This morning, USA Today‘s Jim Drinkard exposes 527s, those independent political groups named for the election law that prompted their creation, for what they really are — a network of well-oiled, donation-fed political units skating right up to the edge of the law.
And, while this is not exactly new news, Drinkard adds to the story by explaining why the ice won’t break. Under current law, 527s and other independent political groups are not allowed to “coordinate” with the political campaigns themselves. But, Drinkard writes, “there’s a wide gulf between the appearance of coordination and proving it in court, where First Amendment rights to free speech provide wide latitude to political activists. Besides, [Jim] Jordan, [director of Thunder Road Group], says, there are many legal ways to make sure friendly political campaigns complement each other.” “There aren’t many secrets in Washington,” Jordan tells Dinkard.
Drinkard then goes on to describe a social circle akin to a frat house. Before forming Thunder Road Group, which provides communication services to two prominent liberal 527s, American Coming Together and the Media Fund, Jordan just happened to manage Sen. Kerry’s campaign. Harold Ickes, a former Clinton administration insider, heads up the Media Fund. At the same time, Bill Knapp, Ickes’ former media consultant, made the jump from the Media Fund to the Kerry campaign just last month.
The list goes on and on, as Drinkard makes the case that all the frat boys are gathered around the same keg, and as they drink it’s inevitable they’ll swap information, tactics and plans.
The problem, Dinkard points out, is that, short of installing hidden bugs in the frat house, it’s nearly impossible for John Q. Law to pinpoint conversations that turn from friendly chit-chat to secret strategy exchanges.
“It is clearly difficult to prove coordination,” Trevor Potter, a former Republican chairman of the FEC, told Dinkard. “It has always been one of the hardest things to prove under election law.”
For its part, the FEC is letting 527s from the left and right fight it out this election season, forgoing any advisory ruling on their legality until after votes are cast in November. In lieu of that, it will take some reporter who is closer to the “inside” than Drinkard is to explain exactly whether, and how, these organizations work hand-in-hand.
–Thomas Lang
Thomas Lang was a writer at CJR Daily.