The IE Wall: Legally Coordinating Strategy with Super PACs
The IE Wall: Legally Coordinating Strategy with Super PACs is the defining structural challenge for any modern Democratic campaign seeking to maximize resources against well-funded GOP opponents. In an era where Citizens United has allowed dark money to flood our elections, maintaining a strict firewall between your campaign—the Hard Side—and the Independent Expenditures (IEs) supporting you is not just a legal necessity; it is a strategic imperative. If you are running for Congress or a high-stakes statewide seat, you are likely outgunned by corporate special interests backing MAGA extremists. To level the playing field, you must understand how some campaigns signal their strategy to friendly Super PACs without ever exchanging a single email, phone call, or handshake. This guide explores the nuance of the firewall and how tactical campaigns utilize public-facing data to carefully make content available that the heavy artillery of the IE universe could find.
Mastering the Firewall: How Democrats Win with Independent Expenditures
The concept of the firewall, often referred to in the industry as the IE Wall, is the legal barrier that separates a candidate’s authorized campaign committee from outside groups like Super PACs. Under Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulations, coordination between these two entities is strictly prohibited. If a campaign tells a Super PAC where to run ads, what message to use, or which voters to target, both entities have broken the law. However, the reality of political warfare requires that these two sides fight the same battle. The problem is that independent groups often lack the specific polling nuances or candidate voice that the Hard Side possesses. Without a strategy to navigate the IE Wall, you risk having millions of dollars in outside spending wasted on off-message television spots or duplicative digital buys that annoy voters rather than persuade them. Understanding the boundaries of this wall is the first step toward ensuring that every dollar spent to protect democracy is spent efficiently.
The Red Box Strategy: Legal Communication Through Public Signals
Since private coordination is illegal, the most sophisticated campaigns utilize a strategy known as the Red Box or a Media Page to communicate publicly. The Red Box is a dedicated, publicly accessible section of a campaign’s official website—often buried in the footer or a ‘Media Center’ page—that contains explicit instructions disguised as general information. This is how campaigns often attempt to navigate The IE Wall: Legally Coordinating Strategy with Super PACs in plain sight. By placing polling memos, high-resolution B-roll footage, and thematic talking points in the public domain, you are theoretically making them available to the press and the public. However, the some campaigns set them up so that the audience is the media buyers and strategists at the Super PACs. This method creates a unilateral flow of information. You cannot tell them what to do, but campaigns can show the public exactly what you are doing and what you need, allowing them to potentially mirror your strategy without violating the ban on private coordination.
Constructing the Signal: What Goes Inside the Red Box
To effectively guide an IE across the wall, your public signals must be unambiguous. A vague press release is useless to a Super PAC media consultant who needs to cut a TV ad in 48 hours. Successful signaling involves uploading terabytes of raw, high-quality video footage—candidates talking to workers, walking construction sites, or meeting with families—without music or voiceovers. This allows the IE to download the assets and build their own commercials that look and feel like your campaign. Furthermore, you must publish ‘Thematic Memos’ using specific phrasing such as ‘Voters in the 5th District need to hear that Candidate X will protect Social Security.’ This phrasing signals the exact negative hit or positive bio spot the IE should run. By providing the creative ingredients and the strategic recipe on your website, you ensure that the Super PAC cooks the meal you actually want to serve to the voters.
Three Ways to Breach the Wall and Invite an Audit
While the Red Box or Media Page is a standard practice, it is fraught with peril if mishandled. The first major mistake is the ‘shared vendor’ problem. You cannot use the same media consulting firm that the Super PAC uses; there must be a literal firewall between staff who have knowledge of your plans and those advising the IE. Second, never succumb to the temptation of using a mutual donor as a messenger. If a high-dollar bundler tells the Super PAC your internal poll numbers after having dinner with you, the wall is breached. Third, avoid ‘material involvement’ in the IE’s fundraising. While candidates can appear at Super PAC fundraisers under specific constraints, soliciting funds in excess of federal limits is a violation. The GOP machine is always watching for these slip-ups to launch ethics complaints. Keep your signals public, keep your staff separated, and never try to be clever with back-channel communications.
Pre-Launch Compliance Checklist
Before you attempt to publicly publish media findable by the IE Wall, ensure your house is in order. First, retain a specialized campaign finance attorney to review every piece of content intended for the Red Box; what constitutes ‘publicly available’ can vary by jurisdiction. Second, establish a strict internal protocol that forbids your campaign staff from interacting with known IE operatives. Third, audit your digital assets. Ensure your B-roll library is updated weekly and hosted on a fast, accessible server link on your site. Finally, review your vendor list to ensure no conflict of interest exists with major Progressive PACs operating in your district. Preparation prevents the legal headaches that can derail a momentum-driven campaign in the final weeks of the race.
The Sutton & Smart Difference: Powering the Blue Wave
Hope is not a strategy, and against the Republican fundraising machine, neither is luck. You need a partner who understands the intricate dance of modern campaign finance. At Sutton & Smart, we specialize in General Consulting and High-Level Strategy that keeps you compliant while maximizing the firepower of the entire Progressive ecosystem. We don’t just advise; we build the infrastructure. Our team helps you design the perfect ‘Red Box’ architecture, curating the specific B-roll and data-driven messaging signals that guide outside money to support your path to victory efficiently. From Path to 51% modeling to Real-Time FEC Burn Rate Audits, we ensure your campaign is a fortress. Don’t let millions in potential support go to waste because you didn’t know how to signal. Let us build the wall that helps you win.
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Jon Sutton
An expert in management, strategy, and field organizing, Jon has been a frequent commentator in national publications.
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Have Questions?
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, it currently appears that the practice of publishing information on a public website for anyone to use, including Super PACs, is currently a standard industry practice accepted under current FEC interpretations, provided there is no private communication.
Absolutely not. You can discuss your campaign's general vision and the importance of the election, but you cannot request specific expenditures or direct the donor to fund specific media tactics.
Once the signal is sent, control is lost. If an IE runs a counter-productive ad, your only recourse is to issue a public statement denouncing it, which signals them to stop. You cannot call them to complain.
This article is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or tax advice. Political campaign laws, FEC regulations, voter-file handling rules, and platform policies (Meta, Google, etc.) are subject to frequent change. State-level laws governing the use, storage, and transmission of voter files or personally identifiable political data vary significantly and may impose strict limitations on third-party uploads, data matching, or cross-platform activation. Always consult your campaign’s General Counsel, Compliance Treasurer, or state party data governance office before making strategic, legal, or financial decisions related to voter data. Parts of this article may have been created, drafted, or refined using artificial intelligence tools. AI systems can produce errors or outdated information, so all content should be independently verified before use in any official campaign capacity. Sutton & Smart is an independent political consulting firm. Unless explicitly stated, we are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any third-party platforms mentioned in this content, including but not limited to NGP VAN, ActBlue, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Google, Hyros, or Vibe.co. All trademarks and brand names belong to their respective owners and are used solely for descriptive and educational purposes.
https://www.dmas.virginia.gov/media/4141/meeting-2-presentation.pdf
https://hcpf.colorado.gov/sites/hcpf/files/Region%204%20Technical%20Proposal.pdf
https://dodsoco.ogc.osd.mil/Portals/102/Documents/Conflicts/2024%2025K%20FY2023.pdf
