AO 2007-31: Earmarked contributions forwarded to a Presidential candidate by a nonconnected committee's checks not matchable

Contributions forwarded by a nonconnected committee to the authorized committee of a Presidential candidate in the form of the nonconnected committee's checks are not matchable under the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account Act (Matching Payment Act) and Commission regulations.

Background

John Edwards for President (the Committee) is the authorized committee of Senator John Edwards, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for President in 2008. Senator Edwards was declared eligible to receive federal matching funds by the Commission on October 31, 2007.

ActBlue is a nonconnected political committee registered with the Commission. Among other things, ActBlue receives contributions made by credit card through their web site that are earmarked for federal candidates and forwards those contributions to the authorized committees of those candidates, as specified by the contributor. ActBlue served as Senator Edwards' primary online payment processor until the Committee set up processing for such contributions through its own web site and vendor. Thereafter, contributors could make contributions to Senator Edwards either through the Committee's web site or through ActBlue's web site.

A person making a contribution through ActBlue's web site to Senator Edwards does so by credit card and is required to provide his or her address, occupation and name of employer and confirm that he or she meets the eligibility requirements for Internet contributions. After a contributor makes a contribution on ActBlue's web site, the credit card is charged and the funds are deposited into ActBlue's account. ActBlue forwards these earmarked contributions to the Committee at least once a week via a check drawn on ActBlue's account.

Analysis

The Matching Payment Act specifies that a matchable contribution consists of "a gift of money made by a written instrument which identifies the person making the contribution by full name and mailing address." The Matching Payment Act specifically excludes from the definition of a matchable contribution "funds received by a political committee which are transferred to that committee from another committee." 26 U.S.C. §9032(4)(C). Commission regulations further define non-matchable contributions to include "contributions in the form of a check drawn on the account of a committee, corporation, union or government contractor even though the funds represent personal funds earmarked by a contributing individual to a Presidential candidate." 11 CFR 9034.3(f).

Since ActBlue is a political committee and has forwarded individual earmarked contributions for Senator Edwards in the form of checks drawn on ActBlue's account, those contributions do not qualify as matchable under the Matching Payment Act and Commission regulations.

AO 2007-31: Date Issued: December 17, 2007; length: 4 pages.