Trevor Potter: Nominee to Election Watchdog

Note: this piece was originally published on Daily Kos, and was written by Checks & Balances member Trevor Potter. 

In his home state of Texas, James “Trey” Trainor worked to undermine and defund the Ethics Commission tasked with regulating campaign finance laws. Yet, on March 10 he will go before the Senate as a nominee for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) – the only government agency solely responsible for enforcing the campaign finance laws for the U.S. House, Senate and presidency.

Why would someone who has gone on the record as being adamantly opposed to the responsibilities of an agency get nominated to serve as a commissioner of that agency?

The cynical, but obvious answer is: to render the agency toothless.

In recent years, opponents of campaign finance laws have supported the nomination of FEC commissioners who, like Trainor, have a record of being opposed to the laws the agency enforces. As a result, the FEC has routinely failed to enforce the laws designed to hold candidates accountable. The failure of the agency to enforce campaign finance laws has resulted in an explosion in secret spending, and our politics increasingly rigged in favor of special interests. For the FEC to do its job to protect the voices of all voters, not just special interests, the agency and the nomination process must be reformed.

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