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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Judge says campaign regs are too lenient WASHINGTON - A federal judge struck down campaign finance regulations Wednesday that govern when candidates and independent groups can coordinate their political messages. The judge called on the Federal Election Commission to write stricter rules in time for the 2008 elections The decision marks the second time that U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has invalidated the FEC regulations as too lenient. They were drafted in response to a landmark 2002 law that restricts political donations. Kollar-Kotelly said the FEC regulations too narrowly apply to coordinated advertising that takes place within 90 days of a congressional election or 120 days before a presidential election. The regulations unreasonably ignore advertising run outside those windows, the judge said. The FEC argued that its regulations covered almost all of the independent political advertising that occurs in a campaign cycle. Critics said that the agency created a loophole for advertising that falls outside FEC regulations and ignored the expansion of political campaigns into year-round events. Kollar-Kotelly also found fault with FEC regulations governing state and local political party activities to encourage people to register to vote and actually show up at the polls. The lawsuit said that when those activities benefit candidates for Congress and president, the parties should be unable to use soft, or unrestricted, money to pay for them. The lawsuit was filed by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., a prime sponsor of the 2002 law. The lawsuit is not affected by the Supreme Court's decision in June that made it easier to run independent advertising close to elections. The commission consists of three Democrats and three Republicans appointed by the president.
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