Firms ask FEC to approve anonymous political giving via text message

Two political consulting groups and an “aggregator” have asked the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to approve anonymous political contributions through text messages.

Arent Fox submitted an advisory opinion request on the text donations to the FEC for clients Red Blue T and ArmourMedia. The “merchant billing aggregator” m-Qube, which would be “party to these transactions,” was also included on the request. The Democratic and Republican firms said their clients want to “engag[e] in, and advertis[e] for, the solicitation of political contributions by text messaging,” according to the documents. “The mobile communications industry is advancing rapidly,” counsels Craig Engle and Brett Kappel wrote. “And with all due respect for the Commission's 38-year-old statute: the [Federal Election Campaign Act] should be interpreted to keep pace with modem telecommunications technology, rather than trying to fit the digital mobile wireless industry into the time of rotary phones.”