In April 2008, days before a special election in Louisiana's 6th Congressional District, a shadowy group called Freedom's Watch unleashed a nasty attack ad accusing Democratic candidate Don Cazayoux of backing public health care "handouts" for illegal immigrants. It was an outright lie, but with Cazayoux (pronounced CAH-djoo) ahead in the polls, right-wing groups were hurling all the mud they could find—or fabricate.
Cazayoux and his Democratic allies tracked down the outfit's campaign filings in an attempt to unmask the funders behind Freedom's Watch. But the section where its donors should have been listed was blank. Upset that Republicans were flouting the law, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took his complaint to the Federal Election Commission.
Then...silence. Two years passed (PDF) before the FEC weighed in. By then, Freedom's Watch had long been defunct. Delayed as it was, though, the FEC's ultimate decision raised eyebrows in Washington. There wasn't enough evidence of wrongdoing, the commission concluded (PDF)—and indeed, other independent political groups were free to follow the lead of Freedom's Watch, as long as the money wasn't earmarked for a specific ad. So unless a donor gave explicit instructions like "I want to fund an ad blasting Don Cazayoux on the evening news of the local NBC affiliate on May 1," disclosure requirements didn't apply. It was a textbook case of the loophole devouring the rule.
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