From The Hill: 
 
FEC’s coordination ruling could shake up the midterms 
By Elana Schor 
 3/30/06
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is set to rule next week on when TV spots, print ads and other advocacy buys from outside groups should be treated as in-kind campaign contributions. 
 
Some party committees are asking the agency to change its standard. 
 
Under campaign-finance rules, a political ad is deemed coordinated and treated as a contribution subject to McCain-Feingold limits when it meets a three-part test. 
 
In July, however, a federal court struck down part of the “content” test, which sets different rules for ads running more than 120 days before a primary or general election. 
 
Under the test, an ad could avoid being tagged as coordinated if it runs outside the 120-day window and does not use “express advocacy language” urging a vote for or against a specified candidate. The court questioned the FEC’s rationale for choosing a 120-day window and asked the agency to look into when the majority of party advertising is purchased. 
 
Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer cited Illinois’s early primary as an example. Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth last week won a close primary against Christine Cegelis and will take on state Sen. Peter Roskam (R) in November. 
 
“Between the primary and four months out from the general election — which is July — you can run ads every day written by the lawmaker, paid for by an outside group, attacking that lawmaker’s opponent, as long as they don’t contain express advocacy,” he said. “Most ads don’t contain express advocacy language anyway.” 
 
For an ad run within the 120-day window to be considered coordinated, according to current rules, it must refer to a political party or a clearly identified candidate in addition to being targeted to that candidate’s electorate. 
 
In comments submitted in advance of next week’s ruling, Congress’s four party committees have all recommended shrinking the window, increasing the number of ads that would have to meet the weaker “express advocacy” test to be considered coordinated. 
 
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), through counsels Robert Bauer and Marc Elias, asked the FEC to replace the 120-day window with the 30- and 60-day windows that determine when an ad or mailing qualifies as an “electioneering communication.” 
 
A 90-day window, the Democratic commentators wrote, “would be the outer limit of any plausible extension.” 
 
The general counsels of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) agreed. 
 
“The Commission is completely justified in limiting the reach of its coordination rules, without fear of circumvention,” wrote NRCC counsel Donald McGahn. 
 
Wertheimer, along with fellow watchdogs at the Center for Responsive Politics and the Campaign Legal Center, disagrees. They handed the FEC copies of Club for Growth ads critical of Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) and Montana Democratic Party ads critical of Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), among others. 
 
The three watchdogs urged the FEC to add another standard to the 120-day window that would ensnare ads placed by 527s and nonprofit 501(c) groups avoiding the use of express advocacy language. 
 
McCain-Feingold’s lead sponsors — Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Reps. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) — weighed in with comments in January that blasted the FEC’s coordination rule as “even weaker than the one Congress repealed” by passing their landmark law. 
 
FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, a Democrat, said the panel is negotiating over what the new rule should look like. The FEC’s initial rulemaking notice suggested seven possible outcomes, including “adopt a different timeframe” to replace the 120-day window. 
 
“We have a lot of different options on the table, and it’s all in flux right now,” Weintraub said. “I’m not sure that this whole framework of a three-part test is what I would have come up with on my own, but we’re not starting with a blank slate … I’m probably not going to be supportive of an entirely new approach.” 
 
Weintraub and fellow Commissioner Robert Lenhard, the FEC’s vice chairman, said the agency has not ignored the crucial pre-midterm timing of its new rule. 
 
“We’re mindful that this is occurring during an election year,” said Lenhard, who defended the FEC’s existing coordination rule, including the 120-day window. “I don’t think there’s a lot of evidence of illegal coordination going on out there,” he said. 
 
Americans for Job Security, a business-backed 501(c) group, drew fire in December from the campaign of Pennsylvania state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. (D), who is challenging Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). Casey filed an FEC complaint after the group spent $500,000 on ads supporting Santorum, and Casey supporters charged the Santorum campaign with illegal coordination.