Week of August 9-13, 2021

Commission meetings and hearings

On August 10 and 11, the Commission met in executive session.

On August 11, the Commission held an open meeting.

Advisory Opinions

Opinion Discussed

Advisory Opinion Request 2021-08 (Fitzgerald) On August 11, the Commission discussed and voted on two draft advisory opinions in response to a request from Congressman Scott Fitzgerald but was unable to reach consensus by the required four affirmative votes. The requestor asked whether his state campaign committee and federal leadership PAC are affiliated committees under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the Act), and Commission regulations and if so, whether the leadership PAC may receive unlimited transfers of funds from the state committee, provided that such funds comply with the source prohibitions and contribution limitations of the Act and Commission regulations. The requestor also asked whether, if the proposed transfers were permissible, the state committee would be required to notify its contributors that their contributions were subject to the applicable source prohibitions and contribution limitations at the time such transfers were made.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7450

COMPLAINANT: Campaign Legal Center
RESPONDENTS: AshBritt, Inc.; and America First Action, Inc. and Jon Proch, in his official capacity as treasurer (AFA)
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that AshBritt, Inc., a federal contractor, impermissibly contributed $500,000 to AFA, an independent-expenditure-only political committee.
DISPOSITION: The Commission dismissed the allegation that AFA knowingly solicited a federal contractor and entered into a conciliation agreement providing for AshBritt, Inc. to pay a civil penalty of $125,000.

MUR 7814

COMPLAINANT: Juan-Carlos Planas
RESPONDENTS: Salazar for Congress and Paul Kilgore, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); and Maria Elvira Salazar
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that the Committee failed to disclose the employer and occupation for each individual who contributed $200 or more to the Committee during Salazar’s 2020 campaign for Florida’s 27th Congressional District, and that the Committee also may have accepted excessive contributions.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the complaint.

MUR 7896

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Integrity NJ and Kathleen Donohue, 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 timely file two 48-Hour Reports of Independent Expenditures to support independent expenditures totaling $125,125, and failed to file one 24-Hour Report of Independent Expenditures supporting a $918,155 independent expenditure disclosed on the Committee’s 2018 12-Day Pre-General and 30-Day Post-General Reports, respectively.
DISPOSITION: The Commission entered into a conciliation agreement providing for the Committee to file a Termination Report within 30 days and to pay a civil penalty of $40,000.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

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

ADR 1002

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Future Progress and Janica Kyriacopoulos, 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 timely file one 48-Hour Report totaling $250,000 to support three independent expenditures disclosed on its 2020 October Quarterly Report.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to 1) retain an outside consultant to review its compliance procedures and conduct an on-site training with those responsible for preparing and filing its reports; 2) develop and certify implementation of a compliance operations manual which includes internal controls; and 3) pay a civil penalty of $12,400.

ADR 1009

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: LIUNA Minnesota & North Dakota/Laborers’ District Council of Minnesota & North Dakota and Joel A. Smith, 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 timely file one 48-Hour Report totaling $77,993.14 to support four independent expenditures disclosed on its 2020 12-Day Pre-General Report.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to 1) retain an outside consultant to review its compliance procedures and conduct an on-site training with those responsible for preparing and filing its reports; 2) develop and certify the implementation of an internal policy document detailing procedures to ensure timely and accurate reporting of independent expenditures; and 3) pay a civil penalty of $4,300.

Administrative Fines

The Commission made public four closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Administrative Fine search system.

AF 3928 Doug Shreffler Democrat and the Next President of the United States I [sic] and Doug Leray Shreffler, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $5,176.

AF 3929 Elect Henry Hewes 2020 and Henry Hewes, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 3930 Matson, Inc. Federal Election Committee and Benedict J. Bowler, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $381.

AF 3931 Weld 2020 Presidential Campaign Committee, Inc. and Joseph Hunter, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $347.

Litigation

FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate, et al. (Case No. 21-12) On August 5, the Institute for Free Speech filed a Brief of Amicus Curiae in Support of Appellees in the U.S. Supreme Court. On August 6, Appellees filed a Motion to Affirm or Dismiss and Campaign Legal Center filed a Brief of Amicus Curiae in Support of Appellant in the U.S. Supreme Court.

End Citizens United PAC v. FEC (Case No. 21-2128) On August 9, Plaintiff filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The Patriots Foundation v. FEC (Case No. 20-2229) On August 10, Plaintiff filed a Reply Brief in Support of Motion for Default Judgment and Defendant-Intervenors filed a Reply Brief in Support of Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Outreach

On August 13-14, Commissioner James E. “Trey” Trainor III was the keynote speaker for the 2021 Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) National Election Law Seminar in Atlanta, GA.

Public disclosure

On August 6, the Office of the Inspector General made public an Investigative Summary.

Press releases

Commission discusses advisory opinion request (issued August 11)

Disclosure initiatives

Administrative Fine search system. The Commission has introduced a new search system for administrative fines, which includes capabilities to search closed administrative fine matters by case number, committee name, and key words. Case summaries include payment status, and the disposition section now indicates matters that have been challenged or transferred to Department of the Treasury for collection.

Upcoming educational programs

August 17-18, 2021: The Commission will host a Virtual Conference online via Zoom.

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

Upcoming Commission meetings

August 31, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

September 2, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming reporting due dates

August 20: August 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.