Campaigns Cited for Failure To File Pre-Primary Report

Provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act require committees supporting candidates involved in the primary to file reports of their financial activity 12 days before the election.

As of 5 p.m. , September 12, 2002, disclosure reports from the following committees had not been filed:

MA/10...COMMITTEE TO ELECT GONZAGA...STEVE C. D’ALONZO, TREAS...LUIZ GONZAGA...REP

WA/06...ELECT BOB LAWRENCE COMMITTEE...ANDREW NELSON, TREAS...ROBERT I. LAWRENCE...REP

The reports were to include financial activity occurring from July 1 through August 28. If sent by certified or registered mail, the reports should have been postmarked by September 2. Otherwise, the due date was close-of-business September 5. Mandatory electronic filing requirements became effective as of January 1, 2001. Any committee that receives contributions or makes expenditures in excess of $50,000 in the current calendar year, or that reasonably expects to do so, must submit its reports electronically. These rules became effective for reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2001.

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

The FEC notified committees involved in the primary of their potential filing requirements on August 12. Those committees which did not file on the due date were notified on September 6, that reports had not been received and that their names would be published if they did not respond within four business days.

Other political committees supporting Senate and House candidates in elections (those which are not authorized units of a candidate''''s campaign) also are required to file pre-primary reports, unless they report monthly. Those committee names are not published by the FEC.

Further Commission action against non-filers and late filers is decided on a case-by-case basis. Federal law gives the FEC broad authority to initiate enforcement actions and the FEC has implemented a new administrative fine program which will subject committees to penalties ranging from $125 to $16,000 or more.

The next regularly scheduled disclosure reports for candidate committees will be the October quarterly report, due October 15. It will cover activity from August 29 through September 30.

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