Undermining the New Campaign Law

WASHINGTON — While everyone has been focused on the campaign finance legislation that President Bush reluctantly signed into law, he is working to make sure that the Federal Election Commission — the agency that will be responsible for enforcing the new law — remains ineffective. The president has nominated Michael Toner to be a commissioner of the F.E.C. and may put him on the commission through a recess appointment. This nomination has barely registered on Washington's radar screen, but it should cause an uproar.

The F.E.C. has earned a well-deserved reputation for refusing to enforce the campaign finance laws. The agency is particularly feckless in cases involving prominent candidates and political parties, to the point where candidates and parties feel free to violate both the letter and the spirit of the law with little fear of being held accountable. The commission also has a long tradition of creating loopholes in the laws Congress has directed it to enforce, including the soft money loophole that the new campaign finance law seeks to close.

To this sad history, President Bush is adding Mr. Toner. Mr. Toner is currently chief counsel to the Republican National Committee, and served on the transition team for the party's new chairman, Marc Racicot. He was also general counsel to President Bush's 2000 campaign committee. It is very doubtful, given his background, that Mr. Toner will wrest the F.E.C. from the control of the candidates and political parties it regulates.