John Shadegg: “I have an amendment which seeks to solve a problem in existing law. That problem is that under the way the FEC laws are…”

“I have an amendment which seeks to solve a problem in existing law. That problem is that under the way the FEC laws are currently written, if a campaign law violation occurs in the last 90 days before an election is held, there is essentially no remedy. That is, that violation goes by and cannot be remedied. The reason for that is that under current law, the only existing remedy is to go to the Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C., file a complaint and under the FEC guidelines no action, absolutely no action is to be taken on that complaint for a period of 90 days. What that means is that during the last 90 days of a campaign, there simply is no remedy for many of the violations which occurred. Indeed there is no remedy whatsoever. The FEC cannot get to it before the election. Oftentimes such complaints are rendered moot by the election and, therefore, there is a gaping hole in existing law. What my amendment would do is to solve this.”