{"id":955220,"date":"2021-11-02T19:29:28","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T23:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=955220"},"modified":"2021-11-02T19:29:31","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T23:29:31","slug":"surprising-and-scary-federal-election-commission-allows-foreign-funding-of-american-ballot-initiatives-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/surprising-and-scary-federal-election-commission-allows-foreign-funding-of-american-ballot-initiatives-report\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Surprising and Scary\u2019: Federal Election Commission Allows Foreign Funding Of American Ballot Initiatives: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsurprising-and-scary-federal-election-commission-allows-foreign-funding-of-american-ballot-initiatives-report%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=955220&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A new report from Axios reveals that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) decided to allow foreign funding of ballot initiatives, a move some argue could give undue influence to foreigners on citizen-generated ballot campaigns.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Axios <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/fec-foreign-money-referendum-dcc92322-05ad-4093-8bb8-35446ef6c964.html\">reported<\/a>, \u201cThe Federal Election Commission has ruled foreign donors can finance U.S. referendum campaigns, opening the door to foreign spending on fights over high-profile policy issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The decision came on the heels of a controversial case in Montana over hard rock mining in 2018. During a citizen-generated effort to ban the process, proponents of the initiative argued that a Canadian company shouldn\u2019t have been allowed to give money to opponents of the measure. The Canadian company was a subsidiary of Sandfire Resources, an Australian firm.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In an email to Axios, David Brooks of Montana Trout Unlimited, said that he found the ruling \u201csurprising and scary.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre we, as U.S. citizens, really OK with letting foreign money go directly to state lawmaking via citizen initiative campaigns?\u201d he reportedly said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the 4-2 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21096628-fec-ballot-measure-ruling\">decision<\/a>, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) \u201cdismisses the allegations that Sandfire and Sandfire NL violated\u201d U.S. law \u201cby making prohibited foreign national donations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the Commission noted that foreign funding had been given to the opposition to the hard rock mining ban, it said that the ballot measure was not an election.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder these circumstances and consistent with the relevant court and agency precedents construing the foreign national prohibition, the Commission declines to further pursue this matter,\u201d the Commission explained.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Three Republicans alongside Democrat and FEC Chair Shana Broussard voted to dismiss the allegations, arguing that the ballot initiative did not constitute an \u201celection\u201d under federal law.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While foreign nationals are banned from giving to candidates and support committees, it appears that they can now donate to ballot initiatives. The Axios report raised the issue of whether foreign nationals would be able to contribute to certain types of ballot initiatives, specifically those dealing with congressional redistricting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis FEC decision reflects a big loophole in the federal ban on foreign money in U.S. elections,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/fec-foreign-money-referendum-dcc92322-05ad-4093-8bb8-35446ef6c964.html\">said<\/a> Brendan Fischer, the director of federal and FEC reforms at the Campaign Legal Center.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Some states have chosen to prohibit foreign spending in their state-registered ballot measures, while others have declined.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) vetoed a bill put forth by the legislature that prohibited foreign spending in elections after some were concerned about Canadian influence in state ballot measures.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven more troubling is this bill\u2019s potential impact on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new report from Axios reveals that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) decided to allow foreign funding of ballot initiatives, a move some argue could give undue influence to foreigners on citizen-generated ballot campaigns.\u00a0Axios reported, \u201cThe Federal Election Commission has ruled foreign donors can finance U.S. referendum campaigns, opening the door to foreign spending on fights over high-profile policy issues.\u201dThe decision came on the heels of a controversial case in Montana over hard rock mining in 2018. During a citizen-generated effort to ban the process, proponents of the initiative argued that a Canadian company shouldn\u2019t have been allowed to give money to opponents of the measure. The Canadian company was a subsidiary of Sandfire Resources, an Australian firm.\u00a0In an email to Axios, David Brooks of Montana Trout Unlimited, said that he found the ruling \u201csurprising and scary.\u201d\u00a0\u201cAre we, as U.S. citizens, really OK with letting foreign money go directly to state lawmaking via citizen initiative campaigns?\u201d he reportedly said.\u00a0In the 4-2 decision, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) \u201cdismisses the allegations that Sandfire and Sandfire NL violated\u201d U.S. law \u201cby making prohibited foreign national donations.\u201dWhile the Commission noted that foreign funding had been given to the opposition to the hard rock mining ban, it said that the ballot measure was not an election.\u00a0\u201cUnder these circumstances and consistent with the relevant court and agency precedents construing the foreign national prohibition, the Commission declines to further pursue this matter,\u201d the Commission explained.\u00a0Three Republicans alongside Democrat and FEC Chair Shana Broussard voted to dismiss the allegations, arguing that the ballot initiative did not constitute an \u201celection\u201d under federal law.\u00a0While foreign nationals are banned from giving to candidates and support committees, it appears that they can now donate to ballot initiatives. The Axios report raised the issue of whether foreign nationals would be able to contribute to certain types of ballot initiatives, specifically those dealing with congressional redistricting.\u00a0\u201cThis FEC decision reflects a big loophole in the federal ban on foreign money in U.S. elections,\u201d said Brendan Fischer, the director of federal and FEC reforms at the Campaign Legal Center.\u00a0Some states have chosen to prohibit foreign spending in their state-registered ballot measures, while others have declined.Earlier this year, Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) vetoed a bill put forth by the legislature that prohibited foreign spending in elections after some were concerned about Canadian influence in state ballot measures.\u00a0\u201cEven more troubling is this bill\u2019s potential impact on Maine voters,\u201d Mills said. \u201cGovernment is rarely justified in restricting the kind of information to which the citizenry should have access in the context of an election, and particularly a ballot initiative.\u201dMany were not happy with the governor\u2019s decision.\u00a0\u201cWe are disappointed that the governor has vetoed this important legislation to get foreign government money out of Maine politics,\u201d Anna Kellar, of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, said.She continued,\u00a0 \u201cLD 194, which received overwhelming public and bipartisan lawmaker support at its public hearing, would close an important loophole in our laws by preventing foreign governments from spending in ballot question campaigns.\u201dThe Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-955220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}