WCPT 820 Interview: Ellen Weintraub

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Ellen L. Weintraub, former commissioner and four-time chair of the U.S. Federal Election Commission, and currently a senior fellow at End Citizens United.

Weintraub discussed the impact of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision on election integrity and campaign finance, and criticized the Court's consistency in protecting people's rights to spend money in politics.

"We now have a system where billionaires are out there spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to ensure that only the people that they like will get elected, that only the people who will not regulate their industries will get elected," Weintraub told WCPT. "Money is not everything. People have won despite tremendous amounts of money being spent against them, and some people who have spent tremendous amounts of money trying to get elected have fallen flat. But it is influential. It can be influential."

She emphasized the need for better disclosure laws and structural reforms at the FEC. Weintraub also addressed the challenges posed by President Donald Trump's firing of independent commissioners, including herself, and the resulting lack of quorum at the FEC, which hinders investigations into campaign finance violations. 

"When I left there were hundreds of complaints pending, and that obviously is increasing every day, and none of those are going to be dealt with at all until they restore the quorum. But there's a separate problem, which is that you need a bipartisan vote -- you need four votes out of what are supposed to be six commissioners -- to start any investigation."

In her experience at the FEC dealing with complaints against Trump and the Republican Party, Weintraub said that "not in a single one of those could we pick up one Republican vote to start an investigation to try and negotiate the smallest fine for any of the violations that were alleged in those complaints." She added: "This president seems to have immunity at the FEC now." 

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

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