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 6, 2002, disclosure reports from the following committees had not been filed:

NC/SEN...DR FISHER FOR SENATE.ORG...DR. ADA M. FISHER, TREAS...DR. ADA M. FISHER...REP*

AZ/06...DEBORAH THOMAS FOR CONGRESS...NINA TROSS, TREAS...DEBORAH THOMAS...DEM

AZ/07...PINA FOR CONGRESS...RONALD A. PINA, TREAS...ALBERT R. PINA...REP

FL/14....PORTER GOSS RE-ELECTION TEAM...GERARD A. MCHALE, JR, TREAS...PORTER J. GOSS...REP**

FL/22....JUAN XUNA FOR CONGRESS...MORGANA XUNA, TREAS...JOHN (AKA JUAN) XUNA...IND

NY/04...FRIENDS OF MARILYN F. O’GRADY...THOMAS KELLER, TREAS...MARILYN F. O’GRADY...REP**

NY/04...SKORSKI FOR CONGRESS...SETH E. SHULMAN, TREAS...ALAN SKORSKI...REP

NY/08...FRIENDS OF JIM FARRIN...JULIAN H. GINGOLD, TREAS...JAMES FARRIN...REP*

VT/01...PARKE FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE...SHARON C. PARKE, TREAS...GREGORY T. PARKE...REP

The reports were to include financial activity occurring from July 1 through August 21. If sent by certified or registered mail, the reports should have been postmarked by August 26. Otherwise, the due date was close-of-business August 29. 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 5. Those committees which did not file on the due date were notified on August 30 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 quarterly report, due October 15. It will cover activity from August 22 through September 30.

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* The Pre-Primary Report has been filed, but the report did not reflect accurate coverage dates.

**A paper copy of the Pre-Primary Report has been filed. However, the committee was required to file their report electronically.