Campaigns Cited for Failure to File Pre-Primary Report

News Releases, Media Advisories

CAMPAIGNS CITED FOR FAILURE TO FILE PREPRIMARY REPORT

WASHINGTON North Caroline and Indiana will be holding primary elections on May 5, 1998, to select candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

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. , April 30, 1998, disclosure reports from the following committees had not been filed:

IN/01...MICHAEL EDWARD PEYTO...BRENDA AMES, TREAS...MICHAEL PEYTO...REP

IN/03...DAN HOLTZ FOR CONGRESS...WESLEY H. CULVER, TREAS...DANIEL H. HOLTZ...REP

NC.......SCARBOROUGH FOR US SENATE - ''''98...SUZANNE SIMPSON, TREAS...ELLA OLIVIA BUTLER SCARBOROUGH...DEM

The report was to include financial activity occurring from April 1 through April 15. If sent by registered mail, the report should have been postmarked by April 20. Otherwise, the due date was closeofbusiness April 23.

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 March 30. Those committees which did not file on the due date were notified on April 24 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 preprimary reports, unless they report monthly. Those committee names are not published by the FEC.

Further Commission action against nonfilers and late filers is decided on a casebycase basis. Federal law gives the FEC broad authority to initiate enforcement actions, including the imposition of civil penalties ($5,000 for "any violation" and $10,000 for any "knowing and willful" violation).

The next regularly scheduled disclosure reports for candidate committees will be the quarterly report due July 15. It will cover activity from April 30 through June 30.

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