AO 2009-19: PAC may use contributor information for limited communication

A separate segregated fund may use contributor information obtained from reports filed with the Federal Election Commission to notify contributors to Senator Arlen Specter's 2010 Senate reelection campaign that the Senator has switched his party affiliation and has publicly offered to refund contributions upon request.

Background

On April 28, 2009, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter announced he had decided to switch his party affiliation and to run as a Democrat for the 2010 Senate election. Senator Specter stated that he would return campaign contributions made during the 2010 election cycle upon request.

Club for Growth (Club) is an incorporated nonprofit membership organization, and Club for Growth PAC (Club PAC) is the separate segregated fund of the Club.

The Club and Club PAC wish to communicate with individual contributors to the Specter Committee to inform them of Senator Specter's decision to run as a Democrat in the 2010 election. The Club and Club PAC propose to compile a list of contributors from information contained in campaign finance reports that the Specter Committee has filed with the Commission. The communication would notify contributors about Senator Specter's stated policy of providing refunds upon request to those who contributed to his campaign while he was running as a Republican. Club PAC indicated that the communication would not contain any express advocacy or mention any other candidate.

Either the Club or Club PAC would send a one-time letter to Specter's contributors or, alternatively, for those contributors with published phone numbers, the Club or Club PAC may make one telephone call.

The communications would not contain any solicitation of any kind for the Club, Club PAC, any candidate or any other entity. No follow up mailings or telephone calls would be made unless, during the initial telephone call, the contributor requests further information from the Club or Club PAC on how to request a refund. The communications would be made independently of any candidate or political party.

The Club and Club PAC would not use the list for any purpose other than the communication proposed in the advisory opinion request, and would not retain the list for any other purpose. The Club and Club PAC would not put any of the contact information obtained from the Specter Committee's Commission filings into either the Club or the Club PAC's general membership database. The Club and Club PAC would not make the list of contributors to the Specter Committee available to any other entity.

Analysis

Under the Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act) and Commission regulations, political committees are required to file reports with the Commission identifying the names and mailing addresses of their contributors. 2 U.S.C. §§434(b)(2)(A) and (b)(3)(A); 11 CFR 104.8(a). The Act provides that the Commission shall make reports and statements filed with it available for public inspection and copying within 48 hours of receipt. Any information copied from such reports or statements, however, "may not be sold or used by any person for the purpose of soliciting contributions or for commercial purposes," other than using the name and address of a political committee to solicit contributions from that political committee. 11 CFR 104.15(a). Under Commission regulations, "soliciting contributions" includes soliciting any type of contribution or donation, such as political or charitable contributions. 11 CFR 104.15(b).

In AO 1981-05, the Commission concluded that a candidate could use information obtained from disclosure reports to mail letters to contributors to his opponent’s campaign to correct allegedly defamatory charges made by his opponent. In Advisory Opinion 1984-02, a nonconnected political committee calling itself "Americans for Phil Gramm in 84" solicited contributions without the permission of Phil Gramm or his authorized campaign committee. The Commission concluded that Representative Gramm and his authorized campaign committee could use contributor information contained in Americans for Phil Gramm in 84's disclosure reports to inform contributors that the nonconnected committee was not Phil Gramm's authorized committee.

In these AOs, the Commission pointed out that the purpose of the sale and use prohibition is to prevent contributor information from being used for commercial purposes or for making solicitations. The prohibition does not, "foreclose the use of this information for other, albeit political, purposes, such as correcting contributor misperceptions." (AO 1984-02.)

In this advisory opinion the Commission noted that the Club and Club PAC will not solicit contributions for any reason and will not use the contributor information for any commercial purpose. The Club and Club PAC will use contributor information obtained from the Specter Committee’s disclosure reports only for the limited purpose of notifying contributors that Senator Specter has switched parties and of his refund policy. Each donor will only be contacted once. Also, the Club and Club PAC indicated that they will safeguard the contributor information obtained from the reports to avoid using the contributor information for any purpose not presented in the advisory opinion request.

Therefore, in this limited situation, the Commission concludes that the use of contributor information obtained from the Specter Committee's disclosure reports does not violate the solicitation and commercial use prohibition at 2 U.S.C. §438(a)(4).

AO 2009-19: Date issued: August 28, 2009; Length: 5 pages.