MFA urges the Commission to adopt the Proposal as proposed. Rescission would not leave political contributions unregulated and would remove an overbroad restriction while preserving the rules most directly addressed to fraud, corruption, conflicts, and public contracting.
MFA explains:
- The Rule’s automatic compensation consequence can apply without corrupt intent, actual influence, causation, adviser benefit, or investor harm.
- Advisers would remain subject to the Advisers Act’s antifraud, fiduciary, compliance, and code-of-ethics requirements, as well as applicable criminal, campaign-finance, state and local, procurement, ethics, contractual, and public-plan protections.
- The Rule burdens lawful political participation and distorts employment decisions. Its severity encourages firms to restrict contributions more broadly than the Rule requires, while its lookback provisions can cause lawful pre-employment activity to affect hiring, promotion, assignments, and employee mobility.
