FEC Puts the Smackdown on Freddie Mac

Yesterday the Federal Election Commission levied the biggest fine on record against a company for violations of campaign finance laws. Roll Call (subscription required) reports the Freddie Mac entered into a conciliation agreement whereby the company will pay a $3.8 million fine.

The Washington Post leads their coverage with this paragraph:

Freddie Mac will pay a record $3.8 million fine to settle civil charges that it violated federal election law by using corporate resources to raise $1.7 million at political fundraisers, most of them for Republican members of Congress and many involving House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael G. Oxley (R-Ohio).

So in one pargraph we cover the wrongdoing of one company and implicate a leading GOP congressman--who conspicuously has not been charged or even investigated for any wrongdoing.

What is also interesting, at least according the Post is that the FEC investigation was launched at the request of Freddie Mac.

Here is the FEC's Press Release and the conciliation agreement.