Week of March 8-12, 2021*

Commission meetings and hearings

On March 9 and 11, the Commission met in executive session.

On March 11, the Commission held an open meeting.

Advisory Opinions

Extension of Time

Advisory Opinion 2021-01 (Aluminate, Inc.) On March 11, the Commission held over discussion of an advisory opinion request from Aluminate, Inc. The requestor asks whether it may use certain data from FEC reports in providing services to universities, colleges, and not-for-profit organizations. The Commission received two comments in response to Draft A. On March 10, the requestor granted an extension of time until April 14.

Advisory opinion request held over

Advisory Opinion Request 2021-03 (NRSC and NRCC) On March 11, the Commission held over an advisory opinion request from the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee. The requesters ask whether their members may use campaign funds to pay for personal security personnel to protect the members and their families from threatened harm.

Regulations and agency procedures

Draft Interpretive Rule on Use of Campaign Funds by Members of Congress for Personal and Residential Security. On March 11, the Commission discussed a Draft Interpretive Rule on the use of campaign funds by members of Congress for personal and residential security. Members of the public may submit written comments, which must be received by March 18, 2021, and addressed to the Commission Secretary at personalsecurityrule@fec.gov. On March 11, the Commission made public one comment.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7102

COMPLAINANT: Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust
RESPONDENTS: Friends of CJ for Congress and Ann M. Barnum, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); Charles John “C.J.” Baricevic; Keefe, Keefe & Unsell, P.C. (Keefe, P.C.); Thomas Q. Keefe Jr.; Thomas Q. Keefe III; Samantha Unsell; Debra M. Eastridge; Jan Harding; Jill A. Harres; Ashley E. Meuren; Madonna Schutzenhofer; and Lisa J. Wierciak (collectively, six administrative employees)
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Keefe, P.C. and its three named attorneys, Thomas Q. Keefe Jr., Thomas Q. Keefe III, and Samantha Unsell, made $16,200 in contributions to the Committee in the names of six Keefe, P.C. administrative employees and used Keefe, P.C.’s corporate resources to facilitate those contributions. The complaint further alleged that the Committee and Baricevic, a 2016 candidate for Illinois’s 12th Congressional District, knowingly accepted the prohibited contributions.
DISPOSITION: On June 25, 2019, the Commission found reason to believe that Keefe, P.C. and Thomas Q. Keefe Jr., Thomas Q. Keefe III, and Samantha Unsell violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the Act), by making prohibited corporate contributions in the name of another. The Commission voted to take no action against the six administrative employees, Baricevic, and the Committee. The Office of the General Counsel later recommended that the Commission find probable cause to believe as to Keefe, P.C. and Thomas Q. Keefe, Jr. On January 12, 2021, the Commission found probable cause to believe that Keefe, P.C. violated the Act by making prohibited corporate contributions in the name of another and by using corporate resources to facilitate the making of such contributions. The Commission did not make any probable cause to believe findings as to Thomas Q. Keefe, Jr. On February 10, 2021, the Commission entered into a conciliation agreement providing for Keefe, P.C. to instruct the Committee to disgorge a total of $18,900 in prohibited corporate contributions to the United States Treasury, and to pay a civil penalty of $14,500. The Commission also voted to take no further action as to Thomas Q. Keefe Jr., Thomas Q. Keefe III, and Samantha Unsell.

MUR 7730

COMPLAINANT: Mary Jean Dowell
RESPONDENT: Unknown respondent
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that unknown persons used her personal information to make a $200 contribution in her name to either the Republican National Committee or Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter in consideration of Commission priorities. The Commission noted the lack of available information supporting the allegations in the complaint and the relatively low dollar amount involved.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

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

ADR 977

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Perfect Together PAC, Inc. and Theresa Mondella, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of exercising its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe that the Committee failed to file a 48-Hour Report of an independent expenditure totaling $26,000 disclosed on its 2020 April Quarterly Report.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to 1) certify closure of its federal account and terminate its political committee status and reporting obligations with the Commission, and 2) pay a civil penalty of $1,300.

Administrative Fines

The Commission made public 70 closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Enforcement Query System.

AF 3595 Lockton Inc. Political Action Committee and Henry Bond, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission voted to take no further action.

AF 3765 Abe Matthew for Congress and Demijan Drnovsek, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $326.

AF 3766 American Pro-Israel PAC and Jeanne Sullivan, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $6,541.

AF 3767 Committee to Elect HP and Dounia Metouri, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $9,811.

AF 3768 Committee to Elect Mauro Garza for US Congress and Elizabeth Iris Castillo, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $7,458.

AF 3769 Friends of Marc Friedenberg and Margaret Swoboda, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 3770 Health Justice For All and Eric Feigl-Ding, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $152.

AF 3771 Jill Stein for President and Steven Welzer, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $17,662.

AF 3772 Jineea for Congress and Anita Meador, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $11,627.

AF 3773 John Eaves for Congress and John Henry Eaves, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $3,925.

AF 3774 Jonathan Jenkins for Senate Committee and Office of Treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $17,440.

AF 3775 National Cannabis Industry Association PAC and Michael J. Correia, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $850.

AF 3777 Republican State Committee of Delaware and Dennis Cini, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $684.

AF 3778 Shaun Brown for Virginia and Octavianus Smith, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 3779 Tarrant County Republican Victory Fund and Shannon Dubberly, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $115.

AF 3780 Western Energy Alliance PAC and Kathleen M. Sgamma, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission terminated the proceeding and closed the file.

AF 3781 Health Justice for All and Eric Feigl-Ding, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 3782 Republican State Committee of Delaware and Dennis Cini, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $684.

AF 3783 Tarrant County Republican Victory Fund and Shannon Dubberly, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $684.

AF 3784 Committee to Elect Mauro Garza to US Congress and Elizabeth Iris Castillo, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $2,391.

AF 3785 Eddie Bernice Johnson for Congress and Randy Whitaker, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $5,813.

AF 3786 Howard Steele for Congress and Andrea Lester, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $4,360.

AF 3787 Jon Hollis 4 Congress and Jon Hollis, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $215.

AF 3789 United Forward 2020 Benzel for Congress and Greg Don Benzel, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $5,813.

AF 3796 Farmers’ Rice Cooperative Fund and Bill Tanimoto, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,074.

AF 3797 Health Justice for All and Eric Feigl-Ding, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 3798 Republican State Committee of Delaware and Dennis Cini, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $684.

AF 3799 Tarrant County Republican Victory Fund and Shannon Dubberly, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $236.

AF 3800 Adrienne Bell for Congress and Mimi Montgomery, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $326.

AF 3801 Albert Chester for Congress and Albert Chester, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $2,087.

AF 3802 Albors para Comisionado and Ignacio Fernandez, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $8.

AF 3803 American Pro-Israel PAC and Jeanne Sullivan, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $6,541.

AF 3804 Amsted Industries Incorporated PAC and Tristan Paige Lopez, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $3,925.

AF 3805 Bi-County Political Action Committee and Jeremy S. Kupferman, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $182.

AF 3806 Campaign to Support the President and Matt Tunstall, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $5,086.

AF 3807 Citizens for Rush and Janet Szydelko, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $4,329.

AF 3809 Committee to Elect HP and Dounia Metouri, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $9,811.

AF 3810 Committee to Elect Joe Walz and Erika Andrea Walz, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $27.

AF 3811 Committee to Elect Mauro Garza for US Congress and Elizabeth Iris Castillo, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $4,906.

AF 3812 Copart Inc Political Action Committee (Copart PAC) and Joe Meister, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $684.

AF 3813 Dr Jay for Congress, Inc. and James C. Thomas, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $7,994.

AF 3814 Emily Robinson for Congress and Emily Robinson, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $6,541.

AF 3815 Friends of Marc Friedenberg and Margaret Swoboda, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 3816 Friends of Michael Weinstock and Brian Denker-Youngs, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination that no violation occurred and closed the file.

AF 3818 Howard Steele for Congress and Andrea Lester, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $3,925.

AF 3819 Jill Stein for President and Steven Welzer, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,845.

AF 3820 Jon Hollis 4 Congress and Jon Hollis, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 3821 Jonathan Jenkins for Senate Committee and Office of Treasurer, in the official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $17,440.

AF 3822 Joshua Collins Campaign Committee and Joshua Collins, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $3,117.

AF 3824 Ronda Kennedy for Congress 2022 and Michael Warren Kennedy, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,230.

AF 3825 Sarah Gad 2020 and Benjamin Nawrocki, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $5,086.

AF 3826 Shaun Brown for Virginia and Octavianus Smith, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 3827 Shiva 4 Senate and Serena Scovell, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $9,007.

AF 3828 Support American Leaders PAC and Matthew Nelson Tunstall in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $9,446.

AF 3831 United Forward 2020 Benzel for Congress and Greg Don Benzel, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $341.

AF 3833 Women Vote Smart and Amy S. Kremer, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $6,541.

AF 3834 Kaptur for Congress and Lydia Cornett CPA, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,230.

AF 3835 Health Justice for All and Eric Feigl-Ding, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 3836 Oklahoma Leadership Council and Michael G. McCutchin, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $212.

AF 3837 Republican State Committee of Delaware and Dennis Cini, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $684.

AF 3838 Janicek for Senate and Mark Thomas Nielsen, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $296.

AF 3839 Farmers’ Rice Cooperative Fund and Bill Tanimoto, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $194.

AF 3840 Health Justice for All and Eric Feigl-Ding, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 3841 Oklahoma Leadership Council and Michael G. McCutchin, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $212.

AF 3842 Republican State Committee of Delaware and Dennis Cini, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $684.

AF 3843 Rock Holdings Inc. PAC and Bill Emerson, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,603.

AF 3844 Tarrant County Republican Victory Fund and Shannon Dubberly, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $684.

AF 3845 FOAM Friends of Andrew Meehan and Sherri Underland, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $820.

AF 3846 Gary Wegman for Congress and Sherrie L. Greene, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $820.

AF 3847 Marco for Congress and Isabel Solano, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $5,300.

Audits

Audit Division Recommendation Memorandum on The Grassroots Victory PAC. On March 11, the Commission approved an Audit Division Recommendation Memorandum on The Grassroots Victory PAC. The Commission approved a finding on increased activity (corrected).

Proposed Final Audit Report on The National Tooling & Machining Association (NTMA) Committee For A Strong Economy. On March 11, the Commission approved a Proposed Final Audit Report on The National Tooling & Machining Association (NTMA) Committee for a Strong Economy, covering campaign finance activity between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018. The Commission approved findings on increased activity (corrected) and disclosure of contributions made to federal candidate committees.

Proposed Final Audit Report on Van Drew For Congress. On March 8, the Commission approved a Proposed Final Audit Report on Van Drew For Congress. The Commission approved findings relating to receipt of contributions in excess of the limit and receipt of apparent prohibited contributions.

Litigation

Campaign Legal Center, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 20-0730) On March 5, the Clerk of the Court for the District of Columbia entered Default against the Commission and Defendant-Intervenor Right to Rise Super PAC, Inc. filed a Motion for Reconsideration and/or Certification for Interlocutory Appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Outreach

On March 10, the Commission hosted a workshop on 2021 filing dates.

Press Releases

FEC discusses possible use of campaign funds for residential and personal security, approves Audit Division recommendations (issued March 11)

Upcoming educational programs

March 24, 2021: The Commission will hold a webinar for membership and labor organizations and their PACs.

April 7, 2021: The Commission will host a FECFile webinar for candidate committees.

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

Upcoming Commission meetings

March 23, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

March 25, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming reporting due dates

March 20: March 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.

* Updated to include additional information about MUR 7102.