Federal Election Commission Begins Operations, Institutionalizing Corporate PAC Framework

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) commences operations with six commissioners appointed by President Gerald Ford, establishing the regulatory framework that will institutionalize and legitimize the explosion of corporate political action committees following the 1974 FECA amendments. Created as response to Watergate campaign finance abuses, the FEC ironically provides the administrative infrastructure enabling massive corporate political influence through PACs, mandatory disclosure requirements that appear transparent while permitting unlimited coordination, and enforcement mechanisms that prove weak in practice. In November 1975, the FEC issues advisory opinion AO 1975-23 (the SunPAC opinion), confirming that corporations can use treasury money to establish, operate, and solicit contributions to PACs, and permitting corporations to solicit both employees and stockholders - dramatically expanding corporate political fundraising capacity beyond what reformers intended. This regulatory framework perfectly complements the 1974 FECA amendments that triggered 1,600% growth in corporate PACs, Business Roundtable’s CEO coordination (1972), Heritage Foundation’s policy development (1973), ALEC’s state-level legislation (1973), and lobbying expansion (175 to 2,500 firms 1971-1982). The FEC’s establishment demonstrates how “reform” institutions can be designed to facilitate rather than limit corporate power, providing official regulatory blessing to the corporate political infrastructure envisioned in the Powell Memo while creating appearance of oversight and accountability.