Yesterday, the 4th circuit appeals court, representing Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia, affirmed a lower court ruling that upheld an FEC ruling that required “Real Truth About Obama” reveal the names of their donors.<\/p>\n
The FEC has required the registration and donor disclosure of PAC that are “expressly advocating” in campaign activity. This “expressly advocating” is defined in 11 C.F.R. \u00a7 100.22<\/a> as including groups that “could only be interpreted by a reasonable person as containing advocacy of the election or defeat of one or more clearly identified candidate(s)”<\/p>\n As noted by electionlawblog<\/a>, Crossroads GPS, Karl Rove’s superPAC registered as a 501c4, can be found to be expressly advocating and therefore the FEC can compel donor disclosure. <\/p>\n No word if RTAO will appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday, the 4th circuit appeals court, representing Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia, affirmed a lower court ruling that upheld an FEC ruling that required “Real Truth About Obama” reveal the names of their donors.<\/p>\n The FEC has required the registration and donor disclosure of PAC that are “expressly advocating” in campaign activity. This “expressly advocating” is defined in 11 C.F.R. \u00a7 100.22<\/a> as including groups that “could only be interpreted by a reasonable person as containing advocacy of the election or defeat of one or more clearly identified candidate(s)”<\/p>\n