Wyoming lawsuit challenges FEC regulations

CHEYENNE Attorneys for three Wyoming residents who formed a grassroots organization called Free Speech filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday challenging Federal Election Commission rules. Attorneys for Free Speech and the Wyoming Liberty Group claim the FEC rules, which may require grassroots groups like Free Speech to register as political action committees, are vague and overly broad. The lawsuit, filed in the court of federal District Judge Scott Skavdahl in Casper, seeks an injunction against the FEC to bar it from enforcing the rules and a declaratory judgment that the commissions definition of express advocacy is unconstitutional. Free Speech members want to spend about $2,000 on advertising to express their opinions on Wyoming issues, not to advocate for candidates, said Stephen Klein, attorney for the Wyoming Liberty Group. The problem is the three Wyoming residents and the FEC dont know whether Free Speech must register as a political action committee, Klein and Free Speech attorney Jack Speight said Thursday. The organization in February sought an advisory opinion from the FEC to be sure its program would be consistent with the law. Ultimately, the FEC provided three contradictory draft advisory opinions, the lawsuit said. If the group does not register as a political action committee and then runs ads, it could be deemed in violation of the rules and subject to civil and criminal penalties. The three board members of Free Speech listed in the lawsuit are Max Douglas Watford Jr. and Robert T. Brinkmann, both of Cheyenne and Charles Curley of Thermopolis. Their Free Speech group formed in February as an unincorporated, nonprofit association under Wyoming law and registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 527 group. Free Speech is interested in gun, environmental, and farming and ranching issues, Speight said. The groups by-laws require that it operate independently of political candidates, committees and political parties, the lawsuit said. Two separate federal circuit courts have ruled against the FEC in similar lawsuits while a third upheld the FEC. This is the first time the FEC rules have been challenged in a court in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. This law is so vague nobody can follow it, so vague the government can arbitrarily enforce it, Klein said. There needs to be a bright line between regulating candidate advocacy and regulating issue advocacy.

CHEYENNE Attorneys for three Wyoming residents who formed a grassroots organization called Free Speech filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday challenging Federal Election Commission rules.

Attorneys for Free Speech and the Wyoming Liberty Group claim the FEC rules, which may require grassroots groups like Free Speech to register as political action committees, are vague and overly broad.

The lawsuit, filed in the court of federal District Judge Scott Skavdahl in Casper, seeks an injunction against the FEC to bar it from enforcing the rules and a declaratory judgment that the commissions definition of express advocacy is unconstitutional.

Free Speech members want to spend about $2,000 on advertising to express their opinions on Wyoming issues, not to advocate for candidates, said Stephen Klein, attorney for the Wyoming Liberty Group.

The problem is the three Wyoming residents and the FEC dont know whether Free Speech must register as a political action committee, Klein and Free Speech attorney Jack Speight said Thursday.

The organization in February sought an advisory opinion from the FEC to be sure its program would be consistent with the law.

Ultimately, the FEC provided three contradictory draft advisory opinions, the lawsuit said.

If the group does not register as a political action committee and then runs ads, it could be deemed in violation of the rules and subject to civil and criminal penalties.

The three board members of Free Speech listed in the lawsuit are Max Douglas Watford Jr. and Robert T. Brinkmann, both of Cheyenne and Charles Curley of Thermopolis.

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Wyoming lawsuit challenges FEC regulations