| WASHINGTON – The Federal Election Commission has recently made
public its final action on 22 matters previously under review (MURs). This release
contains only disposition information. Specific released documents placed on the public
record within the following closed MURs are cited following DISPOSITION heading. Release
of these documents is consistent with the district court opinion in the December 19, 2001,
decision of AFL-CIO v. FEC, now on appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Once an
appellate decision is rendered, the Commission will review documents related to cases
released in the interim.
| 1. |
MUR 4901 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
(a) Rust Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc. (b) James
E. Gonzales |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
FEC Initiated |
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| SUBJECT: |
Corporate contributions; contributions by federal contractor;
contributions in the name of another |
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| DISPOSITION: |
(a) Conciliation Agreement: $3,800 civil penalty* (b)
Conciliation Agreement: $5,000 civil penalty* |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
Conciliation Agreement (Rust), certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated September 7, 2001), receipt of payment (dated August 8, 2001),
Conciliation Agreement (Gonzales), certification of vote by commissioners (dated November
20, 2001), receipt of payment (dated December 8, 2001), letters to recipient committees of
prohibited contributions requesting them to disgorge those funds, receipt of disgorgements
to FEC from recipient committees. |
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| 2. |
MUR 4961 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
DNC Services Corporation/Democratic National Committee;
Andrew Tobias, treasurer |
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| COMPLAINANT5: |
FEC Initiated |
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| SUBJECT: |
Misdeposited contributions; excessive contributions; failure
to accurately report initial receipt of contributions and subsequent transfers |
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| DISPOSITION: |
Conciliation Agreement: $70,000 civil penalty* Respondents
will file on the public record miscellaneous reports for 1995 & 1996 regarding the
95-96 disclosure reports to show the full initial receipt of contributions into the
federal account, the subsequent transfers to the non-federal account, and the receipts by
the non-federal account. |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
Conciliation Agreement, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated July 1, 2001), receipt of payment (dated August 8, 2001) |
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| 3. |
MUR 4994 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
(a) New York Senate 2000, Andrew Grossman, treasurer (b)
Hillary Rodham Clinton for U. S. Senate Committee, Inc., William J. Cunningham, III,
treasurer
(c) Hillary Rodham Clinton
(d) New York State Democratic Committee, David Alpert, treasurer
(e) Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, James P. Fox, treasurer
(f) Metabolife International, Inc.
(g) New York Republican Federal Campaign Committee, Michael Avella, treasurer
(h) National Republican Senatorial Committee, Stan Huckaby, treasurer
(i) Ashcroft Victory Committee, D. Jan McBride, treasurer
(j) Michigan Senate 2000, James P. Fox, treasurer
(k) New York Democratic Victory 2000, Andrew Tobias, treasurer
(l) Rudolph W. Giuliani
(m) Friends of Giuliani Exploratory Committee, John H. Gross, treasurer
(n) Giuliani Victory Committee, D. Jan McBride, treasurer
(o) Santorum Victory Committee, D. Jan McBride, treasurer |
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| COMPLAINANTS: |
Scott Harshbarger, Common Cause Fred Werthheimer, Democracy
21 |
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| SUBJECT: |
Coordinated expenditure limit |
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| DISPOSITION: |
(a-j) Took no action* (k-o) No reason to believe*
[re: any provisions of the Act in connection with this matter] |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
First General Counsel’s Report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated September 25, 2001), Statement of Reasons by Commissioner Thomas,
Statement of Reasons by Commissioner Sandstrom, Statement of Reasons by Commissioners
Mason, Smith and Wold, Supplemental Statement of Reasons by Commissioner Wold,
Supplemental Statement of Reasons by Commissioner Smith |
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| 4. |
MUR 5041 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
(a) Wuesthoff Memorial Hospital, Inc. (b) Robert Carman
(c) Terence Murphy
(d) Rebecca Colker
(e) Jospen Bogdan
(f) Brian Collins
(g) Chris Finton
(h) Emily Rothenberger
(i) Bernard Van Someren
(j) Kathleen Weldon |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
Sua sponte |
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| SUBJECT: |
Corporate contributions/contributions in the names of others |
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| DISPOSITION: |
(a) Conciliation Agreement: $32,000 civil penalty* (b)
Conciliation Agreement: $20,000 civil penalty*
(knowing and willful)
(c) Conciliation Agreement: $8,500 civil penalty*
(d) Conciliation Agreement: $2,000 civil penalty*
(e-j) Reason to believe, but took no further action*
Sent admonishment letters. |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s Report #3, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated December 12, 2000), Conciliation Agreement (Weusthoff), receipt of
payment (dated February 1, 2001), Conciliation Agreement (Carman), receipt of payment
(dated February 2, 2001), Conciliation Agreement (Colker), receipt of payment (dated June
23, 2001), certification of vote by Commissioners (dated February 20, 2001), Conciliation
Agreement (Murphy), certification of vote by Commissioners (dated April 27, 2001), receipt
of payments (dated May 5, 2001, June 27, 2001, and July 29, 2001), letters to recipient
committees of prohibited contributions requesting them to disgorge those funds, receipt of
disgorgements to FEC from recipient committees |
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| 5. |
MUR 5082 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
(a) Don Sherwood for Congress, John A. Brady, treasurer (b)
Friends of Don Sherwood, John A. Brady, treasurer
(c) Connie Van Horn
(d) Donald L. Sherwood
(e) Roger E. Madigan
(f) Commonwealth of Pennyslvania |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
Ronald Williams |
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| SUBJECT: |
Excessive contribution/use of state campaign employee |
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| DISPOSITION: |
(a) Reason to believe, but took no further action* Send
admonishment letter.
(b) Reason to believe, but took no further action*
(c) No reason to believe*
(d-f) Took no action*
Report the matter over to the Pennsylvania State Senate Committee on Ethics, the
Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission, and the Pennsylvania Attorney General. |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
First General Counsel’s Report; certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated April 3, 2001); General Counsel’s Report #2, certification of
vote by Commissioners (dated May 7, 2002) |
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| 6. |
MUR 5147 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
(a) Richard S. Beltram (b) Intedge Industries, Inc.
(c) Spartanburg County Republican Party
(d) Entercom Greenville, LLC and Entercom Greenville License, LLC |
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| COMPLAINANTS: |
Elaine W. Marks, Chairwoman, Spartanburg County Democratic
Party |
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| SUBJECT: |
Corporate contribution; disclaimer |
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| DISPOSITION: |
(a) Reason to believe, but took no further action* [re:
corporate contribution]
(b) Reason to believe, but took no further action*
[re: corporate contribution, disclaimer]
(c-d) No reason to believe*
[re: any provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, or
Commission regulations in connection with this matter] |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
First General Counsel’s Report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated May 7, 2002) |
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| 7. |
MUR 5212 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
Free Cuba PAC, Mario L. del Valle, treasurer |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
FEC Initiated |
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| SUBJECT: |
Failure to file disclosure reports timely; failure to
complete required information of summary and detailed summary portions of reports; failure
to report activity for the entire period covered by the 1999 Year End report; failure to
timely file an amended Statement of Organization |
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| DISPOSITION: |
Conciliation Agreement: $13,000 civil penalty Respondents
will complete the missing information contained on the summary and detailed summary
portions of all previously filed reports by filing amendments to reports and will send a
representative who will have ongoing responsibility for the submission of Free Cuba
PAC’s FEC disclosure reports to the March 2002 FEC Conference in Washington DC, as a
means of education to the reporting obligations under the Act. |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
Conciliation Agreement, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated December 27, 2001), receipt of payments (dated April 18, 19, 22 and
24, 2002) |
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| 8. |
MUR 5220 |
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| RESPONDENT: |
Engel for Congress |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
Barry Ziman |
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| SUBJECT: |
Excessive contribution |
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| DISPOSITIOM: |
Reason to believe, but took no further action* |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated April 16, 2002) |
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| 9. |
MUR 5227 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
Republican Party of Alaska, Glenn Clary, treasurer |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
FEC Initiated |
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| SUBJECT: |
Failure to file disclosure report timely; received
contributions and made expenditures while the position of committee treasurer was vacant;
failure to amend Statement of Organization timely |
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| DISPOSITION: |
Conciliation Agreement: $4,800 civil penalty* |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
Conciliation Agreement, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated January 4, 2002), receipt of payment (dated December 4, 2001) |
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| 10. |
MUR 5233 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
Bank One Good Citizenship Committee, Max Chiddister,
treasurer |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
FEC Initiated |
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| SUBJECT: |
Failure to file disclosure report timely |
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| DISPOSITION: |
Conciliation Agreement: $3,400 civil penalty* |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
Conciliation Agreement, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated November 20, 2001), receipt of payment (dated October 23, 2001) |
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| 11/12. |
MURS 5239 & 5240 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
(a) Democratic Party of Arkansas, Marcus Vaden, treasurer (b)
C. J. Giroir [5239]
(c) Chester D. Phillips [5239] |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
FEC Initiated (Audit) [5239] FEC Initiated [5240] |
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| SUBJECT: |
Excessive contributions; corporate contributions; failure to
obtain and preserve disbursement records; failure to collect and report contributor
information; failure to maintain records, properly allocate expenditures, and report
accurate disbursement information; acceptance of excessive contributions by over-funding
federal account and failure to itemize allocable activities |
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| DISPOSITION: |
(a) Conciliation Agreement: $30,000 civil penalty [Joint
Conciliation]
Respondents will implement accounting procedures that are designed to identify and
detect reporting errors and substantive irregularities. Respondents will also conduct an
accounting review by an outside accounting firm which brings all records up-to-date and in
compliance with the law, and which includes advice for continued compliance. The new
treasurer and appropriate personnel responsible for complying with the Act and the
Commission’s regulations will be required to attend a Commission-sponsored training
program during 2002-03. Respondents will prepare an internal training manual to assist
appropriate personnel in understanding laws and regulations concerning federal elections.
(b-c) Reason to believe, but took no further action*
[re: excessive contributions]
Sent admonishment letters. |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
First General Counsel’s Report; certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated December 11, 2001); Conciliation Agreement; certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated May 3, 2002) |
The Enforcement Priority System (EPS) rates all incoming cases against objective
criteria to determine whether they warrant use of the Commission’s limited resources.
Cases dismissed under EPS fall into two categories: low-rated cases and stale cases.
Low rated cases are those that do not warrant use of the Commission’s resources to
pursue because of their lower significance relative to other pending matters. Stale cases
are those that initially received a higher rating but have remained unassigned for a
significant period due to a lack of staff resources for effective investigation. Effective
enforcement relies upon the timely pursuit of complaints and referrals to ensure
compliance with the law. Investigations concerning activity more remote in time usually
require a greater commitment of resources, primarily due to the fact that the evidence of
such activity becomes more difficult to develop as it ages. The utility of commencing an
investigation declines as these cases age, until they reach a point when activation of a
case would not be an efficient use of the Commission’s resources. As cases reach this
point, they are recommended for dismissal.
Dismissed -Low Rated
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| 13. |
MUR 5097R |
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| RESPONDENT: |
Nielsen for Congress |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee |
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| SUBJECT: |
Excessive in-kind contributions |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s Report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated April 16, 2002) |
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| 14. |
MUR 5109R |
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| RESPONDENT: |
Steve Chabot for Congress Committee |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
John D. Cranley |
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| SUBJECT: |
Prohibited in-kind contributions; failure to report in-kind
contributions |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s Report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated April 16, 2002) |
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| 15. |
MUR 5209 |
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| RESPONDENT: |
Russ Francis for Congress |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
Eugene F. Douglass |
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| SUBJECT: |
Failure to file disclosure reports |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s Report; certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated May 7, 2002) |
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| 16. |
MUR 5210 |
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| RESPONDENT: |
Committee to Re-Elect Nydia M. Velazquez |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
Stephen P. Dresch |
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| SUBJECT: |
Failure to accurately report contribution |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s Report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated April 16, 2002) |
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| 17. |
MUR 5221 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
Hugh Hewitt and Hugh Hewitt Program |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
Sidney Gold |
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| SUBJECT: |
Soliciting contributions for federal candidates |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s Report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated May 7, 2002) |
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| 18. |
MUR 5223 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
Greg Stevens, Mauricio Aguirre-Orcutt, Barbara Hunt, and John
Taylor |
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| COMPLAINANTS: |
Melissa Lauderdale, former General Counsel, National Council
for a Republican Congress (NCRC) |
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| SUBJECT: |
Filing false or misleading Statement of Organization |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s Report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated April 16, 2002) |
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| 19. |
MUR 5228 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
Citizens for Randy Borow |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
Bob F. Holas |
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| SUBJECT: |
Excessive contributions (in the form of loans) |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s Report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated April 16, 2002) |
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Dismissed - Stale
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| 20. |
MUR 5000 |
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| RESPONDENT: |
Sanders for Congress |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
Andrew B. Brown |
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| SUBJECT: |
Disclaimer; alleges false statements in advertisements |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s Report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated April 16, 2002) |
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| 21. |
MUR 5115 |
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| RESPONDENT: |
7-Eleven, Inc. |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
Kimberly Wilder |
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| SUBJECT: |
Corporate contribution |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s Report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated April 16, 2002) |
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| 22. |
MUR 5145 |
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| RESPONDENTS: |
Unknown |
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| COMPLAINANT: |
Kirk for Congress Campaign Committee |
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| SUBJECT: |
Disclaimers |
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| DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
General Counsel’s Report, certification of vote by
Commissioners (dated April 16, 2002) |
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*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. |
