Campaign Fails to File Pre-Primary Report in Washington

WASHINGTON -- The congressional campaign of Claude Oliver in Washington’s 4th Congressional District was cited by the Federal Election Commission today for failing to file financial disclosure reports required by the Federal Election Campaign Act (“the Act”).

Washington will be holding primary elections for federal candidates on September 19. The Act requires committees supporting candidates in the primary to file reports of their financial activity 12 days before the election.

As of 5 p.m., September 14, 2006 a disclosure report from the following committee had not been filed:

The report was due September 7, 2006 and should have included financial activity for the period July 1 through August 30, 2006. If sent by certified or registered mail, the report must have been postmarked by September 4, 2006. 

Some individuals and their committees have no obligation to file reports even though their names may appear on state ballots. If an individual raises or spends less than $5,000, he is not considered a "candidate" subject to reporting under the FECA.

The FEC notified committees involved in the primary of these filing requirements on August 14, 2006. Those committees that did not file on the due date were notified on September 8, 2006 that reports had not been received and that their names would be published if they did not respond within four business days.

Federal law gives the FEC broad authority to initiate enforcement actions against non-filers, and the FEC has implemented a new administrative fine program that can subject committees to penalties ranging from $30 to $16,000 or more.

The next regularly scheduled disclosure reports for these candidate committees will be the October Quarterly Report, due October 15. It will cover activity from August 31 through September 30.

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