AO 2015-06: Contributions from a candidate to a foreign candidate
The Act and Commission regulations do not bar a federal candidate, her authorized committee or her leadership PAC from donating to a candidate for elected office in a foreign country.
Background
Rep. Maxine Waters, a candidate for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, asks if she may use her own individual funds to donate to campaigns of candidates for office in Haiti. She further asks if her authorized committee may use campaign
funds and her leadership PAC may use PAC funds to make a donation to a candidate for office in a foreign country.
Analysis
Under the Act and Commission regulations, an authorized committee may use its funds for donations to state and local candidates, as well as for “any other lawful purpose” that does not otherwise convert campaign funds to personal use. 52 U.S.C. §
30114(a)(5), (6), (b); 11 CFR 113.1(g), 113.2(e). Donations to candidates for office in a foreign country are not per se personal use under the Act and regulations. 52 U.S.C. § 30114(b)(2); 11 CFR 113.1(g)(1)(i). The donation would constitute
a lawful purpose akin to donating to a state or local candidate. Foreign candidates and nonfederal domestic candidates are both excluded from the Act’s definition of candidate and are similarly situated with regard to donations from federal campaign
funds. Accordingly, the proposed donation is permissible.
The Commission further notes that the proposed contribution from Rep. Waters’s personal funds to a foreign candidate is permissible and would not implicate the Act’s prohibition on contributions from foreign nationals in connection with Federal, State, and local elections. See 52 U.S.C. § 30121(a)(1)(A); 11 CFR 110.20(b); AO 2015-02 (Grand Trunk Western Railroad). Therefore, Rep. Waters may use her personal funds to make an individual contribution to a candidate for office in a foreign country.
Finally, the Commission concluded that Rep. Waters’s leadership PAC may use PAC funds to make a contribution to a candidate for office in a foreign country. However, the Commission could not agree as to the legal basis for this conclusion by the required four affirmative votes.
The Commission cautioned that its opinion is based solely on the Act and Commission regulations and does not address foreign or domestic laws, rules or policies that fall outside its jurisdiction.
Date Issued: 9/18/2015; 4 pages
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