Week of August 30-September 3, 2021

Commission meetings and hearings

On August 31 and September 2, the Commission met in executive session.

The Commission voted to cancel the open meeting scheduled for September 2.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7153

COMPLAINANTS: Tony Dane; Jack A. Shulman; Jill Stein; and William Pflaum
RESPONDENTS: Hillary for America and Elizabeth Jones in her official capacity as treasurer (HFA); Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC; Jim Messina; John Harwood; Jonathan Mantz; Maggie Haberman; NBC Universal; Paul Begala; Peter Huffman; Politico Priorities USA Action and Greg Speed, in his official capacity as treasurer (Priorities); The Hill; The New York Times; and Univision
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that HFA (1) impermissibly coordinated with reporters from news organizations such as the New York Times, the Boston Globe, CNBC, Univision, and with Huffman, an individual who wrote an op-ed in The Hill, (2) failed to report an in-kind contribution from CNN contributor Donna Brazile in the form of a debate question she emailed to HFA in advance of a presidential debate; (3) coordinated with, and failed to report in-kind contributions from, various filmmakers who produced videos for a project titled “Filmmakers for Hillary” (FFH Project); and (4) impermissibly coordinated with Priorities, an independent expenditure-only political committee.
DISPOSITION: The Commission found no reason to believe that The New York Times, Politico, Haberman, The Hill, Huffman, CNBC, Harwood, the Boston Globe, and Univision made and HFA accepted and failed to report excessive or corporate in-kind contributions because the press exemption applied to some of the allegations and the remaining allegations were vague, speculative, and otherwise unsupported by the available information. The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the allegations in connection with Brazile, the FFH Project, and Priorities. The Commission considered the source of the documents that form the basis of these allegations. According to the U.S. Intelligence Community and U.S. Department of Justice, the documents were stolen by the Russian Federation and distributed specifically to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Moreover, the statute of limitations for these allegations had already expired or will soon do so. The Commission dismissed the allegations in connection with Messina, Mantz, and Begala, who worked for Priorities, because the complaint did not cite any specific violations they were alleged to have committed.

MUR 7299

COMPLAINANT: Republican Party of Virginia, Inc.
RESPONDENTS: Wexton for Congress and Joan Kowalski, in her official capacity as treasurer (Federal Committee); Wexton for State Senate (State Committee); and Jennifer Wexton
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Wexton, the Federal Committee, and the State Committee impermissibly raised and spent nonfederal funds during Wexton’s 2018 campaign for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District. The complaint further alleged that Wexton and the State Committee may have improperly directed nonfederal funds to her Federal Committee.
DISPOSITION: The Commission closed the file. Chair Shana M. Broussard and Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub issued a Statement of Reasons.

MUR 7618

COMPLAINANT: The Patriots Foundation
RESPONDENTS: McCready for Congress and Holly Giarraputo, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); Dan McCready; and Double Time Capital, LLC (DTC)
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that DTC made and McCready and the Committee accepted a prohibited in-kind corporate contribution when DTC paid for legal services that responded to political criticisms against McCready, one of DTC’s founders and managing partners. The complaint further alleged that McCready facilitated the in-kind corporate contribution. McCready was a candidate for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District in the 2019 special election.
DISPOSITION: The Commission found no reason to believe a violation occurred because the facts did not indicate that DTC’s payments for legal services were intended to influence a federal election or that DTC made a prohibited or excessive contribution.

MUR 7799

COMPLAINANT: Monmouth County Republican Committee
RESPONDENTS: Stephanie for New Jersey and Jason Hinton, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); and Stephanie Schmid
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Schmid and the Committee accepted excessive and prohibited contributions, failed to properly itemize disbursements, and incorrectly reported a candidate loan. Schmid was a 2020 candidate for New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission dismissed the matter because many of the violations were corrected on the Committee’s initiative and the remainder were of modest amount.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

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

ADR 1004

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Van Drew for Congress and Bradley T. Crate, 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 there was reason to believe that the Committee received excessive contributions totaling $45,600, and prohibited contributions totaling $13,255 during the 2018 election cycle.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to 1) certify annually for two years that it retained the services of a compliance firm, and 2) pay a civil penalty of $4,415.

ADR 1005

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Our Voice Our Vote Arizona PAC and Ryan Johnson, 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 there was reason to believe that the Committee failed to timely file three 48-Hour Reports supporting six independent expenditures totaling $119,282.46 disclosed on its 2020 October Quarterly Report and one 48-Hour Report supporting two independent expenditures totaling $49,943.14 disclosed on its 2020 12-Day Pre-General Report.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to 1) develop and certify implementation of a compliance operations manual that includes internal controls, 2) certify that a compliance representative and the chairman of the Committee participated in an FEC training program, and 3) pay a civil penalty of $8,500.

ADR 1006

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: National Tooling & Machining Association (NTMA) Committee for a Strong Economy and Doug DeRose, 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 there was reason to believe that the Committee failed to accurately disclose $52,887 in contributions made to federal candidates.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1,320.

ADR 1008

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: League of Southeastern Credit Unions Federal PAC and Brad Green, in his official capacity as treasurer
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 disclose disbursements totaling $54,846.16 on its original 2020 October Quarterly Report.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to 1) certify that a representative participated in an FEC training program, and 2) pay a civil penalty of $2,805.

ADR 1024

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Committee to Re-Elect the President and Jason Bennett, 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 there was reason to believe that the Committee failed to timely file two 48-Hour Reports totaling $42,852.92 supporting two independent expenditures disclosed on its 2020 Termination 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 $2,150.

Upcoming educational programs

September 15, 2021: The Commission will host a FECConnect On Topic session on Testing the Waters.

September 22, 2021: The Commission will host a FECConnect On Topic session on Candidate Registration.

September 29, 2021: The Commission will host reporting and FECFile webinars to help federal candidates and their campaign committees prepare to file their October 15 Quarterly Reports.

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

Upcoming Commission meetings

September 14, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

September 28, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

September 30, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming reporting due dates

September 20: September 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 April 15, 2021. At this stage, most agency staff remain in telework status and the Commission’s office remains closed to visitors. See also the agency’s Workplace Safety Plan, dated May 6, 2021.

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.