AP via
ABC News:
WASHINGTON Sept. 20, 2004 -- A judge has struck down more than a dozen of the government's current rules on political fund raising with just weeks before Election Day, concluding federal regulators improperly weakened the nation's campaign finance law.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered the Federal Election Commission to write new rules to govern key aspects of fund raising, including when candidates and outside parties can coordinate activities.
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A commission member said Monday he wants the government to try to block the ruling from taking effect. "If the ruling is not stayed, many key parts of the federal election laws will be in chaos," said Commissioner Michael Toner, a Republican.
Kollar-Kotelly ruled some of the regulations the FEC devised after the law was passed in 2002 would "create an immense loophole" and allow for abuses that lawmakers who wrote the law never intended.
The judge's ruling was released Saturday on a court Web site and discovered Monday by the key parties.