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Kelly Huff
Bob Biersack
Ian Stirton
George Smaragdis
COMPLIANCE CASES MADE PUBLIC
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Election Commission has recently made public its
final actions on two matters previously under review (MURs). This release
contains only disposition information.
The complainant alleged
that an unknown person sent a letter to the candidates? contributors and
venders that expressly advocated the defeat of the candidate which did
not contain a disclaimer. The Commission rejected the reason to believe
recommendation by the General Counsel and exercised its prosecutorial
discretion to take no action.
DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD:
Documents from this matter are available
from the Commission?s web site at http://eqs.sdrdc.com/eqs/searcheqs by
entering 5275 under case number. They are also available in the FECs Public Records
Office at 999 E St. NW in Washington.
Failure to register and report; corporate
contributions; excessive contributions
DISPOSITION:
No reason to believe*
The complainant
alleged that the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) was ineligible
to stage nonpartisan debates in 2000 by asserting that the CPD is
partisan organization. The complainants maintained that the CPD was
founded and is controlled by the Republican and Democratic Parties and
their representatives citing the alleged partisan composition of CPD?s
board of directors and the CPD?s founding by co-chairs who were, at the
time, chairmen of the RNC and DNC respectively. The complaint also
states that the CPD decision to exclude all third-party candidates from
attending the presidential debates as audience members was a partisan
act. The Commission found there was no reason to believe the CDP
violated the Act.
DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD:
Documents from this matter are available
from the Commission?s web site at http://eqs.sdrdc.com/eqs/searcheqs by
entering 5089 under case number. They are also available in the FECs Public Records
Office at 999 E St. NW in Washington.
*There are four administrative stages to the FEC enforcement process:
1. Receipt of proper complaint
3. "Probable cause" stage
2. "Reason to believe" stage
4. Conciliation stage
It requires the votes of at least four of the six Commissioners to take
any action. The FEC can close a case at any point after reviewing a
complaint. If a violation is found and conciliation cannot be reached, then
the FEC can institute a civil court action against a respondent.
