The Federal Election Commission

The Federal Election Commision is a regulatory agency created by Congress in 1975 to oversee the campaign financing laws in the U.S.

It is supposedly independent, but its six members are from the Democratic Party and the Republican Party only (three from each).

Following approximately a year and a half of stalled discussions between Congress and the President regarding appointments, the FEC finally is back to all six members since July 2008.

In 2007, a bill was introduced in Congress to attempt to replace the FEC with a Federal Elections Administration board.

The following articles have more in-depth information about the FEC:

Wikipedia: Federal Election Commission.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Election_Commission

Source Watch: Federal election commission.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Federal_Election_Commission

July 2007 FEC decision on advertising.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/05/opinion/05thu1.html?ex=1185422400&en=c...

Public Citizen: Summary of the McConnell v. FEC case.
Litigation over the Bipartisan Campaign Reform act of 2002.
http://www.citizen.org/congress/campaign/legislation/bcralaw/articles.cf...

The FEC’s Campaign Finance Guide
http://www.campaignfinanceguide.org/guide-54.html