AO 2008-22: Senator’s committee may repay certain personal loans with campaign funds
A Senator’s authorized committee may use money raised for the 2008 general election to repay loans made by the Senator to the committee (personal loans) of up to $250,000 for the 2008 primary campaign. Also, the Senator’s authorized committee may use money raised for the 2008 and 2014 campaigns to repay the Senator’s personal loans of any amount for his 2002 campaign.
Background
Lautenberg for Senate (the Committee) is New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg’s principal campaign committee for the 2002 and 2008 Senate elections.
Between October 6 and 17, 2002, Senator Lautenberg made personal loans totaling $1.51 million to the Committee for the 2002 general election. Of that money, $1.09 million remains as outstanding debt. For the 2008 primary election, Senator Lautenberg also loaned the Committee a total of $1.65 million, of which $250,000 remains as outstanding debt and $1.4 million has been converted to contributions from the Senator himself.
Analysis
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) limited the extent to which candidates’ personal loans to their committees could be repaid after their elections. Under BCRA, a committee may only repay up to $250,000 of a candidate’s loan to the campaign using contributions made after the date of the election. 2 U.S.C. §441a(j); 11 CFR 116.11(b) (2).
2008 primary election
The $250,000 limit on repayment of loans applies separately to the primary election and the general election. Therefore, the Committee may use general election contributions received after the 2008 primary election to repay the outstanding $250,000 in personal loans made by Senator Lautenberg for the primary election.
2002 elections
The Committee may use contributions received for the 2008 election, or funds that will be received for the 2014 election, to repay the entire outstanding amount of Senator Lautenberg’s personal loan to the Committee for the 2002 election. The $250,000 limit on repayment of personal loans imposed by BCRA does not apply to loans made before the effective date of the legislation, which was November 6, 2002. 2 U.S.C. §441a(j); Pub. L. 107-155, Sec. 402, Mar. 27, 2002. Because Senator Lautenberg made the loans for his 2002 election in October 2002, BCRA does not limit the amount of personal loans for that election that the Committee can repay using contributions received after the 2002 election.
The Commission has previously permitted candidates’ authorized committees to use otherwise lawful campaign contributions to repay debts from previous elections. The Commission concluded in AO 1989-22 that Representative David R. Nagle’s authorized committee could use contributions made with respect to the 1990 primary campaign to retire debt incurred by his 1988 campaign committee. In that case, the Commission determined the use of contributions “does not require that they be counted against the limits applicable to the previous election unless there are facts and circumstances indicating that the contributions were actually solicited to pay the debts remaining from the previous election, or that contributors gave to the current campaign with knowledge that the funds would be applied only to debt retirement.”
Also, in AO 2003-30, the Commission concluded that Senator Peter Fitzgerald’s principal campaign committee could use contributions for the 2004 primary election to repay loans made to the committee in connection with the 1998 election, including personal loans from Senator Fitzgerald.
As such, the Committee may use contributions made in connection with Senator Lautenberg’s 2008 and 2014 elections to repay debts from the 2002 election, including the Senator’s personal loans.
Date Issued: January 30, 2009; Length: 4 pages.