The Federal Election Commission has authorized public matching funds for Mike Pence’s defunct White House campaign, granting an initial payment of $100,000 to help pay off outstanding debts. Pence had requested public money just weeks before dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination, highlighting the financial challenges his campaign faced. Despite raising $5.3 million, Pence’s campaign struggled financially, and the public funds will assist in winding down remaining operations.
Most presidential candidates have stopped seeking public, matching funds due to the program’s strict spending limits. The last candidates to receive such funds were Democrat Martin O’Malley and Green Party’s Jill Stein in 2016. In another development, the Federal Election Commission is considering drafting rules that could withhold donor information from the public, although no decisions are likely before this year’s general election. Commissioner Allen Dickerson’s proposal to fast-track individual requests to mask personal information of political contributors was rejected by the agency.
Under current federal law, federal campaigns and political action committees must disclose identifying information of donors who contribute more than $200. Fundraising platforms like WinRed and ActBlue must also disclose donor details regardless of donation size. Dickerson argued that the disclosure requirements are outdated, dating back to the 1970s, and that personal information is now easily accessible on the internet. While the FEC has made exceptions to disclosure rules in specific cases, the panel rejected Dickerson’s proposal for a streamlined process to withhold personal information.
Some commissioners acknowledged the need to balance transparency with personal privacy and indicated openness to further debate on the issue. Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum suggested that Congress could reconsider whether donors’ full addresses, including street numbers and names, should be publicly disclosed. Concerns were raised about potential consequences of disclosing this information, such as victims of domestic violence being located by abusers through public donor records. Campaign Legal Center watchdog group expressed the need for careful examination of any proposed changes to disclosure requirements to prevent a loss of information about election spending.
Overall, the Federal Election Commission’s decision to authorize public matching funds for Mike Pence’s campaign sheds light on the financial challenges faced by presidential candidates. The consideration of drafting new rules to withhold donor information from the public raises questions about the balance between transparency and personal privacy in campaign finance. The rejection of Commissioner Dickerson’s proposal indicates differing views on how to address these issues, with a focus on protecting sensitive personal information while ensuring transparency in political fundraising. Further discussions and debates are likely to continue among commissioners and advocacy groups regarding potential changes to disclosure requirements in federal campaign finance laws.
