Awards

• Winner of Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2025 (United States)

Overview

Choice 2025 Outstanding Academic Title The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the primary agency enforcing campaign finance laws in the US, and it has long been portrayed as a toothless tiger. Given the importance of campaign finance laws in protecting democracy, the characterization of the FEC as an ineffective regulator is problematic. To understand why the agency has a weak reputation, this book explores changes in campaign finance laws, the underfunding of the agency, untimely commissioner appointments, and how this has affected the enforcement of campaign finance laws between 2002 and 2020. This study finds that as campaign finance laws have weakened in the US, so has the FEC’s ability to enforce them. The agency’s resources have stagnated, so the penalties and fines issued by the agency have dropped. There are multiple periods when the agency is absent a quorum because of too few commissioners at the Commission, and it is increasingly unable to proceed with agency business. Furthermore, the empty commissioner seats have led to a partisan imbalance that has favored the Republicans and allowed them to dominate decision-making. Now, the outcomes of allegations of wrongdoing are increasingly closing by default rather than bipartisan consensus.

Full Product Details

9781666949797

Table of Contents

Reviews

“Although there are many books on campaign finance, this is the first book to provide a clear picture of how the Federal Election Commission makes decisions. This timely, well-written book will be indispensable to anyone interested in how government regulates the role of money in politics, or to anyone with an interest in the federal bureaucracy.” -- Robert Boatright, Clark University

"""Although there are many books on campaign finance, this is the first book to provide a clear picture of how the Federal Election Commission makes decisions. This timely, well-written book will be indispensable to anyone interested in how government regulates the role of money in politics, or to anyone with an interest in the federal bureaucracy."" --Robert Boatright, Clark University"

Evaluating Campaign Finance Oversight delivers what it promises . . . The book meets a glaring need in campaign finance scholarship by looking at the agency from all angles. It is appropriate for scholars, graduate students, law students, and advanced undergraduates. Every research library should have a copy. * Choice * “Although there are many books on campaign finance, this is the first book to provide a clear picture of how the Federal Election Commission makes decisions. This timely, well-written book will be indispensable to anyone interested in how government regulates the role of money in politics, or to anyone with an interest in the federal bureaucracy.” -- Robert Boatright, Clark University “This portrait of the FEC demonstrates that it functions poorly as a regulator of federal campaign finances for reasons both within and beyond the agency's control. Assembling a history of the agency and campaign finance law more broadly, Sebold provides the most complete account of an agency that lacks the capacity to keep up with the unruly world of money in US elections.” -- Barry Burden, University of Wisconsin-Madison “Voters hate money coursing through our political system. Sebold effectively documents the Federal Election Commission’s struggles—some self-inflicted, some inflicted by the courts and Congress—to promote clean elections.” -- Eric Heberlig, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Author Information

Karen Denice Sebold is an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas.

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