Watchdogs petition to replace FEC commissioners

The Obama administration will now be forced to respond to the petition of 10 watchdog groups to have five Federal Election Commissioners replaced before the 2012 elections, according to a release by a coalition member.

The accountability groups pulled together their forces to get more than 25,000 signatures on a petition demanding that five commissioners whose terms have expired be replaced to "reform the broken" FEC. Petitions that are signed by 25,000 or more individuals are guaranteed “an official response” by the administration, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) announcement explains.

“The people have spoken, and now we’ll see if the White House is listening,” CREW executive director Melanie Sloan said in a statement. “It is time for President Obama to appoint new commissioners who will faithfully enforce our nation’s campaign finance laws.”

Democracy 21, Campaign Legal Center, U.S. PIRG and Public Citizen are just four of the other prominent Washington watchdog and campaign finance groups to work towards this goal. The groups started the petition almost a month ago, The Hill previously reported.

“While an effective FEC should be a no-brainer for someone who has advocated for campaign finance reform, the president has also now embraced his own super PAC. His response to this petition will help clarify which side he is on,” Sloan said in the statement.