Week of April 12-16, 2021

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

The Commission made public three closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Enforcement Query System.

ADR 983
COMPLAINANT: Self-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Renewable Resource Hauling PAC – Marin Resource Recovery Center and Mardell Sarkela, in his official capacity as treasurer, and Marin Sanitary Service d/b/a Marin Resource Recovery Center (Respondents)
SUBJECT: The Commission considered Respondents’ voluntary report of having received excessive and prohibited contributions totaling $25,000 from their connected organization.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter. The Commission observed that Respondents had refunded the balance of cash on hand as a remedial measure and filed a Termination Report.

ADR 984
COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: American Values PAC and Chris Marston, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of exercising its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether the Committee failed to file in a timely manner a 24-hour report totaling $30,000 to support an independent expenditure disclosed on the 2020 July Quarterly Report.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to develop and certify implementation of an operations manual that includes internal controls, certify that a Committee representative attended a Commission training, and pay a civil penalty of $2,250.

ADR 986
COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Democratic Progress and Jeffrey Carson, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of exercising its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether the Committee failed to disclose debts totaling $122,480 on a 12-Day Pre-Primary Report filed in May 2020.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to develop and certify implementation of an operations manual that includes internal controls, certify that a Committee representative attended a Commission training, and pay a civil penalty of $4,600.

Audits

Final Audit Report of the Mississippi Republican Party. On April 16, the Commission made public the Final Audit Report of the Mississippi Republican Party. The Commission approved findings related to misstatement of financial activity and reporting of debts and obligations. The Commission was unable to agree by four votes to include a third proposed finding: “Reporting of Apparent Independent Expenditures.” Chair Shana M. Broussard and Commissioners Ellen L. Weintraub and Steven T. Walther issued a Statement.

Litigation

Campaign Legal Center, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 20-0730) On April 9, Right to Rise Super PAC, Inc. filed a Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Default Judgment against the Commission in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

FEC v. Rivera (Case No. 17-22643) On March 31, Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. On April 14, the Commission filed an Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction in the District Court.

Outreach

On April 13 and 15, Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub spoke via videoconference to students at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University about campaign finance and the role of the Commission.

Upcoming educational programs

April 21, 2021: The Commission will host a workshop on navigating the FEC website.

April 28, 2021: The Commission will host a webinar for Trade Associations and their PACs.

May 26, 2021: The Commission will host a webinar for political party committees.

August 17-18, 2021: The Commission will host a Regional Hybrid Conference in Denver, CO.

For more information on upcoming training opportunities, see the Commission’s Trainings page.

Upcoming Commission meetings

April 20, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

April 22, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming reporting due dates

April 20: April Monthly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2021 Monthly Reporting schedule.

Status of agency operations

See the Commission’s statement on the status of agency operations, updated on January 4, 2021. At this stage, most agency staff remain in telework status and the Commission’s office remains closed to visitors.

Additional research materials

Contribution Limits. In addition to the current limits, the Commission has posted an archive of contribution limits that were in effect going back to the 1975-1976 election cycles.

2020 Presidential General Election Results and Federal Elections 2018: Election Results for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are available. The data was compiled from the official vote totals published by state election offices.

FEC Notify: Want to be notified by email when campaign finance reports are received by the agency? Sign up here.

Additional research materials about the agency, campaign finance information, and election results are available through the Library section of the Commission website.

The Combined Federal State Disclosure and Election Directory is available. This publication identifies the federal and state agencies responsible for the disclosure of campaign finances, lobbying, personal finances, public financing, candidates on the ballot, election results, spending on state initiatives and other financial filings.

The FEC Record is available as a continuously updated online news source.

Other election-related resources

Videos on protecting U.S. elections. The FBI’s Protected Voices initiative provides videos designed to help political campaigns protect themselves from foreign influence. The 2019 videos offer guidance on ransomware, business email compromise, supply chain, social media literacy, and foreign influence operations. Other videos, released in 2018, include cyber hygiene topics such as social engineering, patching, router hardening, and app and browser safety.

Join the FEC on Twitter and YouTube

Follow @FEC on Twitter to receive the latest information on agency updates, news releases, and weekly activity. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, FECTube: FECConnect on Demand, to watch instructional videos that have been designed to help candidates and committees comply with federal campaign finance laws. Note that the FEC is not currently available through other social media platforms currently. The use of the agency’s logo, name, and likeness on other media has not been authorized by the FEC.