This is interesting. In just the first quarter of 2007, the Federal Election Commission has brought in more than $1.1 million in penalties for violation of campaign finance laws, including a $750,000 fine from the Progress for American Voter Fund, the third-highest penalty in the Commission's history.
The FEC, composed of six commissioners who are hand-picked, three each from the Republican and Democratic parties, has long been criticized for party-line votes and gridlock. But might things be changing?
However, many fund raisers and political lawyers took note of the large fines and have begun privately voicing concerns about an overzealous agency. The commission is proud of its work, saying its focus now is on large infractions and big penalties, not smaller matters.
"We're trying to focus on the more important cases, and sometimes those generate big fines," Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic commissioner, told Roll Call's Matthew Murray last December. "It's not 'your father's Oldsmobile' around here."
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