shocking report by Axios revealed that over the summer the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) quietly voted to allow foreign donors – including individuals, companies, or GOVERNMENTS – to fund committees that handle local US ballot initiatives. The unbelievable decision also paves the way for any well-funded foreigner to influence key referenda such as congressional redistricting.
Prior to Axios’ report earlier this week, the July ruling had been mostly unknown to the public and even to most lawmakers.
The commission passed the decision with a 4-2 vote to dismiss a 2018 complaint about foreign money spent on a Montana ballot initiative, citing a bogus ‘technicality’ to get around US laws that prevent foreign nationals from influencing our elections. According to them, ballot measures arent ‘technically’ elections, so the traditional election financing laws do not apply.
The decision only applies to federal law. Now, individual states must specifically outlaw foreign funding through their legislature to protect the sovereignty of their elections.
WTF?!!