary to advance the two nominees of the differing political parties at the same time; this bipartisan pairing has historically permitted easy confirmation of both parties’ selectees.
Thus, by convention, a Republican President will nominate a Republican and a Democrat for two open commission slots, including the choice of the Democrat Senate leader for his party’s seat. In turn, the senator will direct his party to vote to confirm both nominees. In the almost 50-year history of the FEC, this tradition has only been broken once—when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refused to approve one of George W. Bush’s nominees (Hans von Spakovsky) for a Republican commission slot.®
In 2025, when a new President assumes Office, the term of five of the current FEC commissioners will have either expired or be about to expire:?
• Shana M. Broussard (D)—April 30, 2023 • Sean J. Cooksey (R)—April 30, 2021 • Allen Dickerson (R)—April 30, 2025 • James Trainor, III (R)—April 30,2023 • =6Ellen L. Weintraub (D)—April 30, 2007 During their terms, the three Republican commissioners have demonstrated with their votes and their public statements that they believe the FEC should not overregulate political activity and act beyond its statutory authority, construe
ambiguous and confusing provisions against candidates and the public instead of the government, and infringe on protected First Amendment activity.