Some months before the 2012 Presidential election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, Murray Energy Vice President for Marketing, Sales and External Affairs Rob Murray saw signs throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania that read, “STOP the WAR on COAL—FIRE OBAMA.”
Rob Murray and his company bought 4,700 of the signs, paying $22,000 for them, to be distributed among supporters of the coal industry.
Murray Energy is a major coal company and its founder, Robert Murray, has doubled down on coal despite the market and regulatory headwinds, vowing to be “the last man standing” in the war on coal.
The liberal public policy group Progress Ohio filed a complaint in 2012 with the Federal Election Commission, claiming Murray violated federal law because it failed to have printed on the signs who paid for them or file a spending report.
The Columbus Dispatch reported at the time that Progress Ohio was willing to drop the complaint if the Romney campaign pulled a TV ad running in eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia featuring Murray Energy miners blaming Obama for the war on coal.
Murray says it stopped distributing the signs when the complaint was filed, but the FEC still pursued the case. Now three years later, the FEC has released its finding, a settlement where Murray Energy agrees to pay a $5,000 fine.
This action has to constitute the smallest of small potatoes for the federal agency created after Watergate to administer and enforce federal election campaign finance laws. Does this mean that anybody who prints signs for or against a particular candidate is going to have to make sure they dot the i’s and cross the t’s of complicated election laws and file reports of their “costs of public communications” to the government?
The FEC could claim the high ground here if it had the reputation as a no-nonsense agency that holds all campaign contributors accountable with equal measure, but just the opposite is true. The New York Times reported last May that the FEC is chronically feckless.
“The leader of the Federal Election Commission, the agency charged with regulating the way political money is raised and spent, says she has largely given up hope of reining in abuses in the 2016 presidential campaign which could generate a record $10 billion in spending.”
“’The likelihood of laws being enforced is slim,” Ann M. Ravel, the chairwoman, said in an interview. “I never want to give up, but I’m not under any illusions. People think the FEC is dysfunctional. It’s worse than dysfunctional.”
Part of the problem is the six-member FEC is made up of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, which leads to near constant gridlock. The Times reports election law violation fines dropped from $627,408 in 2013 to $135,813 last year.
Still, the FEC somehow found its footing in the Murray case, accepting the conciliation agreement submitted by the company.
One can argue the FEC has much bigger issues with which to concern itself but given its dismal record, perhaps getting Bob Murray to cut a $5,000 check is the best it can hope for.