The Project on Government Oversight

At the Federal Election Commission Things Don't Add Up
March 28, 2001

The building blocks for campaign finance disclosure–identifying who is getting money from whom, and how much–rely solely on the FEC's databases, yet this basic information is incorrect. The enormous discrepancies between the amount of money the PACs (Political Action Committee) reported giving and the amount of money the House and Senate candidates reported receiving –a total discrepancy of over $12 million, only taking into account incumbents– demonstrate that the FEC is not fulfilling its mission. When the database for the candidate reports is compared with the database for the PAC reports, only six incumbent candidates match–in the entire Congress. Furthermore, FEC's two websites are neither linked nor concurrently updated. Among the inherent problems, a PAC will often be known by different names because the FEC does not require a standardized method to identify a PAC. Additionally, confusing forms have contributed to the dissemination of incorrect information. The Senate is further complicating the availability of information because it still hand files written reports. This report identifies seven sources of misinformation in the FEC's data and recommends specific reforms that must be addressed in order for more broad-reaching campaign finance reforms to be successful.